India TV owner Rajat Sharma has posted a cryptic tweet implying that he was criticising Donald Trump but netizens were quick to conclude that the former was launching a veiled attack against Arnab Goswami. Many netizens mocked Sharma for not being able to muster the courage to name Goswami in his cryptic tweet. In separate news, Salman Khan has come to the rescue of theatre owners by agreeing to a theatrical release of his next film Radhe.
Sharma took to Twitter to write, “Don is gone. But not willing to accept his manipulations to stay at the top. He shared secrets, compromised security, divided people, blamed media and played victim. Still says nation is with me. How? #DonaldTrump,”
Don is gone. But not willing to accept his manipulations to stay at the top. He shared secrets, compromised security, divided people, blamed media and played victim. Still says nation is with me. How? #DonaldTrump
— Rajat Sharma (@RajatSharmaLive) January 20, 2021
Though Sharma implied that his tweet was aimed at Trump, netizens had little doubt that the TV anchor’s prime target was Arnab Goswami, who is facing a brutal attack because of his alleged leaked WhatsApp chat with ex-CEO of the Indian TV rating agency, Partho Dasgupta.
Modiji can’t name China and Rajat Sharma can’t name Arnab.
— The Bad Engineer (@Satirical_Dhruv) January 20, 2021
Thought you were talking about Arnab…. https://t.co/7OnzjNuct2
— Spirit of Congress ✋ (@SpiritOfCongres) January 20, 2021
Are you talking Rajat about Arnab chats . https://t.co/AktX64C0YD
— sirajamani (@amanisiraj) January 20, 2021
Rajat on Arnab https://t.co/L7ySNDHSex
— ?? ??? ????? (?) (@gokulchan) January 20, 2021
This is not the first time Sharma has been accused of targeting Goswami with his cryptic tweet. In November last year, he had posted a similar tweet implying that he was critical of the outgoing US President Donald Trump, but netizens felt that the India TV founder was slamming Arnab Goswami for his desperate plea seeking the Supreme Court’s intervention after his arrest in the abetment to suicide case. The development had come days after Goswami launched an unprecedented tirade against Sharma, challenging him for a ‘face-off’ on the latter’s TV channel.
In the alleged leaked WhatsApp chat, Goswami was seen referring to Sharma as an ‘utter fool’ and calling India TV a ‘sub-standard channel.’ Goswami had allegedly written to Dasgupta on 14 October 2019 informing him about the appointment of former India captain Sourav Ganguly as the new president of the Indian cricket board. He had allegedly written in his WhatsApp chat, “This really puts Rajat in his place. Gigantic snub. has zero clout and now faces inquiry got corruption in DDCA (Delhi District and Cricket Association). No need to be worried about him and his sub-standard channel.”
Sharma had later tweeted without naming Goswami, “I am silent not because I have fewer words. I am silent because I still have my respect intact.”
This is not the first that Goswami has been found to be at loggerheads with Sharma even though both belong to the same pro-government eco-system of the Indian TV industry. Last year, Arnab Goswami had launched a tirade against India TV founder Rajat Sharma and dared him to invite the former to his TV channel for a ‘one-to-one’ face-off. Days after calling Bollywood actor Salman Khan a senior citizen, Goswami had addressed Sharma as an elderly person.