Winters, in Delhi, are the time when most people go out for cultural events or soaking the Sun in some park or garden. My husband, on Tuesday afternoon, made the choice of walking over to Sansad Marg to see the fuss being created over some political rally.
It was the Jignesh Mewani rally and he was impressed by what he heard to a large extent. A classic case of a common man empathising with his fellow citizens. He, an upper caste Hindu male, was impressed by young boys claiming to be ‘chamaars’ or the so-called lowest of castes, who said they were representing all the exploited and subverted sections of the society.
They spoke for a Brahmin, who was deprived of his rights, a Kshatriya, oppressed by the ruling class or anyone else who felt unsafe in our democratic nation.
Any right-thinking individual, who witnesses incidents of oppression in the society, would’ve seen the reasonable side of their speeches.
All was going well till a female journalist from the Republic TV walked into the crowd and started penetrating into hordes of listeners. Yes, they were listeners and by-standers. They were not necessarily supporters of Jignesh Mewani.
My husband, a man from Bihar living in Delhi, had little to do with the Gujarat leader. He was curious and was made to pay the price for it. When the by-standers, my husband included, started to give way to the reporter, she started accusing everyone of stopping her way.
She had a video cameraperson with her and everyone started shouting, “We don’t need Media! Republic TV go away!”
These were not political supporters of anyone, otherwise they wouldn’t have asked the media to go away. Instead, they would have enjoyed the media attention. The incident never got much attention at the rally because people were more interested in listening to what the speakers had to say.
Roars of Mewani, Kanhaiya Kumar and other young leaders supressed any cheap thrill the female journalist might have tried to gain from the scene.
But as we switched on the unfortunate Republic TV on Tuesday night, we were shocked to find my husband’s face flashing on Arnab Goswami’s show.
He, among many others, was being shown in still images with a halo of red dots crowning his head. Arnab Goswami, the GOSSIP KING in all his delicacy, was shouting at supporters of Mewani and asking for a reply.
I have a few questions for that despicable man; who crossed all limits to call my husband and others ‘vulgar thugs’ while accusing them of intimidating his female colleague. When the female reporter had made a video with voice recording, why did you convert them into still images? Why don’t you show the whole video with the audio so that the truth comes out? Let the republic of India know how you’ve made a lucrative career by constantly selling lies and damaging ordinary public’s reputation.
I don’t think Goswami has the guts to show the video which will clearly reveal how all the men were backing away from that woman while making it abundantly clear that they had lost hope in media!
Goswami was asking supporters of Kanhaiya and Mewani if they were proud of what they saw in the images. The images were pure lies fabricated to suit those who finance and support Republic TV.
The truth is in the videos that Goswami did not broadcast. Dear Arnab Goswami, I am proud of those men who distanced themselves from your journalist, a poor girl used as a prop for your dirty games that you like to call journalistic exercise.
It’s not her fault and I pity her. It is you and your channel that must be held responsible for trying to defame people like my husband who had nothing to do with the rally organized by JIgnesh Mevani.
THE NATION WANTS TO KNOW why you are hiding the video, Mr Goswami? Who has stopped you from playing it? Why are you so afraid of the truth? I dare Republic TV to show that video! I am disgusted by what has happened but we will fight such people with truth.
(Views expressed here are the author’s own and Janta Ka Reporter doesn’t necessarily endorse them)
