On the July 27 episode of The Newshour, Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami called for journalists questioning Indian army operations in Jammu and Kashmir to be admonished.
Taking a persuasively nationalist tone, Arnab accused certain human rights advocates and sections of the media that support the breakup of the nation, in the name of human rights.
While speaking about Kargil Vijay Diwas, Arnab referred to such people as “pseudo liberals” . He further said that they “should ask themselves whether they have the right to comment, speak or write one word on the Kargil brave hearts.”
“When people take an anti-India, pro-Pakistan, pro-terrorist line, when they lionize a terrorist, when they openly peddle lies and advocate the breakup of India, advocate changing the map, how should these people be dealt with?” – questioned Arnab in the opening seconds of a debate that went on to target those who put up questions about army excesses in Kashmir.
Arnab’s rant got the right rebuttal from Barkha Dutt. She is perhaps the only journalist to have had the guts and courage to have covered the Kargil War from the ground.
Barkha, who presents a rival prime time show on NDTV, put out a Facebook post calling out Goswami’s bizarre standpoint.
They dirty debate moved to Social Media and fans couldn’t keep their hands off the keyboard. Have a look at how Twitterati reacted about the recent uproar.
https://twitter.com/ggiittiikkaa/status/758212665894379520
https://twitter.com/HariHaraBhakta/status/758203434650644481
https://twitter.com/HariHaraBhakta/status/758203864998830080
https://twitter.com/ashokepandit/status/758206982885142528
While Barkha was criticized by numerous social media users who supported the tone of the “Newshour” debate. Some other journalists also tweeted or posted on Facebook condemning Arnab.
Hyper-nationalists and govt-apologists masquerading as journalists! Shame! https://t.co/WZ7K81h7Fu
— Zakka Jacob (@Zakka_Jacob) July 27, 2016
When @BDUTT gives it back to India's biggest sycophant – Arnab Goswami https://t.co/3ZGacqLr4i
— Preeti Sharma Menon (@PreetiSMenon) July 27, 2016
The country has transformed at this point. It won’t silently listen to bullshit from personalities who hold positions of impact. It considers them accountable and replies with hurtful words when they cross a line.
None of the people who speak up against the Indian Army or the Indian government’s policies in Kashmir are pro-Pak. All they want is a better India! Such a worthless debate will not bring any pro-development solutions and will only create a further divide.
So far I haven’t seen one significant debate on news media debating the possible solutions with reference to the Kashmir issue.
Who do you think made Sense? Barkha Dutt? Or are you on Team Arnab? Let us know in the comments.