'Are you a coward or are you a journalist?' Comedian Kunal Kamra launches monologue at Arnab Goswami

[andy0204]

And then people cry why I call people like Abhijeet 'parhe likhe jaahil'. The way its going I can see another partition happening within next 25-30 years. The amount of hate towards muslims in India is scary.

Let them hate,they feel like Muslims robbed them during partition and Mughal era.

 

[Rajdeep]

This is another classic case that whenever & wherever Congress has ruled, they have ruled with tyrany. When lynchings happened in Dadri or on other minority cases, congressi paid media asked non stop questions. Now when Arnab questioned on lynching of hindu sadhus in Palghar, youth congress first attacked him and his family, then state police interrogated him for 12 hours under the charges of sedition.

Good thing is, draconian measures like these are taking congress away from people more.

As a result #SoniaScaresNobody was trending in India whole day today.

Looks like massive self goal by Congress again.

Even likes of Rajdeep Sardesai are speaking out

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Does the Mumbai police really need 10 hours to interrogate Arnab Goswami for a tv programme? Have no time left for his ‘journalism’ but this smacks of undue state power.</p>— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) <a href="https://twitter.com/sardesairajdeep/status/1254800267133906944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[cricketjoshila]

This is another classic case that whenever & wherever Congress has ruled, they have ruled with tyrany. When lynchings happened in Dadri or on other minority cases, congressi paid media asked non stop questions. Now when Arnab questioned on lynching of hindu sadhus in Palghar, youth congress first attacked him and his family, then state police interrogated him for 12 hours under the charges of sedition.

Good thing is, draconian measures like these are taking congress away from people more.

As a result #SoniaScaresNobody was trending in India whole day today.

Looks like massive self goal by Congress again.

Even likes of Rajdeep Sardesai are speaking out

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Does the Mumbai police really need 10 hours to interrogate Arnab Goswami for a tv programme? Have no time left for his ‘journalism’ but this smacks of undue state power.</p>— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) <a href="https://twitter.com/sardesairajdeep/status/1254800267133906944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Let it be. Now next time a Rajdeep or Vardarajan or Ravish or Rana Ayub is arrested, no one should complain.

 

[Abdullah719]

Mumbai Police files FIR against Arnab Goswami, accuses him of spreading hatred

The Mumbai police registered an FIR against Arnab Goswami, editor and owner of Republic TV channel on Saturday following a complaint that he tried to create hatred against Muslims last month.

The case was registered at Pydhonie police station and investigation has been initiated, police said.

Irfan Abubakar Shaikh, secretary of Raza Educational Welfare Society and a resident of Null Bazar in South Mumbai in his complaint to the police alleged that both the channel and Goswami were trying to create hatred against the Muslim community and targeted a mosque in Bandra that had no link to the protest by migrants on April 14.

Shaikh said that on April 29, the Hindi channel Republic Bharat had used footage of the Bandra protest by migrants who had gathered near Bandra railway station. Arnab Goswami was anchoring the show.

“There was no link or issue related to the mosque near the Bandra station. The only issue was that the migrants had gathered in the open space near the mosque. But Arnab purposely highlighted the mosque to create communal disturbance in the city,” said Shaikh in his compliant to the police.

Shaikh highlighted alleged comments by Goswami like ‘Ab se thodi der pehle Mumbai ke Bandra me Jama Masjid Hai.’ Aur Is Jama Masjid Ke Pass Achanak Hazaro logo Ki Bheed Jama Hogae’. (Thousands of people gathered outside Jama Masjid in Bandra) ‘Mumbai ke Bandra me masjid Ke pass kisne bheed jutae. (Who gathered the crowd outside the mosque in Bandra?) ‘Lockdown me har Bheed Masjid ke pass kyu Juti Hai? (Why is it that crowds gather near every mosque during lockdown), which he claimed fuelled hatred against Muslims.

“There were many such questions and debate on the channel intended to blame the Muslim community for the spreading of Covid-19 disease. Goswami had made many such hate filled comments against the community, targeting it,” the complainant said.

Shaikh said Goswami linked the Bandra Mosque to the migrants’ protest without any reason and gave a communal colour to the protest which had no link or involvement if any particular community.

The Pydhonie police registered a case under various sections of the Indian penal code.

“We have registered a case against Arnab Goswami and the owner of Republic TV for the hatred. Further investigation is going on. As part of evidence after taking the statement we have collected the footage of the shows with the clips in a pen drive as evidence,” said a police officer from Pydhonie police station.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...ding-hatred/story-8tfFHRTG7xImSCrgpS1PWI.html

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Mumbai Police files FIR against Arnab Goswami, accuses him of spreading hatred

The Mumbai police registered an FIR against Arnab Goswami, editor and owner of Republic TV channel on Saturday following a complaint that he tried to create hatred against Muslims last month.

The case was registered at Pydhonie police station and investigation has been initiated, police said.

Irfan Abubakar Shaikh, secretary of Raza Educational Welfare Society and a resident of Null Bazar in South Mumbai in his complaint to the police alleged that both the channel and Goswami were trying to create hatred against the Muslim community and targeted a mosque in Bandra that had no link to the protest by migrants on April 14.

Shaikh said that on April 29, the Hindi channel Republic Bharat had used footage of the Bandra protest by migrants who had gathered near Bandra railway station. Arnab Goswami was anchoring the show.

“There was no link or issue related to the mosque near the Bandra station. The only issue was that the migrants had gathered in the open space near the mosque. But Arnab purposely highlighted the mosque to create communal disturbance in the city,” said Shaikh in his compliant to the police.

Shaikh highlighted alleged comments by Goswami like ‘Ab se thodi der pehle Mumbai ke Bandra me Jama Masjid Hai.’ Aur Is Jama Masjid Ke Pass Achanak Hazaro logo Ki Bheed Jama Hogae’. (Thousands of people gathered outside Jama Masjid in Bandra) ‘Mumbai ke Bandra me masjid Ke pass kisne bheed jutae. (Who gathered the crowd outside the mosque in Bandra?) ‘Lockdown me har Bheed Masjid ke pass kyu Juti Hai? (Why is it that crowds gather near every mosque during lockdown), which he claimed fuelled hatred against Muslims.

“There were many such questions and debate on the channel intended to blame the Muslim community for the spreading of Covid-19 disease. Goswami had made many such hate filled comments against the community, targeting it,” the complainant said.

Shaikh said Goswami linked the Bandra Mosque to the migrants’ protest without any reason and gave a communal colour to the protest which had no link or involvement if any particular community.

The Pydhonie police registered a case under various sections of the Indian penal code.

“We have registered a case against Arnab Goswami and the owner of Republic TV for the hatred. Further investigation is going on. As part of evidence after taking the statement we have collected the footage of the shows with the clips in a pen drive as evidence,” said a police officer from Pydhonie police station.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...ding-hatred/story-8tfFHRTG7xImSCrgpS1PWI.html

Kudos to Mumbai Police. Ban his channel as well.

 

[Rajdeep]

Ironic that on World press freedom day, a FIR is booked on Arnab for asking why Sonia Gandhi is silence on Palghar lynching. Lets jog our memory a bit....same Sonia Gandhi called Modi 'Maut ka Saudagar' when he was quiet during Dadri lynching. Mumbai police's antics once again proved that wherever and whenever Congress has ruled, they have curbed freedom of press. I hope this sets a preecedent and next time a liberal media questions Modi, a FIR and 12 hour interrogation must be launched at them too. That time also people must be prepared to give 'Kudos' to police

 

[Abdullah719]

Ironic that on World press freedom day, a FIR is booked on Arnab for asking why Sonia Gandhi is silence on Palghar lynching. Lets jog our memory a bit....same Sonia Gandhi called Modi 'Maut ka Saudagar' when he was quiet during Dadri lynching. Mumbai police's antics once again proved that wherever and whenever Congress has ruled, they have curbed freedom of press. I hope this sets a preecedent and next time a liberal media questions Modi, a FIR and 12 hour interrogation must be launched at them too. That time also people must be prepared to give 'Kudos' to police

I don't see Sonia Gandhi mentioned in the article above; the FIR seems to be related to communal comments.

 

[Rajdeep]

I don't see Sonia Gandhi mentioned in the article above; the FIR seems to be related to communal comments.

Lol....you expect FIR to explicitly state that Arnab will be arrested bcoz he questioned Sonia Gandhi? Its quiet obvious how this thing started. On an episode of poochta hai bharat, Arnab asked why Mrs Gandhi, who always asks question to PM Modi when minorities are attacked, is quiet now when Sadhus are lynched? Is it not a fair question? And yes, he also called Sonia Gandhi by her original name - Antonio Maino. If Yogi Adityanath can be called as 'Ajay Bisht'...why its a crime to call Sonia Gandhi by her real name? Who is intolerant now? Or where is intolerant bridage now?

Lets face it....Congress has set a very bad preecedent and this will backfire on them as always.

 

[Abdullah719]

Lol....you expect FIR to explicitly state that Arnab will be arrested bcoz he questioned Sonia Gandhi? Its quiet obvious how this thing started. On an episode of poochta hai bharat, Arnab asked why Mrs Gandhi, who always asks question to PM Modi when minorities are attacked, is quiet now when Sadhus are lynched? Is it not a fair question? And yes, he also called Sonia Gandhi by her original name - Antonio Maino. If Yogi Adityanath can be called as 'Ajay Bisht'...why its a crime to call Sonia Gandhi by her real name? Who is intolerant now? Or where is intolerant bridage now?

Lets face it....Congress has set a very bad preecedent and this will backfire on them as always.

Look man, I don't know a whole lot about your internal politics so I won't comment on that.

I'm just going by the article above which concerns the Bandra incident and communal comments.

Perhaps he could have just avoided the "Muslim kaanspiracy" stuff if he didn't want to get into trouble for this?

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Ironic that on World press freedom day, a FIR is booked on Arnab for asking why Sonia Gandhi is silence on Palghar lynching. Lets jog our memory a bit....same Sonia Gandhi called Modi 'Maut ka Saudagar' when he was quiet during Dadri lynching. Mumbai police's antics once again proved that wherever and whenever Congress has ruled, they have curbed freedom of press. I hope this sets a preecedent and next time a liberal media questions Modi, a FIR and 12 hour interrogation must be launched at them too. That time also people must be prepared to give 'Kudos' to police

Nice try at diverting but this is from the article above

Shaikh highlighted alleged comments by Goswami like ‘Ab se thodi der pehle Mumbai ke Bandra me Jama Masjid Hai.’ Aur Is Jama Masjid Ke Pass Achanak Hazaro logo Ki Bheed Jama Hogae’. (Thousands of people gathered outside Jama Masjid in Bandra) ‘Mumbai ke Bandra me masjid Ke pass kisne bheed jutae. (Who gathered the crowd outside the mosque in Bandra?) ‘Lockdown me har Bheed Masjid ke pass kyu Juti Hai? (Why is it that crowds gather near every mosque during lockdown), which he claimed fuelled hatred against Muslims.

As always you comment less on the topic/article and more on useless stuff like who should post what and why are people not reacting the way you want them to.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Look man, I don't know a whole lot about your internal politics so I won't comment on that.

I'm just going by the article above which concerns the Bandra incident and communal comments.

Perhaps he could have just avoided the "Muslim kaanspiracy" stuff if he didn't want to get into trouble for this?

He is getting too much publicity these days. His channel's TRP will go up.

 

[MP2011]

Nice try at diverting but this is from the article above

Shaikh highlighted alleged comments by Goswami like ‘Ab se thodi der pehle Mumbai ke Bandra me Jama Masjid Hai.’ Aur Is Jama Masjid Ke Pass Achanak Hazaro logo Ki Bheed Jama Hogae’. (Thousands of people gathered outside Jama Masjid in Bandra) ‘Mumbai ke Bandra me masjid Ke pass kisne bheed jutae. (Who gathered the crowd outside the mosque in Bandra?) ‘Lockdown me har Bheed Masjid ke pass kyu Juti Hai? (Why is it that crowds gather near every mosque during lockdown), which he claimed fuelled hatred against Muslims.

As always you comment less on the topic/article and more on useless stuff like who should post what and why are people not reacting the way you want them to.

This is true. Nothing on the topic on hand, only senseless blabbering about their political opponents, just like their aaka.

 

[big_gamer007]

This is true. Nothing on the topic on hand, only senseless blabbering about their political opponents, just like their aaka.

He is getting too much publicity these days. His channel's TRP will go up.

I think there are BJP IT cell workers on PP as well. As part of their job they have to post standard responses all over the internet. Don't expect logical replies from them, if they had any decent amount of cognitive thinking they wouldn't be working in BJP IT cell.

Not sure why they waste their time on PP, maybe the traffic volume from India is a bit on higher side?
I guess maybe PP comes under news publication?

 

[Abdullah719]

SC refuses to quash FIRs against Arnab Goswami, no transfer of probe to CBI

The Supreme Court Tuesday rejected the plea made by journalist Arnab Goswami seeking transfer of the investigation of a case, filed against him for allegedly defaming Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, to the CBI. The court also refused to quash the FIRs filed against him.

Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV, has been booked in connection with a TV show on the gathering of migrants outside Bandra railway station on April 14. This apart, multiple FIRs have been filed against him for his show on Palghar lynching. In that show, he had posed certain questions on the incident to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, following which Congress workers lodged complaints against him in various states.

Extending Goswami’s interim protection from arrest by three weeks, the Supreme Court said, “Right of a journalist under 19 1 (a) higher…Free citizens can’t exist if news media can’t speak.”

During the earlier hearing, Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Goswami, had urged the court to transfer the probe to an agency like CBI. He said the “nature of the” second FIR against Goswami over a show on the migrant gathering outside Bandra station on April 14 “shows that it’s arm-twisting tactic”. “They are trying to stifle an unpleasant voice. This is a political party targeting a journalist. All complainants are members of one political party. They have a problem with the government. They want to teach this journalist a lesson,” he added.

Objecting to Salve’s plea to transfer the case to the CBI, Maharashtra government counsel, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, had said, “CBI investigation will go into your hands”. Sibal denied that Goswami was being harassed and said he was only asked relevant questions. He said Goswami should “stop this communal violence and communal mongering”.

https://indianexpress.com/article/i...-goswami-no-transfer-of-probe-to-cbi-6417121/

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RepublicTV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RepublicTV</a> Editor-in-Chief <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ArnabGoswami?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ArnabGoswami</a> faces a new complaint, this time under the Cable Televisions Network (Regulation) Act, 1995, for allegedly running the television channel "to create communal hatred, religious polarisation and threatening national integrity". <a href="https://t.co/QNMNj8XosO">pic.twitter.com/QNMNj8XosO</a></p>— IANS Tweets (@ians_india) <a href="https://twitter.com/ians_india/status/1268891415347638276?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[IAJ]

Nothing will happen as he has the backing of Amit Shah and his thugs.

 

[MenInG]

The Bombay high court (HC) has suspended the two first information reports (FIRs) filed at Pydhonie and NM Joshi Marg police stations against Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami while holding prima facie that there is no case and offences against the prime-time anchor that needed coercive action.

A two-member division bench of the HC, comprising Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Riyaz Chagla, while pronouncing the order in the petition filed by Goswami for quashing of the FIRs against him for allegedly giving a communal spin on his prime-time shows on the Palghar lynching of two Hindu seers on April 16 and the gathering of protesting migrants outside the Bandra railway station in mid-April amid the nationwide lockdown restrictions that were enforced to contain the spread of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.

While arguing for Goswami, senior counsel Harish Salve and Milind Sathe had submitted that the journalist had a right to report on communal incidents and Goswami had done that in both the cases he was accused of.

The senior advocates submitted that invoking Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, and language) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Goswami for criticising Congress party president Sonia Gandhi was malicious and was against his right to freedom of expression.

Salve had further submitted that the FIRs against Goswami were politically motivated and was an attempt to silence his criticism of the Maharashtra government in both the incidents.

However, senior counsels Kapil Sibal and Raja Thakare, who had appeared on behalf of the Maharashtra government, opposed Salve’s claims and had said that Goswami’s statement on the show had hurt the sentiments of the people and a detailed investigation was required in these cases.

On June 12, the HC had reserved its order and had said that no coercive action needed to be taken against Goswami, as prime facie there was neither any case nor offences disclosed against him.

The court had further observed that there was nothing to show that Goswami had tried to cause public disharmony.

Earlier, Goswami was summoned to Pydhonie police station on June 10 on the basis of a complaint by Irfan Abubakar Shaikh, secretary, Raza Education Welfare Society.

Sheikh had alleged in his FIR that Goswami tried to create hatred against the Muslim community and targeted a Bandra-based mosque that had no links to a protest by stranded migrant workers, who wanted to go back to their native places on April 14, when lockdown 1:0 were slated to be lifted.

“The mosque near the Bandra railway station is not linked to the stranded migrant workers’ protest. The workers had only gathered in an open space near the mosque. But Goswami deliberately highlighted the mosque on his show on April 29 to create communal disturbances in Mumbai,” Shaikh had alleged.

“The raging debate on the Republic TV was aimed at blaming the Muslim community for spreading Covid-19 in Mumbai. Earlier, too, he made hate-filled comments, targeting the community,” he had further alleged.

The FIR was registered under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, and language), 295A (deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any citizen) 500 (defamation), 505 (2) (spreading rumour or alarming news with intent to create or promote feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.


Lawyers from Phoenix Legal, who is representing Goswami in the cases, couldn’t be contacted, despite HT’s attempts.

 

[Swashbuckler]

 

[Swashbuckler]

 

[Swashbuckler]

‘It’s not a newsroom, it’s a durbar’: Inside the Republic of Arnab Goswami
How the media mogul’s inflated sense of self-importance, ‘nepotism’ and political partisanship drive Republic TV’s coverage – and drive away its staff.


By Manisha Pande
Published on :
Sep 7, 2020, 12:14 PM

On August 27, Tejinder Singh Sodhi took to Twitter to announce his resignation as Republic TV’s bureau chief in Jammu and Kashmir. “After writing an apology to Journalism for killing it's soul for three and a half years, I have resigned from Republic TV,” he wrote. “More details here soon.”

The “details” were subsequently published on September 1 by PGurus, with a blurb declaring that the “no-holds-barred letter” speaks of the journalist’s “horrid experience working for Republic TV”.

The letter also found its way to Twitter as most tell-all resignations now eventually do. Newslaundry reached out to several former employees at Republic TV to know their views on Tejinder’s assertions and to gauge if their experiences in the Republic TV newsroom had mirrored his.

First, a rundown of Tejinder’s claims.

‘Job of a hitman’

Tejinder’s 3,500-word email to Republic TV’s head of human resources elaborates on a range of issues he faced at the organisation. He says he joined Republic TV because its owner and chief editor, Arnab Goswami, assured him that the channel would “be the voice of the downtrodden”. But Tejinder says he soon realised that the reporters were being used to carry out hit jobs on behalf of Arnab.

He talks about how he was told to ambush Sunanda Pushkar’s father and get him to blame her husband, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, for her death. He also says his prime job as the Jammu and Kashmir bureau chief was to “target and speak against Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti”, former chief ministers of the erstwhile state. He did that job well, he adds, and “ensured to project them as anti-national and find fault in whatever they say”.

In a conversation with Newslaundry, Tejinder confirms that the email doing the rounds online is penned by him. He says he wrote it at great professional risk, knowing that speaking out against a former employer could render him unemployable in a news industry that’s governed by an Omerta — journalists rarely speak about the goings-on in their companies or newsrooms.

“Someone had to do it,” he tells Newslaundry. “This was not journalism, what we were doing. This was a hit job. The first time I realised this was when I was asked to protest outside the Congress office with black bands and placards.”

He adds, “My job was that of a hitman – to find out what Omar Abdullah is saying, to find out what Mehbooba Mufti is saying, find fault in it, and report that they are anti-national.”

As in Bollywood movies, editors at Republic TV have a name for this kind of reporting; it’s called the “chase sequence”. The reporters are told to chase down people, usually opposition leaders, thrust their mics in their faces, and demand answers.

Tejinder says he was never explicitly told that the BJP was a holy cow, but it was understood in the way stories were chosen and dropped. He alleges that a story on illegal constructions by politicians near an Army ammunition dump in Nagrota, Jammu, was never aired even though he had Army spokespersons confirming it on record.

Incidentally, the story was reported by the Indian Express. The leaders in question included BJP’s Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta, both former deputy chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir. Tejinder cites this as an example of Republic TV’s fake nationalism.

In his resignation letter, Tejinder talks about nepotism within Republic TV. He claims that Arnab’s wife, Samyabrata Ray, practically heads the operations of both its Hindi and English channels. “He calls Sonia Gandhi the super prime minister,” Tejinder says of Arnab, “but his wife is really the super editor and managing director in the organisation. Though now she holds the position of senior executive editor, she is the one deciding everything.”

Samyabrata has previously worked with the Telegraph, ANI and Tehelka. She is editor and co-owner of Republic TV.

Durbar culture

Newslaundry reached out to senior editors, anchors and reporters who have left Republic TV to understand their reasons for leaving and what they made of Tejinder’s allegations.

Newslaundry is aware that a story based on anonymous sources can often be tricky to present but most of those who chose to speak with us did not wish to be named for fear of being seen as “troublemakers”. They feared that they could be rendered unemployable if they spoke out openly about their previous employer. Some were willing to be named in this report but were denied permission by their current employers. Most media houses in India have strict rules against their employees speaking to other news organisations, which makes it doubly difficult to report on the media.

Several of the people we spoke to have worked closely with Arnab.

One person remarked that Tejinder’s email illustrated precisely why there were few experienced professionals in the business who’d like to work for Arnab. “What he’s built with Republic TV is not a newsroom, it’s a durbar. Usually, you have juniors, mid-level and senior managers in an organisation. He’s filled the newsroom with young kids who cannot stand up to him, even as most experienced hands at Republic TV have left.”

The person noted a distinct change in Arnab after the 2019 Lok Sabha election. “He has become increasingly vicious as have his panellists. He has nothing good to say about anyone. Beyond a point, it became embarrassing, this brand of theatrics in the news, and the constant screaming and shouting. He was obsessed with beating Aaj Tak, which he did, but at the cost of losing any credibility at all as a news person.”

A former senior anchor argued that when experienced professionals and the cream of the organisation are leaving one by one, you have to pause and think.

The anchor said the environment at Republic TV was “toxic and negative”.

“There is complete disregard for a person’s personal life,” the anchor added. “You can get calls at 1 am just to be shouted at. There are impossible demands from the reporters to chase a person even if he has agreed to speak to you, heckle or provoke a reaction.”

This anchor also pointed out those who signed up to work in television were aware of how gruelling it could be and prepared to work hard. “I can’t say any of us left because we couldn’t work hard or keep up with the pace. We gave our best. But there’s also the problem that if you begin getting noticed in the organisation for your work, you will be snubbed. He may know of your potential, but the man is born with a trust deficit, and he has a coterie around him that feeds into it,” the anchor said, adding that if anyone did well, the people around would start feeling insecure.

“In that sense, there’s only a certain level to which you can rise in the organisation and you have to make your peace with it.”

Aditya Raj Kaul, who was a top editor and reporter at Republic TV, said he wouldn’t comment on Tejinder’s email, but would vouch for him as a committed reporter. “He may be a bit too emotional but that surely can’t be held against him. I had persuaded him to give TV a chance back then when he had a comfortable job in PTI. I resigned from Republic as senior associate editor and senior anchor on December 31, 2018. I made a commitment to Arnab that the purpose of my resignation was not to defame him or his channel, and I stand by that even today. Though I have never regretted resigning from Republic TV.”

‘Are we going to be number ****ing one or what?’

A common theme that emerged from our conversations with former Republic TV employees is the emphasis on sting operations.

A former Republic TV anchor who is now at another major English news channel said she was once told to sting her source. “They would give us instructions like, ‘Wire yourself up and meet your source’. Why would you do that? A source becomes a source because of a certain trust that you develop with them, you have to protect their identity, not expose them. Just imagine what young journalism graduates are being taught there: basically that it’s okay to throw your source under the bus, secretly tape them and reveal their identity even if they don’t want you to do that.”

In a recent “sting operation” on Sushant Singh Rajput’s fitness trainer, the Republic TV reporter says right at the beginning, “It’s off the record, I am not filing it.”

What’s being presented here as an exposé seems like an off-the-record conversation between a journalist and a source. It is not an undercover operation. Moreover, traditionally, undercover investigations are treated as the last resort in journalism. There also has to be an overriding public interest when a news outlet decides to go down this route.

The anchor quoted above was part of the channel’s founding team, but left soon afterwards. The last straw was when she was forced to reveal her source. “I had some information on a certain politician from a very credible source but this was more to do with the politician’s personal life. When I discussed this information with Arnab and his wife, they got very excited. They bullied me into revealing the source, saying if I didn't tell them, they would go on air and ask who was feeding this information to Republic TV reporters,” she said. “Then they demanded that I get the source to meet Arnab. I said, ‘No way would the source want to meet Arnab’, to which I was told things like I should know who I was talking to and that PMs and CMs are scared of Arnab. It got pretty ugly; I just went out for a walk and never came back.”

The anchor painted Arnab as the archetype media mogul consumed by self-importance. “I think in his head, he’s the most powerful person in India after Modi. I remember this time when Arnab once came out of his office at 12:30 am and screamed, ‘Are we going to be number ****ing one or what?’ We’d all chime in to say, ‘Yes’. He’d go, ‘I didn’t ****ing hear you.’ And we’d loudly say yes and clap. When he addressed the office in one of his speeches, you couldn’t sit. If you smiled, he’d single you out.”

The anchor said she had a particularly hard time adjusting to the work environment. “It was an insane place to work at. Every day, the edit meeting would get over at 2:30 am and you would be asked to report back at 7:30 am. We never got weekly offs. We would sleep in the office, sometimes get woken up at 3:30 am to shoot promos. I wanted to leave the office once because I had a running temperature, I was simply told to take a pill and stay on.”

A former reporter had similar experiences to speak about when it came to stings. “You are given mindless directions to just sting people, even if they are willing to talk to you or even when you can get that information on record. I was just told to sting students of a particular university. I left Republic TV within a brief time of joining. I knew this wasn’t for me.”

The reporter said it shouldn’t take people years to figure out that what is happening at that channel is not journalism.

News agenda

Shweta Kothari was a founding member of the Special Investigative Team at Republic TV. The team was headed by Prema Sridevi, who too has left and is set to launch her own venture. Shweta, currently managing editor at the Logical Indian, highlighted the paranoia that pervades her former workplace.

“I was accused of being a spy for Shashi Tharoor,” she said. “This was around the time when the channel was launched and we were chasing Tharoor on the Sunanda Pushkar story. When I confronted Arnab on this, he simply told me, ‘We are trying to protect you and keep you off stories on someone you are close to.’ I have no idea what he meant by that.”

Shweta suspected that it was because Tharoor followed her on Twitter.

“The one thing that came up was that I had signed a change.org petition to make Tharoor the chief of the Congress maybe sometime in 2014. But there was no way of knowing that unless they went through my emails,” she said.

Shweta had joined Republic TV from NDTV and had clearly told Arnab in her interview that she was not Right-leaning. “He and his wife both assured me that with their own brand, their aim was to do right by India and the armed forces. I thought since he was no longer with Times Now, Republic TV would be built differently.”

This was echoed by other people who had agreed to work with Arnab despite his pro-BJP tilt from 2014 onwards. “I left Times Now to work with Arnab because, until the time he was there, at least he never pressured us directly, he never told you that you could not do this story because it was against the BJP. Navika started doing that more openly. But things changed drastically at Republic in 2019, earlier I could at least push some stories across,” said a former Republic TV anchor-editor.

By way of an example, she recalled a banking scam that she had been covering. “They wanted me to pin the blame on Congress MLAs who were not involved in the scam but were in fact trying to bail out certain people. They played up pictures of the accused with some non-BJP leaders saying they were hand in glove. When I sent them pictures of the accused with BJP leaders, there was radio silence.”

The anchor-editor said when it came to interviews with opposition leaders, the staffers were expected to be uncivil. “If it’s a regular, sitdown interview, it doesn’t work. They want you to be rude to people because that’s more drama, right? The reporters are supposed to chase people and it’s not about asking hard-hitting questions but being rude.”

As far as pre-deciding a story, Shweta said she had her first experience in the early months of the channel’s launch. She was told to conduct a sting operation on what Kashmiri Muslims thought of Kashmir Pandits returning to the valley. “I travelled village to village and I got a bunch of people to say they would welcome Pandits. There were some people, mostly people who had picked up the gun at some point, who talked about taking part in violence against Pandits. I must have spoken to 50 people, 20 on camera, out of which three or four said the things Arnab wanted to show — hate against Pandits. People who spoke of a hope for peace with their exiled Kashmiri brethren were never aired.”

‘Surrounded by a coterie’

Ironically, Arnab comes across as a Rahul Gandhi-esque figure when former Republic TV staffers speak of a “coterie” around him. Except maybe Arnab is actually successful at what he does.

A common refrain was that he surrounds himself with loyalists who get insecure when anyone outside their circle starts getting noticed by him.

A former editor said she was glad that Tejinder’s email had brought to light Samyabrata’s role in the organisation. “They really cannot go on about nepotism because they are nepotistic themselves. Arnab has practically handed over the reigns of the channel to his wife. There is a little incestuous pool they have built and ones who are loyal to it will be rewarded.”

The former editor said she had a particularly hard time coping with Samybrata even though her equation with Arnab was always cordial. “There are constant shouty instructions given to be aggressive and to sensationalise. I was doing a minimum 13-hour shift, which is ok if it’s productive work. But they already have a conclusion ready for every news story and they have a trajectory in mind, so your job is only to get them what they want.”

Another ex-staffer of the founding team said for Arnab, there was only black and white, there were no shades of grey. “You are either good or bad, you are either for him or against him. I left Republic TV because the office was only about one-sided journalism and dirty politics. People who were the fixers rose up the ranks while hardworking journalists were either pushed to the wall or exploited,” the person said, adding that there was a time when Arnab would recognise merit and talent, but not anymore.

The former editor added that there were, however, some positive points to the man. “It doesn’t matter to Arnab how you look, who your family is, or where you come from. He will give you an opportunity to be in front of the camera and push you if he thinks you are talented.”

The former editor-anchor seconded this opinion: “You could be a nobody from any kind of family, that is immaterial to Arnab. Broadcastibility for him is if you can speak on air or not. I know one reporter who was told to his face in the channel he came from that he was ‘too dark’ to be put on air. But Arnab put him on air on all stories because he doesn’t care about these things.”

Another former anchor, though, disagreed on the presence of a coterie, citing the example of Aditya and Prema as old-timers who left Republic TV without a job in hand. "For Arnab, no one matters. He relies for certain things on certain people, but everyone is disposable. Besides his wife, who practically manages everything in Republic, and the production head who has been with him since the Times Now days, I don't think there is anyone else who is permanent.”

“You have to give it to him,” the anchor added. “He was just a journalist and is now sitting on a media empire worth crores. He's a brilliant businessman and knows what his audience wants. During elections, he would sit at 6 am in the studio and stay till 12 in midnight, would only take lunch breaks. I think in Arnab's head, aside from Modi, he's the most powerful person in India. He enjoys his stardom, people talking about him on social media. I think he would be very depressed if people stopped talking about him.”

A battle for TRPs

According to the latest BARC data, Republic Bharat has displaced Aaj Tak as the Hindi TV news channel with the highest ratings. It is this battle for TRPs that has perhaps resulted in some of the ugliest TV moments of the past month. On the one hand, you had Republic Bharat anchors heckling ordinary folks outside Rhea Chakrobarty’s house and, on the other, an Aaj Tak reporter’s blatant invasion of a citizen’s privacy.

In this context, a former employee at Republic Bharat said, “I am not very taken in by this urge to single out Arnab as the worst thing that’s happened to TV news. Who’s any different? Turn on any news channel, and they are selling ‘rastravaad’ and ‘Hindu-Muslim’. I was very clear when I joined Republic Bharat that this was not journalism, it was jingoism. Unmaad phailane ka kaam kar rahe hain. This is the game of TRP.”

He, however, said the biggest fault in all of this was that of the viewers. “Do you know how much pressure we are in every Thursday when ratings come out? You are answerable for every little drop in ratings. But the question is why do news consumers watch this tamasha?”

Like news consumers, it appears that news professionals have also grown accustomed to the plummeting standards of what’s dished out as news on TV. Those who took the plunge with Republic TV probably knew that they wouldn't be working with a Walter Cronkite or the legendary SP Singh. The problem wasn’t that they weren’t willing to demonstrate flexibility while at the channel, it was that they weren’t willing to crawl — something that seems to be a prerequisite in Arnab’s scheme of things at Republic.

Newslaundry reached out to Arnab for comment on the allegations made by Tejinder and other former employees. This report will be updated if a response is received.

https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/09/07/its-not-a-newsroom-its-a-durbar-inside-the-republic-of-arnab-goswami

 

[Swashbuckler]

Tejinder's open letter from https://english.varthabharati.in/special/tejinder-singh-sodhis-letter-on-why-he-quit-arnab-goswamis-republic-tv

Tejinder Singh Sodhi’s letter on why he quit Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV

Republic TV’s J&K Bureau Chief Tejinder Singh Sodhi is the latest to have quit. His e-mail to Honey Kaur, HR Head/VP - Republic where he writes in detail the reasons for his resignation exposes the murky side of Arnab and Republic and I’d like to believe this is the plight of Indian journalists across several media houses.

From: Tejinder Singh Sodhi <…………….@………com>

Date: Sun, 30 Aug, 2020, 9:19 pm

Subject: Re: Resignation

To: Honey Kaur <……….@………..com>

Dear Honey,

Congratulations on your promotion, trust me getting promoted from HR head to Vice President of the company would have been a major achievement if it was not Republic, but in Republic there is only one supreme leader and his wife who micromanage everything, everybody else is a filler irrespective of the designation they hold.

I am telling you this out of my personal experience that everything here starts with Arnab and ends with Goswami, you don’t trust me ask this to the previous HR Head.

Have you ever seen a company where the entire HR team left in a period of just less than three years?

Time is a great teacher and I honestly pray that you don’t have to go through what everyone else who left this company had to go through, but nonetheless my good wishes for your promotion.

I was asleep when I got a call from Arnab’s wife who before the launch of this company was just a bureau reporter at a pro congress newspaper, she told me that she and Arnab were happy with my work and have decided to promote me, I was surprised what does being happy mean, if any promotion has to be given it has to be merit based.

I just wanted to disconnect the phone as the husband and wife kept bragging how kind and generous they were to the staff because at a time when other news outlets were firing people reducing their salaries, they were promoting their staff.

I was told that with the promotion my responsibilities would increase and I can guide the desk how to go on with stories, this was another surprise to me given the fact that this was exactly what I had been doing for the past two years after every sensible person at the desk had said goodbye.

This promotion had a rider and it was that the salary has not been revised for now and it would be done at a later stage, but the supreme leader of republic wanted that we should spread the word as how generous Arnab was to promote the staff. (how should we tell the people as the company had earlier threatened the staff to remove republic from their social media bio), but as you know for him it is image that matters so he wanted me to specially post this on social media.

I did that for a day or two and then after I realized my mistake, I deleted that post.

We all know that Arnab has been making huge money, the people in his cotree also make huge money, but the people who do the actual work are given peanuts.

The entire staff of Republic TV had been anxiously waiting for the past two years to get a salary hike. Two years ago, the process of appraisal was started, forms were submitted but then nobody heard back from them.

While he did not give the staff any hike, he used that money to launch a Hindi Channel and hired new staff for that, the Republic TV Staff was left high and dry.

Back to August this year, when. I got the email from you that I have been promoted, I wanted to respond to that email right away but decided to wait for a few days and If you remember it was a few hours prior to my putting up my papers I sent you that email turning down the promotion offer.

If you remember I had mentioned in my resignation that I will send you a detailed mail outlining the reasons for my resignation, so here is that email.

I had never applied for any Job at Republic TV, I was very much happy and satisfied with the company I was previously working with. It was the day of my wedding in 2017 when someone from Arnab’s office called me to say that Arnab wants to talk to me, I was in Gurudwara waiting for my Pheras to start. I thought someone was playing a prank on me so I snubbed him and. asked him to call back after a few days.

To my surprise I got the call back in a few days as I was made to speak to Arnab on WhatsApp video call, he was very soft and polite and I too was excited because till date we had seen him on Television and this was for the first time we were speaking to each other.

He shared with me the reason he left Times Now, he said how he was humiliated by the management on various issues and why he was not allowed to enter the studio for a month, he said that he is going to come up with a channel that would dismantle the Times Now empire, a David that would take on the mighty Goliath.

He told me that someone had recommended my name and he was keen to have me in his team. He promised that the Republic would revolutionize the TV news industry in the country and would question the people in power and be a channel that be the voice of the downtrodden, basically it would be a complete news channel.

I told him that I come from Print background and have no experience in Television, he told me that he wants new faces and that Republic would be an organization which would be run by young professionals and his team would be young journalists only.

I can tell you with certainty that he is one of the greatest motivational speakers a man like me who had never thought of joining television decided to join his team. When it came to salary negotiation, he told me that for now as he does not have any money, he will hire me on the same package which I was getting at my previous employer with the assurance that as the company starts making money, he would double my salary. After I resigned my previous editor in chief offered me a hike of 20000 if I don’t leave, but being a man of my principles, I requested him to let me go as I had given the commitment to Arnab.

Today looking back I regret my decision to join the Republic, he did not revolutionize Journalism, but he killed serious Journalism, reduced it to a joke and somewhere I too feel to be accomplice in that crime.

The Channel was launched and in its first week it went number 1 in TRP, we all were happy and excited because it was our hard work, the success did not come cheap our sweat and blood was mixed in it.

I was happy that Arnab would acknowledge the contribution of the team, but it was Arnab everywhere, big hoardings came across the country, only acknowledging Arnab. Don’t trust me see the hoardings that came up in Delhi after the Hindi channel came No 1 in the TRP.

After an initial few weeks, I realized that the Channel was all about Arnab only and he does not believe in team work or team efforts. It took me a few months to realize that for Republic everybody else was just a filler, who fills the vacuum of Arnab’s absence from the screen throughout the day and in the evening the stage is taken over by Arnab.

The realization did come that Arnab is a tree, under which no other tree can grow, because he can never tolerate anybody else becoming the face of the channel. He ensured by various means that everybody in the organization feels that everybody else is his rival.

An incident happened where the Republic team was not allowed to cover the Congress Press Conference in Delhi, we were asked to protest outside the congress office in our respective states by wearing black bands. I was like wait what this is not the job of a journalist to protest against a political party, but we had no option, so everybody did that.

One fine day I get a call from someone on the desk (I won’t name that someone, but he was tortured to such an extent by Arnab that he suffered a major heart attack while sitting in the office) to go and hide near the house of the father of Sunanda Pushkar and then at appropriate. time, he would tell me what has to be done.

Why hide? They never trusted their staff, so till last moment we weren’t told anything. I went to the house and suddenly I was told to enter the house and shove the mic in the mouth of Ms Pushkar’s elderly father and force him to blame Shahshi Throor for “killing his daughter”, I tried to do so but when I saw her elderly father, I was in tears, he was weak, was not mentally stable, I told the desk, but they told me that Arnab is furious on me and he wants to get the father on camera to say that Tharoor killed his daughter.

I refused and left the place, not before speaking to their man servant who spoke good about Mr Tharoor and Ms Pushkar’s relationship, but that never went on air.

Next day Arnab called me and shouted like anything, he told me that I had let him down, by not getting the father of Ms Pushkar on camera to blame Mr Tharoor.

This was not the Journalism that I had joined Republic for, reporters were being used to do the hit job on behalf of Arnab.

A reporter in UP was told to get a chase sequence with the then Chief Minister, when he couldn’t he was told to jump the wall of his house to enter the premises and get that done. He said I would be shot by his security; he was pressurized by Arnab’s wife that he resigned the next day.

As the money and power started coming in easy, Arnab became more arrogant and as he did not listen to anybody on TV, he did not even listen to his staff. He started humiliating them, shouting at them, abusing them, even physically assaulting them.

People who had joined him after leaving their well established and well-paying job at the time when Republic had no present and no future, started leaving him, some left because of the humiliation they were being meted out and some left because they realized that it was not the kind of Journalism that they were doing with him.

Slowly everybody started leaving, first it was the Reporter from Uttar Pradesh he was followed by the one from MP, then West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Bangalore and every other bureau resigned because of the editorial policies.

When I speak to them, they say that we joined the Republic to do real Journalism and not to be stooges of a particular political party and do “hit job” on those who don’t agree with that political party.

They all realized that Arnab was using his two channels to settle his personal scores with his previous employers, his former colleagues and everybody else who disagreed with his shouting bouts

Almost all leading anchors of Republic left, we still remember how one of the best anchors was dragged out of the studio humiliated, he never returned.

The people who were in his core team, who were known to be the right hand and mind of Arnab left him, they all are doing great in their professional life. They all decided not to disclose why they left the Republic, in the words of a former anchor, “he has the platform to build a fake narrative against you”.

That someone who had recommended my name was Mr Aditya Raj Kaul, who had met me a couple of times in Jammu and had seen me work. Aditya Raj Kaul was the man behind several exclusive stories on Times Now and then in Republic, when Aditya and I covered the Sunjwa terror attack, I saw how well connected this man was.

Arnab was lucky to have him in his team, for the full day it was Aditya who was on the television, from breaking news inputs to exclusive stories to interviews it was Mr Kaul on Republic. We used to joke about that Arnab should rename the Republic TVT as Aditya TV, Arnab was not doing any favor to him, but it was that every single story was being broken by Aditya. He was the backbone of the network, but one fine day we came to know that Aditya has resigned, till date I exactly don’t know what happened between Aditya and Arnab but given now we know Arnab well, it could be anybody’s guess, why he left.

Arnab being what he is could have never tolerated Aditya over growing him, hence Aditya’s exit from the network.

After Aditya’s exit, the backbone of the channel was broken, we all tried to take the burden but it was really hard for the entire team to fit in his shoes. We tried our best but Arnab never acknowledged that.

Let me take the liberty of taking a few more names, of all who left before you even joined.

Snehesh Alex Philip, is one of the well-known defense journalists of the country, before joining Republic he was the Pakistan correspondent of the premier Indian News Agency, he left Republic because of Arnab Goswami’s biased editorial policies and Arnab’s behavior towards the staff, even today reporters at Republic lift points from the copies of Snehesh.

Hari Haran used to be the Star Anchor of South India before joining Republic, he left in a span of a few months and the reason for him leaving is anybody’s guess.

So far in my life I haven’t come across a man who is as soft spoken and so dedicated to his work as Parikshit Luthra, we all know why he left. Today he is doing amazing work.

Sakal Bhat, who was the prime-time anchor at Doordarshan for 17 long years joined republic, but as Arnab cannot tolerate anybody to overgrown him, he can never tolerate that anybody else had the fan follower more than him, so she was cut to size. She left and once again joined DoorDarshan, today again she is a Prime-Time anchor there.

Pooja Prasana who left Times Now to Join Republic with Arnab, helped this company grow, she left her family for several weeks to help Arnab set up the studio in Mumbai, she worked day and night but today she is no longer with Republic, I again leave it for you to guess the reason.

Prema Sridevi who was once considered as the backbone of the network had to leave this organization, I still remember that during one conference call before the launch of the channel, Arnab told the team that he was nothing without Prema.

The list is endless, and everybody will find mention in my book soon. Will send you the first copy promise.

As I write this I have come to know that several people have put up their papers in the past one week, as they were humiliated for not getting Rhea Chakraborty’s interview.

While Arnab tried to maintain a moral high ground on TV against the rival channel for airing Rhea’s interview, he humiliated and harassed his own reporters for not getting her for the interview.

While today Arnab claims that Republic is the biggest network in the country, the reality is that they don’t have a single reporter in most of the states and in those states where people have resigned, no professional journalist is willing to join.

In Delhi you don’t have beat reporters as nobody is willing to join, a crime reporter who cannot differentiate between the Airforce and Navy uniform is covering defense for them. He became webkoof when he aired a two years old footage of the story that I had reported at that time and then he blamed the army for giving that fake video. He even shared a fake screenshot to show that a senior army officer had given the video to him.

For past few days Arnab has been shouting about Nepotism, but I maintain that he should be the last person to do so, his wife (whose only qualification is that she is Arnab’s wife) is heading the operations of both the channels, one of his close stooges who has been recently promoted as Executed Editor News, his wife who was. research assistant has been made the Head of Digital Desk (because she is native of the place from where Arnab’s wife is), another man who is now promoted as Senior Associate editor and covers defense his wife is made input head of Hindi channel and her job is to keep an eye on the staff in Noida office and inform Arnab and his wife as who is sitting on his desk and who is not, so Arnab should stop lecturing people about nepotism.

Things were a bit different for me, as my only job was to target and speak against Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti which I did, my job to ensure to project them as anti-national and find fault in whatever they say, I did handle it very well.

As I wasn’t comfortable speaking lies I changed my focus to defense as defense had always been my forte and I did many exclusive stories as well, but many senior officers used to tell me Tejinder you are a right person in a wrong company.

I am a married man, with a daughter and a family to feed, every month I had many EMIs staring at me, so I had to kill my principles to work with Arnab, knowing very well that it is not the Journalism that we are practicing in Republic.

The final nail in the coffin happened on August 5, when the interview for which I had been trying for months together was handed over to another reporter because he belongs to the region where from Arnab’s wife is and that this Reporter helped Arnab to hush up the case of abetment to suicide for which he is facing an FIR in Mumbai.

Arnab called me soon after his show and started shouting and abusing, but now my tolerance had reached its precipice and I had to give it back to him in the same language with the same vocabulary, maybe with some extra words in Pure Punjabi which he will remember throughout his life.

He gave the platform to a motormouth to abuse their fellow panelists, Arnab calls his staff a “piece of Sh*t” uses cuss words like MF and SF for them, so I thought it was opportune time to give him the taste of his own medicine.

Trust me from the day I resigned, everybody with whom I once worked or those who still work with Arnab have congratulated me and thanked me for being their voice. You know that some have resigned and some will leave soon.

Arnab in the name of hiring young talent is exploiting them, giving them peanuts in the name of job, he is hiring young college graduates or people with zero editorial understanding at the desk, so that there is nobody to speak or challenge his editorial policies, which are dictated by the WhatsApp messages from a particular political party.

Arnab has broken several Labor laws because he hired us for Republic TV (English Channel) then we were forced to work for Hindi channel also and then the dictate came that if you won’t contribute x number of stories a week for the digital desk your salary would be deducted, this threat was against the labour laws as this clause finds no mention in the contract that we signed while joining Republic, even HR team which sent this note can be taken to court of law over this harassment.

Arnab has no empathy for his staff, as he forced them to come out in the field even if their areas were declared as containment zones, I know how difficult and dangerous it was, but we did follow his dictate.

I have the company Laptop with me and having been witness to how this company does. not settle the dues of the former employees, I will hand over the laptop only once you settled my dues, give me NOC and a relieving letter and if it’s not done in next 20 days I will have no other option but to move to the labour court.

Though I know that Arnab is a vindictive man and would try his level best to sabotage my career and my future prospects to find a job, but someone had to speak against him, I decided why not that someone should be me. At least by speaking against this man’s exploitation of more youth would stop, those who dream to join Journalism in the hope of doing quality stuff end up with being bonded labourers.

I also want to put this on record that if anything bad happens to me or my family, any accident, anything untoward happens to me or my family, Arnab and his wife is to be held responsible for the same. I will be giving this undertaking to my local police station soon.

BTW Honey Kour, I wish you best of luck and pray that you don’t have to face what the previous HR head had to go through.

Regards

Tejinder Singh Sodhi

Former Bureau Head Republic TV

Now a Free man

 

[Swashbuckler]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Over the last couple of weeks, many of my former colleagues at <a href="https://twitter.com/republic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@republic</a> have resigned. They have shown exemplary courage, put their careers at risk to speak up.<br>However a section of people is hell bent on villifying them for joining Republic TV. Here is what you should know.</p>— Shweta Kothari (@Shwkothari) <a href="https://twitter.com/Shwkothari/status/1303530233107107840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I am finally putting out on social media. I have quit <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RepublicTV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RepublicTV</a> for ethical reasons. I am still under notice period but I just can't resist today to throw light upon the aggressive agenda being run by <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RepublicTV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RepublicTV</a> to vilify <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RheaChakraborty?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RheaChakraborty</a> . High time I speak out!</p>— Shantasree Sarkar (@sarkarshanta) <a href="https://twitter.com/sarkarshanta/status/1303391282841092096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">My aim was to speak the truth for which I am paying a heavy price, for first time in 18 years of career I am unemployed.<br>But thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/newslaundry?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@newslaundry</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/MnshaP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MnshaP</a> for this balanced piece of writing, where in they have spoken to the people who left Republic. <a href="https://t.co/cBOBCYPGq0">https://t.co/cBOBCYPGq0</a></p>— Tejinder Singh Sodhi &#55356;&#56814;&#55356;&#56819; (@TejinderSsodhi) <a href="https://twitter.com/TejinderSsodhi/status/1302872459079684097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[pillionrider]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/chapalforarnab?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#chapalforarnab</a> <a href="https://t.co/yCGAtIBBRv">pic.twitter.com/yCGAtIBBRv</a></p>— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) <a href="https://twitter.com/kunalkamra88/status/1304257390750072838?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Bhaijaan]

This was funny ah

https://twitter.com/x/status/1904146964897276022

 

[JaDed]

KAMRA let Modi and his bhajts consume him, there are many comedians and you tubers who speak against BJP but Kamra is the only one to be consumed and the way he aged is visible.

Manik Mahna is the best when it comes to government criticism with comedy.

 

[Hikaru]

KAMRA let Modi and his bhajts consume him, there are many comedians and you tubers who speak against BJP but Kamra is the only one to be consumed and the way he aged is visible.

Manik Mahna is the best when it comes to government criticism with comedy.

This is where I respect Dhruv Rathi. The guy has maintained a remarkable balance in his anti-BJP content and personal life. Kamra reminds me of Bhaggu Chaggus from here, can't be a fun life.

 

[MP2011]

Kamra said the truth which hooligans couldn't digest.

 

[Bhaijaan]

KAMRA let Modi and his bhajts consume him, there are many comedians and you tubers who speak against BJP but Kamra is the only one to be consumed and the way he aged is visible.

Manik Mahna is the best when it comes to government criticism with comedy.

He’s not a comedian but a full fledged leftist propagandist.

And if God forbid this is all his doing without any political funding which I highly doubt, then what you’re saying is spot on. He’s let himself consumed by this to become a miserable person who’s not even funny or fair anymore.

I come from a family of traditional Congress voters and hence i had a soft spot for Congress and RaGa for a long time but i have seen their deterioration right in front of my eyes. There were instances i saw some hope and spark in them for a revival but after every Loo Sabha defeat the Congress party has become more paranoid and more leftist than ever before. In their obsession with holding on to the minority vote they’ve become an openly Anti Hindu faction and i wonder do they even realize what they’ve become for the majority of the Hindus in this country.

Hindus who voted Congress to power for decades are terrified to even imagine what their state would be if Congress ever came to power again.

That Sonia Gandhi isn’t a real Bharatiya used to be an offensive comment for me once upon a time and passionately defended her as the wife of a Bharatiya man, belonging to this country’s much as anyone and i used to call Sushma Swaraj mad for attacking Sonia. But the way Congress party has deteriorated over the years even I question today if the wellness of this country is a priority for Congress

 

[Bhaijaan]

Kamra said the truth which hooligans couldn't digest.

I agree with you.
He said the truth and whatever happened is awful and a mockery of democracy.

Having said that, the reason why Kamra isn’t getting sympathy from the majority of people is that he’s a known propagandist for the Anti Hindutva narrative.