Rahul Gandhi’s aversion to impromptu, full-length TV interviews is not a secret. Ever since the catastrophic disaster that was his interview with Arnab Goswami, Rahul Gandhi has mostly limited his interactions to media with print media outlets only. He has been seen in a number of press conferences surrounded with a number of senior Congress leaders working as his chaperone and apparently to minimize any sort of damage he causes.
Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly claimed that PM Modi does not interact to the press. The allegations are categorically false but truth never mattered to Rahul Gandhi anyway. In recent times, PM Modi has given several back-to-back TV interviews. Perhaps driven by this and hoping to finally get rid of the ‘Arnab curse’, Congress leadership decided to put Rahul Gandhi in front of the camera again in an impromptu set-up. However, if rumors on social media are to be believed, the experiment has gone horribly wrong.
RaGa's interview published in IndiaToday
But RaGa gave a TV interview
Rahul urged them not to run it because it was a disaster
Congress snatched the recordings and asked it to run a print interview
InTo complied like any 'pliable' media would
*based on SM Speculations*
— The Frustrated Indian (@FrustIndian) May 3, 2019
The social media is abuzz with rumors that during his flight to Agra, Rahul Gandhi gave an interview to India Today Editorial Director Raj Chengappa and Associate Editor Kaushik Deka. The interview was supposed to be a televised one. However, the rumor has it that the interview was went so bad that Congress had to plead with India Today editorial team not to air it. Finally, India Today went with a print version of the interview.
The rumor gained traction after some social media users spotted a collar-mike on Rahul Gandhi which is usually used for televised interviews.
Congress President @RahulGandhi’s most detailed interview. #RahulGandhiToIndiaToday
Watch Live: https://t.co/4fqxBWbTYl with @ShivAroor pic.twitter.com/5icYdvrih8— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) May 2, 2019
India Today’s promotional tickers had also hinted at a televised interview.
If rumors on social media are to be believed, Congress worked hard to nix the TV interview for the fear of another ‘Arnab like’ fiasco. Back in 2014, prior to the historic election in which BJP swept the Lok Sabha polls, emerging as the largest majority since 1984; Rahul Gandhi had attempted to give a television interview to Arnab Goswami for Times Now. First, Rahul Gandhi was grilled by the journalist on the fact that he hasn’t ever given an interview despite being in politics since the past decade, implying an avoidance of difficult issues. Thereafter he was bombarded with all kinds of questions including, the involvement of Congress in the 1984 riots, facing a difficult challenge from Narendra Modi, unaccounted Congress money and the various scams such as the 2G scam and CWG scam. To say that the interview was Rahul Gandhi’s worst nightmare would be an understatement. Needless to say, his party lost the following elections.