Ravish Kumar is quite a specimen. Ravish probably thinks of himself as an ascetic, sans every attachment and morally obligated to preach the world about free and fair journalism. Ravish Kumar ceased making sense long ago, but now he has become truly paranoid. Ravish Kumar’s paranoia is so deep seated that even the most harmless of moves come across to him as evil plans. And his paranoia was out in full display in his interview with The Indian Express. Having received the Magsaysay award, Ravish Kumar was interviewed by ‘The Indian Express’ journalist Nishant Shekhar. Ravish Kumar had horrendously paranoid answers to even the most positive questions that Nishant asked. Ravish Kumar ended up turning the interview into a cringefest.
Ravish Kumar turned his interview with ‘The Indian Express’ into a slugfest to spill out his hatred towards PM Modi and the section of the media which refuses to subscribe to Ravish’ style of journalism, if it may still be called so. From non-contextual jibes at Modi, to prophesy about the state of Indian media, the interview had it all.
The interview starts with Nishant Shekhar congratulating Ravish Kumar for winning the Magsaysay award and asking him about what the award means for NDTV, the media fraternity and for Ravish himself? An ordinary man will say it means a lot or will try and downplay it but Ravish Kumar is no ordinary man. Ravish simply wades into the water of accusations, mud-slinging and downright propagandizing. Now sample this, Ravish says: “you know a specific political outfit runs an anti-Ravish agenda day and night. WhatsApp stays abuzz with rumours about me and my channel. People tend to believe on it. But they are now coming to their senses and have started believing the fact that the political outfit they trust is keeping them in dark”. Yes all of this for a mere congratulatory question. Ravish then somehow connects the dots and tries proving that it’s not his “jeet” but the “jeet” of the Janata that was being fooled by “that” “specific political outfit”. Paranoia meter explodes.
Sensing Ravish’s mood, Nishant Shekhar shifts gear and gives the interview a biographical tone and asks him “You’re from Bihar where most people want to be doctors, engineers and civil servants, how did you land in journalism?”. Ravish begins the answer on a positive note, tells a bit about his college, professors and his early infatuation with history and then delivers the punchline in Ravish style “meri koi chai bechne type kahani nahi hai‘ which would translate to “I don’t have any stories about selling tea’, a clear cut jibe at Prime Minister Modi’s humble origins. This comes from a man who claims to be the voice of the voiceless.
Ravish Kumar also comes across as a pompous self-praiser who claims that people still send him “bori bhar bhar ke chitthiyan” (sacks full of letters for Ravish). A mere look at the comment section on his Facebook wall would be enough to gauge the kind of love and adulation, people have for Ravish Kumar.
Ravish Kumar also tries to project the fans of Prime Minister Modi as blind fans who would continue voting for PM Modi even if they have stay jobless for the rest of their lives.
Then on every question the Indian Express journalist asks is greeted with the same answer or rather an unadulterated lecture from Ravish Kumar. He claims that media (minus NDTV) has zero credibility, and that they have become Godi media (a term he uses to denigrate media channel that he perceives to be Pro-Modi). He goes on to call learned intellectuals from right side of the political spectrum as Khudra-Khudri log (penny people).
Ravish claims to have no hatred for Modi yet he continues taking jibes at the Prime Minister at the drop of a hat. Be it PM Modi’s humble beginnings, or his political journey, Ravish Kumar has a biased opinion about it all. This was evident as during the course of the interview when Kumar took sly digs at PM Modi, even when the questions were about his own personal journey and life. He also ended the interview with a jibe at PM Modi and Akshay Kumar, for the latter’s interview during election season.
Ravish Kumar seems to be in urgent need of some love and affection. He needs to cry his heart out and fast forward his watch to 2019 where NDTV is a TV channel marred with controversies and financial malpractices, mainstream media heroes of yesteryear are twitter trolls struggling for relevance and the political party they used to reject as India’s natural opposition party is now in its second term with an astounding majority.
