Ravish Kumar is once again in the news, but this time not for a wrong reason. A video of his programme has recently gone viral on social media, wherein he was seen trolling his former compatriot and journalist, Rajdeep Sardesai, calling him names like ‘Shopkeeper’, ‘Balancevaadi’ etc.
Ravish Kumar had recently attended a programme organized by News 24. When the executive editor of News 24, Manak Gupta, questioned Ravish on his negativity, citing Rajdeep Sardesai as an example, Ravish nonchalantly replied, “Manak, I’m not a shopkeeper. The name you’ve taken, I’m not balancevaadi [indulging in monkey balancing] like him. It is true that media is orchestrating the murder of democracy, but this is not issue of positivity or negativity…..if you cannot term murder as murder, what else can you say?” One must say, this is next level of trolling –
Ravish trolls Rajdeep🤣 pic.twitter.com/qFUz5UPjTw
— Sarcasm Politics (@Sarcasm_politic) March 5, 2020
However, Ravish wasn’t done yet. When Manak asserted that not only Rajdeep, but many other journalists also feel that for the split of media into two sections, both sides are responsible, Ravish disagreed with him. He said, “This is completely wrong, there is no balance. If 90% of media becomes one side then one should not run this shop that people from both sides have separated. Rajdeep Sardesai and most of the media are trying to do balancing when there is none”.
Now who doesn’t know Ravish Kumar? This journalist works in the ‘Forever Lonely’ mode 24X7. Forget Magsaysay, even if this person wins the Nobel Prize in any discipline, he will still cry about how PM Modi is an obstacle to a democratic India. However, irrespective of the leanings, Ravish has made an interesting observation in the aforementioned event. In this age of polarization, you can be anything but balanced or neutral, be it politics or journalism.
Interestingly, Ravish Kumar and Rajdeep Sardesai are birds of the same flock. Both have been an ‘illustrious’ addition to the legendary channel NDTV, and both are known more for the fake news they peddle, rather than their journalistic prowess. For both, PM Narendra Modi is nothing less than a living nightmare. However, the way Ravish Kumar has targeted Rajdeep this time, this says a lot, especially when both have been members of a common organization.
As of now, Ravish Kumar is having a rough time right now. During the coverage of the riots in North East Delhi, Ravish claimed on his Prime Time show that the man brandishing a live pistol was not Mohammad Shahrukh, but Anurag Mishra. However, Ravish wasn’t done yet. He even went on to claim that he doesn’t believe in the police reports, and until and unless he doesn’t receive a copy of the same, he shall continue calling Shahrukh as Anurag. Even journalism would face palm herself on this supreme logic.
However, this is literally nothing. Ravish is extremely tolerant as a journalist, so much so that when Akhilesh Yadav once expressed his desire to kill a journalist, Ravish did not even express his displeasure on the same, despite claiming himself to be the custodian of Indian democracy. A journalist once termed Akhilesh Yadav as Aurangzeb, to which Akhilesh explained, “My mistake was that I called that journalist from Delhi to Lucknow. I should’ve drawn out the sword like Aurangzeb and should’ve finished that person right there and then.”
To be honest, Ravish Kumar is a brilliant journalist of his own level. The propaganda should reign, even if it makes a mockery of journalism. He hasn’t got the Magsaysay Award for nothing, after all. Sometimes, you even need to mock your own mentor in public to prove your credentials, as Ravish Kumar has recently done in the case of Rajdeep Sardesai.