In a huge victory for Arnab Goswami, the Bombay High Court suspended two FIRs against the Republic TV Editor-in-Chief which is a major setback to Sonia Gandhi and her lackeys who spared no stone unturned to intimidate and harass Goswami.
The Bombay High Court observed that, “prima facie there is no case made out” as it ordered that no coercive steps be taken against him until further orders. The honourable Justices Ujjwal Bhuyan and Riyaz Chagla also observed that there was no evidence to show that Arnab tried to cause public disharmony.
The court said, “It would be wrong to say that the petitioner(Arnab) had made the statements in the broadcast with a view to defame or insult the feelings of any religious group or community.”
It further added, “It is quite clear that the object of or the target of the petitioner’s attack was primarily Smt Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party. There was no mentioning of either the Muslim or the Christian community. It would be too far-fetched to say that two religious communities were involved in the debate. As a matter of fact, there was no reference to the Muslim community or to the Christian community.”
Hence, the court observed, “The FIR on the face of it does not make out commission of any criminal offence by the petitioner.”
Goswami appeared to have triggered the Congress ecosystem by criticising their godmother over the Palghar mob lynching incident as he called her by her maiden name Antonia Maino and asked if she would have remained silent had Maulvis or Christian Padres were targeted the way Hindu Sadhus were targeted. Goswami also said, “She (Sonia Gandhi) would prepare a list and send it to Italy, mentioning how she formed a government in a state, where Sadhus are now getting killed, and she would receive applause from there (Italy).”
What happened next displays the seething intolerance in the Congress party over anyone daring to ask tough questions on their godmother. Congress goons attacked Arnab and his wife while simultaneously filing over 100 FIRs in Congress-ruled states.
The Indian National Congress sought to scare Arnab and warn anyone even thinking of questioning Antonia Maino about the consequences that they will have to face if they raise a finger against her.
As Arnab stands vindicated, it also shows the weakening influence of Sonia and her gang. From remote controlling the Indian government through Manmohan to now intimidating and harassing a journalist, it has been a disastrous fall from grace for Sonia. It is a given that Arnab will continue to fearlessly take on Sonia and its ecosystem as there are just way too many skeletons in Sonia’s closet which Arnab will continue to expose day in day out.
The three party Maha Vikas Aghadi government is already on borrowed time with Congress despite having a plethora of ministries not doing anything for Maharashtra. The party’s leaders including Rahul Gandhi have disdained that they have no say in the Maharashtra government.
The only contribution made by INC in the Maharashtra Government is to vilify and hound Arnab, albeit unsuccessfully. The concerted effort to jail Arnab for daring to question the godmother of Congress will likely see India slip in the press freedom rankings and when that happens, it will be the ruling BJP that will have to take the blame.
It is important to note that Sonia’s loyal pets like Rajdeep Sardesai and the ilk were in fact cheering when Arnab was being hounded and the same people will be seen criticising the Central government when India slips below in the press freedom rankings.
While Arnab’s plight has been hardly covered by the mainstream media, had it been the flip side where the Yogi Adityanath government would have hounded a journalist for calling him ‘Ajay Bisht’, the ecosystem’s stooges would have rushed to the New York Times, Washington Post etc and written hundreds of articles of how Modi and his ‘militant monk’ are killing democracy. But of course, all is forgotten when Sonia is involved.
Arnab by addressing Sonia Gandhi with her maiden name opened a can of worms and triggered the Congress which willfully walked into the trap laid by him. Congress has reacted to Arnab’s criticism in a vindictive manner, which was expected from the start. The hounding of Arnab further rekindles the memories of Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi and exposes how the party never really stood for freedom of expression which is beautifully encapsulated by Anand Ranganathan in his Twitter thread.
Even when UPA was in power, no journalist dared to ask Sonia Gandhi tough questions as it was an unwritten rule to never question the apex family. The likes of Rajdeep Sardesai might be taking potshots at Arnab Goswami and his journalism, Sardesai’s style of journalism was in full display when he interviewed Sonia Gandhi in 2016. Some of the highlights of Sardesai’s questions were:
“The first time you met Indira Gandhi.. do you remember it?”
“When you came to India for the first time and met Mrs. Gandhi, what was she like at home?”
“Your mother-in-law would ask every evening where are you going?”
“Was it a traditional Saas Bahu relation?”
“ Was there a lot of privacy that Indira Gandhi gave you as a couple”
Notice how even his question about dynastic politics sounded like light questions without much harshness.
The interview hit the nail in the head as the INC members must have cried after this interview as Rajdeep’s line of questioning revealed Sonia’s struggle. The party’s happiness knew no bounds when in one of her interviews to Shekhar Gupta, who is now the Editor’s Guild President, where the nation got to learn that Sonia can cook pasta. How dare Arnab Goswami ask tough questions, how dare he question Sonia over her silence on the Palghar lynchings and not ask her about whether Sonia can cook mixed sauce pasta?
Sonia has erred greatly by hounding Arnab as he will now come back stronger and will be unrelenting in his criticism and exposing of the Indian National Congress. It seems unfair to even compare Sonia to Prime Minister Modi as she no longer enjoys the love and influence that the Prime Minister does. Arnab alone is enough to make Sonia Gandhi and her party irrelevant by 2024 LS elections.
