Indian journalists are brave people. They are continuously showing the world how journalism ought to be done, and how objective reporting is still possible at a time when the world is perhaps more polarised than ever before. West Bengal elections are underway. They are high value and supremely significant for both the BJP and the TMC. While the BJP has mounted an offensive campaign against Mamata Banerjee and her TMC like never before, the Trinamool too is leaving no stone unturned to defend its fort – no matter how cracked and dilapidated it may be.
To engage in an honest conversation with a select group of brave journalists, Mamata Banerjee’s political consultant and adviser, and IPAC chief Prashant Kishor joined a Clubhouse talk, where he admitted that the TMC was in for a big ride in West Bengal, and that PM Modi’s popularity in the state was immense. He even conceded that the Dalit voters in the state, apart from the Hindi-speaking citizenry, were solidly backing the BJP. This, complemented with the polarisation of the electorate, would immensely benefit the BJP, according to the IPAC chief.
‘Kaun Jaat Ho’ fame and perpetual pessimist Ravish Kumar, who has also been awarded the Magsaysay award wanted to know why people love PM Modi. The brave, award-winning journalist asked the same to Kishor. The essence of his question was not inquisitiveness, but a deep-seated hatred for the BJP and PM Modi. Regarding the lack of anti-incumbency faced by the Modi government, Prashant Kishor said, “The anti-incumbency is against the state government and not the central government and Modi is popular here, very popular. If we are doing a leader survey then Modi and Mamata are equally popular. Which is a very big thing, Modi is very popular.”
Sensing that the TMC’s prospects in the state were not good enough to prevent the BJP from forming a government in the state, “independent journalist” Sakshi Joshi decided to take matters in her own hands and grill Prashant Kishor. Being the brave and courageously smart journalist that she is, Joshi probed Prashant Kishor on how Mamata Banerjee managed to not go to the loo during election campaigning. Sakshi Joshi admitted that she had never seen Mamata take a washroom break to ease herself. Why was she not going to the washroom, Sakshi asked the charismatic and equally smart Prashant Kishor.
Her exact pointed question was, “I was wondering as a woman. Mamata Banerjee arrives in a helicopter, speaks on the stage for an hour, returns back to her helicopter and then lands at a different venue. Even there she speaks for an hour on the stage. When is she going to the washroom? When is she going for herself? This is my question.”
बहुत ही गम्भीर सवालो पर मंथन करता सिकुलर मीडिया pic.twitter.com/kpMq189Srk
— Tajinder Bagga (Modi Ka Parivar) (@TajinderBagga) April 10, 2021
The conversation, which the participants thought was limited to members of the “bright wing” alone, was in fact public and also being recorded. Now, Prashant Kishor and the brave Lutyens journalists are running helter-skelter to save their face and somehow attempting to prevent the IPAC chief’s explosive remarks from reaching the electorate. However, the time for damage control is way past gone.
Coming back to the neutral, objective, brave and hallmark journalist Sakshi Joshi and her intense line of questioning. It was unrelenting. She kept probing Kishor. She even asked, “What is her (bathroom) schedule? How it has been made? I mean what is she doing. Wherever she goes, I have never seen her being lodged in someone else’s home. She directly comes to the venue and then goes away.” Sakshi Joshi also added, “I was thinking that we (journalists) have to (go to a washroom many times) due to the excessive heat and intake of a large quantity of water. We have to go somewhere or the other. I have never seen her (Banerjee) taking any breaks.”
At a time when journalists are forgetting the very essence of journalism, the likes of Sakshi Joshi, Ravish Kumar and Arfa Khanum are leading the way with their pointed and very specific questions, which were able to corner even Prashant Kishor.