We had written last week how journalist Sreenivasan Jain had gone overboard in defending corruption in his last truth vs hype show. In the same show, he had also made attacks on Baba Ramdev for speaking at IIT Delhi, and for partnering with it on the Unnat Bharat program. Subsequently, he was schooled by Baba Ramdev on twitter, who later invited him for an open debate on science. Jain took up the challenge and decided to interview Baba. But little did he know, he had fallen into a trap.
Jain conducted the interview, and then presented a heavily edited, cut and spliced version of the same, after adding his biased spins. But Ramdev Baba had an ace up his sleeve. He had recorded the entire interview separately, and uploaded the full interview, unedited, taken in one shot, on Youtube. Even a NDTV journalist fool would realise Jain has massively distorted Baba’s views by watching both the videos, but we will make it even clearer with a detailed dissection.
The first distortion is in the title itself, which quotes Baba as saying ‘I Am a Scientist Baba’. Fact is, Baba Ramdev never called himself a “scientist”, he only said he is “scientific” in his methods. By purposely changing this small word, Jain tried to create an impression that Ramdev, who is not trained to be a scientist, is calling himself a scientist.
Next, Jain comes to the main question: Many Swamis and other religious institutions, including Ramdev’s Patanjali have been involved with Unnat Bharat and have partnered with IIT. What is the connection of such organizations with rural technology of IITs?
To this question, there are two answers. One, which Sreenivasan Jain showed, after cut-pasting various segments. And second, what Ramdev actually said:
Ramdev’s edited reply as shown by NDTV: Firstly, I am not a spokesman for anybody else. I can speak for myself. Firstly, English media have a misconception that sadhus have no connection with science. (cut) I was born itself in the family of a uneducated farmer. And we have mixed science with Yoga (cut) You were harping on cow, saffron, baba, with a big red circle around the “baba”. I am a frank baba, and scientific baba, and I sleep on the floor, and I have a dream that India should progress.
Edits Explained: The portion after the first cut, was actually in response to a totally different question, but Sreenivasan Jain deliberately put it here. The part after the second cut, is from the last few minutes of the interview, where Ramdev, after placing all facts, attacked Jain’s blind biases.
What Ramdev actually said: (continued from before the first cut) Ramdev reveals that more than 100 scientists work with him. He had called them for the interview but they did not come. He further said they are working in botany, agriculture, animal industry, food. They are also working on economic measures which will help farmers in the village.
Then Jain says: “So you say you have been working with farmers for quite some time?”. That is when Ramdev said the part about being born in the family of a farmer. Further Ramdev explained that they have worked in thousands of villages, where they increased income of farmers, helped with de-addiction, helped cows which were affected by high urea, thus helping farmers. He also said they are the first in the country to develop a urea-free animal food. He also mentioned the 1000 acre farm they have, where without urea and other chemicals, they have managed to produce 1.5 times to 2 times the normal output, and where the cost is only Rs 4000 per acre, as against the standard Rs 4000 (edit) 12000 per acre.
Why doesn’t Jain show all this? Simple, it will prove that Sreenivasan is a poorly researched liar masquerading as a journalist with facts. Ramdev completely exposes Jain’s ignorance about his work, which is exactly the “rural technology” which is needed for a scheme like Unnat Bharat.
Next in Sreenivasan’s deliberately edited video, he abruptly says “but what has this got to do with IIT?”, once again omitting some portion before this sentence. Before this sentence, Ramdev says he has started the world’s biggest herbal food park, and made it a profitable venture. He further elaborates that it generates direct employment for over 1 lakh people. Again, an achievement of Ramdev in the field of “Rural technology” which embarrassed Jain and hence was not shown.
Later, Jain asks some political questions. And this is where NDTV’s editor should win an Oscar for editing because the sheer skulduggery employed by Sreenivasan Jain here is unbelievable. Mind you, Jain is the same guy who won “Journalist of the year award” recently, so you can imagine the deplorable levels of journalism in India, if a first grade liar gets this award. First, let us see what actually happened, as per the unedited interview:
1. (Jain Question 1): The state of farmers is quite poor, other people are also troubled, Modi Government has completed one year, are you satisfied with the running of the Government?
2. (Ramdev Answer 1): Modi has started well, some of his schemes may take 1, 2 or 5 years to show results. He is involved in nation-building programmes, not vote-bank building programmes. He wants to take India ahead, and is trying with honesty and hard-work. He works for 18-20 hours a day. But he must also start work which creates vote-banks (i.e. for the backward and downtrodden people).
3. (Jain Question 2): Vyapam has come forward, Vasundhara Raje’s and Sushma Swaraj’s issues have come, many Maharashtra Government ministers are accused of scandals. Don’t you think BJP’s image is changing because of these scams, and Modi is silent on all of this?
4. (Ramdev Answer 2): I had supported Modi. You can see my tapes from before, I have said, without Modi, BJP is nothing. I am not a BJP spokesperson, I am self made, I am not BJP’s baba. (Now Sreenivasan Jain probes baba repeatedly, and asks him to comment on Modi’s silence. Ramdev avoids for a long time, and finally replies) From my side, no comments. We should comment, only when the matter is more clear. Scams should not happen, and scamsters are the enemies of the entire country. Till things are not clear, making premature statements is not correct. I don’t want to get into a new controversy.
Now what award-winning journalist Sreenivasan Jain does is, shows his first question, and then shows Ramdev’s second answer! He completely deletes the first answer which was on how Modi’s Government has performed, and instead shows the answer which relates to the various scams. This is the depth Sreenivasan Jain goes to perpetuate his propaganda and save himself after he has been thoroughly exposed. Maybe he did so because there was no chance of “hitting the bar” with Ramdev.
Jain also omitted another part of the interview, where Ramdev schooled him again
“I have been to IIM also and many IITs are calling me even now, but I haven’t been able to give them time. I have been to AIIMS also, that too during UPA time, on the invitation of Ghulam Nabi Azad, and the doctors there who heard me said that they got to learn somethings from me. I agree many babas have many scams, but such people are present in media, in politics, hence people should think before making statements.”
Sreenivasan Jain, has been regularly exposed by us, his hilarious show on Jan Dhan Yojana, and his brazen defence of the corrupt. But it is a shame that such fraudulent journalists still command prime-time shows in India.
