On the day NDTV journalist Ravish Kumar was in the Philippines to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award, users on Twitter were digging out his old tweets. Not to congratulate him, but to show his hypocrisy.
Recently the GDP numbers for the first quarter of the financial year 2019-2020 were released, which had showed that GDP growth rate had come down to 5%. Talking about the state economy on NDTV India on 20th August, Ravish Kumar had said that such a low growth rate of GDP means that the Indian economy is in recession. He had noted that this is the lowest growth rate in 6 years. According to Ravish Kumar, 5% GDP growth news is very bad news for the economy.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ct709LdeTk]
But it seems Ravish Kumar’s analysis on the economy has changed with change with government at the centre, because in 2013, he had said that there is nothing to worry about a GDP growth of 5%. He had asked whether people were worrying too much, as several only few countries were growing at even 5% rate, and growth rate most countries were below this.
A composite video of both comments of the NDTV journalist, showing his opposite comments on GDP during UPA and NDA government, has gone viral on Social media.
इन्हें सुनिए और इनका असली सच समझिए
इनको GDP से, देश से, युवाओं से, रोजगार से कहीं कोई लेना देना नहीं
शुद्ध धंधेबाज हैं, आज इनके चोर माई बाप जेल में जा रहे हैं, इसलिए विधवा विलाप चालू हैं pic.twitter.com/rxiZj6Rp1T
— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) September 5, 2019
While Ravish Kumar of 2019 thinks 5% GDP growth means economic slowdown, Ravish Kumar of 2012 disagrees with him. In October 2012, when one social media user had pointed out to him that GDP growth rate of Madhya Pradesh was in negative during Congress regime, it was growing at 12%+ during Shivraj Chauhan led BJP government, Ravish Kumar had said that ‘journalism is not to propagate GDP rate only’. He had said that there are many realities which GDO does not bring.
@sanju_giri19 besides these sacred facts journalism is not to propagate GDP RATE Only. There r many realities which GDP does nt bring
— ravish kumar (@ravishndtv) October 2, 2012
During Modi government, Ravish Kumar worries about job loss, but during Manmohan Singh government had a different take on people leaving jobs. According to him, people were quitting jobs in the private sector to start businesses, as India was turning into a business society. But now suddenly we have reverted to a job-based society.
#RavishKumar during congress rule when GDP was 5%. pic.twitter.com/suIiiyMtlr
— Manoj Kokane?? (@kokane_manoj) September 5, 2019
It is not that Ravish Kumar’s views on only economy change with time, people found some other such dynamic views also. For example, sometimes he says that TV should be thrown way, people should not watch TV either on Television or on phones. He had claimed that TV is trying hard to destroy the Indian democracy. But in other times he complaints that when his show comes on TV, people switch off the TV. He said that people switching off TV when his show starts is dictatorship.
#RavishKumar
इसे कहते हैं दोगलापन। pic.twitter.com/T2aSo4X9hB— Gautam Kumar (@gautamdass90) September 5, 2019
Ravish Kumar’s view on economy changes during the Modi government too, based on the circumstance. On August 20, he had claimed that although the number of people filing Income Tax Return had gone up, tax collection amount had not increased much. The number of returns has increased, but its effect on revenue is negligible, he had claimed. But when the government increased the slab for income tax this year, he complained that this will lead to loss of revenue. In this year’s budget, the government announced that upto an income of ₹5 lakhs, no income tax will have to be paid. He complained that this will reduce the number of income taxpayers by 3 crores, and the government’s revenue will go down by ₹18,500 crore.
क्या #RavishKumar निष्पक्ष पत्रकार है?
विडियो देखे जवाब खुद मिल जाएगा ? pic.twitter.com/mC9Cy016E3— I’mHarsh (@Thekumarharsh) September 5, 2019
Ravish Kumar’s dislike for BJP is well documented, so such examples of his hypocrisy do not come as surprise. When the exit polls before the counting of 2019 Lok Sabha polls had projected a win for NDA, he went on a prolonged meltdown, and rejected the exit poll numbers. He has floated various conspiracy theories, like he was under surveillance, or that NDTV transmission was willingly disrupted, which were results of pure imagination.
