One of the most defining traits of ‘liberals’, besides whataboutery, is hypocrisy. Any ‘liberal’ worth his or her salt has at least one point in time shamelessly and unapologetically indulged in hypocrisy. Being hypocrite comes naturally to this set of individuals, who show no inhibitions in exhibiting it. Recently, this hypocrisy was in full glory when a section of ‘liberals’ attacked the Managing Director of Times Group, Vineet Jain, for expressing his views on Rhea Chakraborty and drug trafficking cases.
Making a case for the swift release of the embattled actor Rhea Chakraborty, who was under arrest in connection with a drug case related to Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise, Vineet shared a cut-out from his newspaper that argued in favour of bail in cases where an offence is not grave. Jain also highlights how the peddlers of hard drugs have been released on bail within 15 days while Rhea Chakraborty continues to languish in the jail since September 8.
Well, highlighting others’ hypocrisy while glossing over it when committed by one of their own is also one of the characteristics of ‘liberals’. But this time around, they pulled no punches in calling out Vineet’s duplicity for urging the release of Rhea Chakraborty while his own group news channel Times Now attacked the actor for her alleged involvement in a drug syndicate.
Liberals attack Times Group head Vineet Jain for arguing in favour of bail for Rhea Chakraborty
Soon after Vineet shared his newspaper’s view on his Twitter account, a raft of so-called liberals descended upon his timeline, attacking him for issuing sermons on Rhea Chakraborty and drug trafficking-related cases. The ‘liberals’ were profoundly perturbed that Jain was appealing for the release of Rhea while Times Now, a news channel under the umbrella of the media group managed by him, vociferously called for the arrest of the actor. It was a bit surreal to witness liberals attacking Mr Jain for hypocrisy, which is a quintessentially liberal attribute.
Manisha Pande, a supposed journalist with Newslaundry, seemed visibly disturbed with Jain’s tweet arguing in favour of bail for Rhea Chakraborty. Responding to Jain, Pande said that he should perhaps talk to the Times Now anchors—Navika Kumar, Rahul Shivshankar and Padmaja Joshi—who, according to her, “spearheaded the worst of the witch-hunt against Rhea Chakraborty”, before preaching sermons on Twitter.
Your channel ran the hashtag #IndiaForRheaArrest. Your anchors @navikakumar, @RShivshankar and @PadmajaJoshi spearheaded the worst sort of witch-hunt against #RheaCharaborty, so please speak to them before tweeting sermons. pic.twitter.com/3qZZFv5qU9
— Manisha Pande (@MnshaP) October 7, 2020
Another Newslaundry employee, Meghnad, responded to Jain, claiming Times Now anchor Navika Kumar would disagree with his view and also rhetorically questioned the media house for which Navika worked.
@navikakumar in her green saree will vehemently disagree with you.
— Meghnad 🔗 (@Memeghnad) October 7, 2020
Wonder what media house she works for and who the promoter is. The mystery deepens.https://t.co/btdfzGzyRV
AICC media co-ordinator Prashant Pratap Singh called out Mr Vineet for his duplicity and accused him of running a channel which peddled fake narrative.
Duplicity Mr. Jain? Your channel is the one which peddled the Fake Narrative.
— Prashant Pratap Singh (@iPrashantSingh) October 7, 2020
I hope you keep safe from what you started.
Several others also joined in, accusing the Times Group head of exhibiting hypocrisy by pointing out Times Now’s stance on the issue.
Hypocrisy ko koi seema nahi hoti!😂😂
— Abhijit Ankalkote (@AbhiAnkalkote) October 7, 2020
Proved again!
Why don’t u tell this to your own employees @TimesNow? Don’t they give u respect? @navikakumar & @RShivshankar, look what ur Boss has to say! https://t.co/8sMOFdsoX4
Yes pls advice your own channel and so called journalist navika Kumar to follow
— Dr. Yash Hathi (@docyrh) October 7, 2020
Unfortunately @TimesNow was amongst the channels that was championing to have her prosecuted. Justice should prevail.
— Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal (@sanjayjaiswal51) October 7, 2020
Times Now has been one of the fierce proponents of exemplary action against actor Rhea Chakraborty after she was alleged to have been involved in a drug syndicate related to the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. Though she had been granted bail by the court, it doesn’t mean they she has been absolved from the crimes she has been accused of.
While Mr Jain has been attacked by the ‘liberals’ for sermonising the release of Rhea Chakraborty on Twitter when his channel Times Now feverishly called for her prosecution, it is equally hypocritical on the part of these ‘liberals’ to suggest that Mr Jain should have intervened in the daily operations of Times Now. Though liberals passionately argue for a free press, not burdened by the views foisted on them, the fact that they are castigating Mr Jain for not imposing his opinions on Times Now reveals the inherent hypocrisy that ‘liberals’ have come to be associated with.