The National Democratic Alliance is surging ahead of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar polls as the counting of votes for the 243 assembly seats is underway and NDTV’s ‘neutral’ journalist Ravish Kumar does not seem to be happy about it.
After initial trends showed a close neck and neck contest between the two rival alliances, the incumbent Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United (JDU) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance seem to be pulling its weight, leading in 128 seats, well above the halfway mark of 122. While the final results are yet to be declared, energy-packed debates are taking place across newsrooms of all news channels over which alliance will be making the government in Bihar and which would have to return empty-handed.
‘Neutral’ journalist Ravish Kumar, on behalf of NDTV has been discussing the Bihar Assembly poll results. However, during the entire course of arguments and discussions, it was Ravish Kumar’s flip flops and mood swings that stole the show.
When the initial trends were going against the NDA alliance, Ravish Kumar seemed to be on the top of the world. His euphoria and energy in NDTV’s newsroom were unmatched. However, there was a sudden change in his mood, when the trends started changing. Ravish felt the ground slip under his feet after trends started showing a route for the Congress party alliance in Bihar.
Initially, trends showed NDA winning 73 seats and the Grand Alliance at 89. At that point, Ravish Kumar, in his exuberance said “According to initial trends which are coming from the cities, the people of Bihar have rejected the Nitish-Modi pair. It shows how angry people are with the alliance.”
Then came the second phase of trends… after which it seemed that a tornado had hit Ravish Kumar. By this time, the NDA had an edge over 112 seats. Here there was a sudden change in Ravish’s tone and mood as he claimed: “See, villages have a big role in Bihar elections, EVMs are not open there yet when they open, the matter will be clear.”
At one point Ravish Kumar was almost heard confessing that BJP’s victory in Bihar is extremely troubling for the journalist. He was heard saying, “mere liye bahut mushkil hai’.
Neutral Journalist Ravish Kumar is sad with BJP victory 👏 pic.twitter.com/XEoIN5gv4G
— Political Kida (@PoliticalKida) November 10, 2020
These are, however, just a small example. Apart from this, Ravish Kumar’s flip-flop journalism changed colours several times during the entire discussion of Bihar assembly poll results. Ravish Kumar once said sarcastically: “BJP wins every election.” Amusingly, the same Ravish Kumar who was all this while trying to point out reasons why NDA alliance was being rejected by the people of Bihar, was suddenly seen hailing the alliance, discussing reasons which benefitted BJP and the JD(U) alliance in Bihar.
This flip-flop is not exclusive to Ravish Kumar. As BJP inches closer to a victory in Bihar many so-called ‘secularist’ journalists are seen doing such somersaults. India Today’s ‘journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai was also seen altering from one argument to the other in order to rationalise the voting trends. Interestingly, he too flip-flopped as the trends changed in BJP’s favour.
Counting of votes for the Bihar assembly elections will take longer than usual and continue till late in the night because of 63 per cent increase in the number of EVMs, the Election Commission said on Monday. Briefing reporters in the national capital as the counting progressed in Bihar, EC officials said over 1 crore votes were counted till around 1.30 pm out of nearly 4.16 crore votes polled in the three-phase elections. The official said the counting has been “glitch-free” so far.
