Just like people binge-watch series on different OTT platforms, former NDTV reporter Ravish Kumar is giving binge interviews one after another. From The Wire to Ajit Anjum and now BBC Hindi tried their hands at milking the opportunity to gain some views from the endless rant against Adani Group for taking over NDTV in what has been a very legal business deal which has left the Roys quite rich, honestly.
Ravish Kumar resigned from NDTV after Adani Group gained control crying ‘attack on media’. This, while even the Roys, who started the media house, are around, going about their work as usual. Ravish Kumar, however, with his sense of importance, claimed that the deal was carried out to ‘buy’ his silence. While in reality, it was done after the convertible debt taken by Roys was converted to equity as per the provisions in the deal.
Except, Ravish Kumar has made it all about himself and would repeat ad nauseam to any and everyone who’d listen. Now, he seems to have taken it further and hinted his political ambitions.
On December 27, British state media BBC Hindi published a little over a 30-minute interview with the “fallen Hero” of the liberal world. Ravish, during his interview with BBC, low-key hinted at the political aspirations he has. Here is what happened during the interview.
Mukesh Sharma, India’s Digital Editor of BBC News, was the interview host. In the interview’s second half, Sharma asked Ravish if he got any offers to join politics. He asked, “You have been raising your voice against the government. Has any political party ever approached you to join politics?”
Ravish denied getting any such offers from any opposition party. He said, “No, this has never happened. Friends and well-wishers keep telling me that I should join politics. A lot of people want to see me in politics.” Though he did not say directly that he wanted to join politics, Ravish presented a scenario of him being in Lok Sabha and speaking in front of “them”. It appears he meant Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders. He said, “Imagine me being in politics, in Lok Sabha and speaking in front of him. No one can buy Lok Sabha. Or some ‘Seth’ will come and buy it!” with a grin and sparkling eyes.
He then continued suggesting his dismay towards politics. He said, “We should do what comes in our dreams. I keep dreaming about TV. I think how videos should be edited. How beautiful the colour of the studio is. How good the lighting is. These are all parts of my dreams. The day this dream changes, I will change. And now, I am not in a standardised profession. This profession has kicked me out. The profession of journalism has kicked me out. This is why not even a single newspaper has asked me to write a column for them. Those big media houses. No channel has approached me or asked me to join them. My inability to get a job will always remind me no matter how much money they have, they do not have strength in their hands.”
Should Ravish Kumar Pandey, however, choose to join politics, it will not be a new thing in his family. His own brother is a Congress leader.
Ravish’s brother and politician Brajesh Pandey was accused of sexual harassment
While Ravish is throwing hints at his aspirations of becoming a politician, it should be noted that he has a brother who is already a politician and was accused of sexual harassment in 2017.
In 2017, Brajesh Pandey, the brother of ‘journalist’ Ravish Kumar, was accused of running a sex racket in Bihar. Brajesh Pandey, who was also the VP of the Bihar Congress then, had absconded after allegations of sexual harassment were made against him.
Reportedly, a Dalit minor girl, who was the daughter of a Congress leader and former minister, had named Pandey and several other people of sexually abusing her over a period of time.
The girl had then demanded a probe by a senior police officer after raising suspicion that the case might be scuttled or diluted due to the involvement of politically well-connected people, including Brajesh Pandey.
Some reports suggested that attempts were being made to suppress the case by exerting political pressure on the authorities. The reports claimed that Brajesh was being shielded as he was the brother of an influential journalist.
The Congress leader was then booked under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) on the basis of a victim’s complaint.
Another accused in the case, Nikhil Priyadarshi, is a leading businessman in the automobile sector and the son of a retired IAS officer. The girl had claimed that Priyadarshi lured her by promising to marry her. However, the victim realised that the accused and others were running a sex racket.
Later, the Bihar sex scandal case involving Pandey was buried after the complainant girl reached a compromise with the accused. The Dalit girl had stated that she would marry the person whom she had accused of running a sex racket and sexually exploiting her.
