Propagandist-in-chief of NDTV and the face of their Hindi channel – Ravish Kumar – has finally resigned from the channel after it was acquired by the Adani Group. Following his resignation, Ravish Kumar posted a video on his YouTube channel for his “Saathis” and followers. The video was heavily garnished with melodramatic spices and toppings of self-praise. For someone observing it neutrally, it is no better than “Meri Ek Tang Nakli Hai” moment of Ravish Kumar.
For those who are unaware of this often-used meme, it is a dialogue from the Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Welcome’ in which Mushtaq Khan’s character constantly keeps talking about his boss, Nana Patekar, through the story of his fractured leg as he repeats “One of my legs is artificial, otherwise I used to be a great hockey player in the past”. Let’s directly dive into the sea of verbal tears Ravish Kumar shed after resigning from NDTV.
Ravish Kumar started with a gloomy face
Ravish Kumar started with his introduction, “Namaskar, I am Ravish Kumar” as if it was more of a Prime Time episode rather than his post-resignation rant. He said, “There was no golden age in India’s journalism. But it was never an age of ashes like today when every good thing about this profession is being burnt to ashes very quickly. This day was bound to come. There are so many channels in this country but every one of them is a “Godi Media”. The environment, ecosystem, and surroundings of journalism – all of them have been finished. At the same time, everyone claims that what they do is journalism, including those who are seen at as a part of the power center, journalism is being crushed in this country every day.”
Taking aim at the government, Ravish said, “Godi Media and the government want to impose on you what they mean by journalism. So you may get fooled again.”
Ravish thanked his ‘comrades’ and not the channel that employed him for so many years
Ravish Kumar claimed that he did not want to say much about his ex-organization NDTV, and he stuck to his word. He said, “I don’t want to say much about my organization because when you are emotional, you cannot be neutral. I spent 26 to 27 years in NDTV in a journey full of ups and downs with so many seniors and juniors and contemporary “Saathis”. There are so many memories. I can’t talk about this experience objectively, at least not today. Because, in so many instances, facts and emotions get mixed up and facts get lost in the storm of emotions.”
Ravish Kumar indirectly and unwillingly gave a cross-sectional view of his propagandist career in the last statement in this section where he talked about mixing up facts with emotions. Ravish Kumar avoided naming any of his colleagues in NDTV and said that it would be an injustice to others if he named just a few, because everyone enriched his life with their experience. However, he did not shed any light on how his experiences were enriched when he was with NDTV. However, he did spend time telling everyone what is real journalism as per him, even if he never found an issue worth talking about in states ruled by Congress, a party on whose ticket his brother fought elections.
Ravish Kumar feels his departure from NDTV is like ‘Beti ki Bidai’
Getting really melodramatic, Ravish Kumar compared his departure from NDTV with “Beti ki Bidai”, a farewell to a newly-wed bride from her parents’ home. Ravish Kumar said, “When a bride departs from her parents’ home, she turns back, again and again, to look at her home. I am feeling the same right now. So let me just turn back and see everything again. Talking about NDTV in detail is for some other time when I will not be emotional about getting separated from NDTV.”
Ravish Kumar, after this section, started detailing his career with NDTV. He said, “I joined NDTV in August 1996 as a translator before which I used to sort out letters by viewers. I worked on daily wages there and got money on per day basis, I still do the same. I reply to many of the comments and messages by the viewers. Nowadays I have reduced replying because I have pain in my fingers.”
Melodrama continues as Ravish Kumar compares himself with Narendra Modi
Getting even more melodramatic, Ravish Kumar said, “Today is a different evening. Today, the sparrow is not able to see its nest. Someone else has taken away its nest. But in front of the sparrow, there is an open sky which it can explore till it gets tired.”
He explained how he went on to become a reporter and then became a chief editor at NDTV. He said that it is possible only in NDTV that a person who works in translation and sorting out letters can become a reporter and go on to become a chief editor. In this part. he sounded exactly like Narendra Modi who often says that “it is possible only in the BJP that a Chaiwala like me, a simple party worker like me can become a Prime Minister candidate.” In this way, Ravish Kumar compared himself with Narendra Modi and used the words often used by PM Modi, ironically, a person Ravish keeps criticising every day even if he has done nothing wrong.
Realizing this contradiction, he quickly attempted to damage control where he said, “But never keep in mind while talking about me, that I once did letter-sorting and translations. I am not like those who talk of selling tea as they land from an airplane. I don’t want to do this for getting sympathy or to call my struggle one of the greatest.”
Fooling people in the guise of crediting them
Next, Ravish went on to talk about his thoughts on viewers and common people while reporting, and how when institutions were collapsing, his viewers and followers built a new institution of people. Of course, he thought it helped save and revive democracy in the country.
Ravish Kumar thanked students, Indians, and NRIs for becoming journalists themselves and helping him save the small island of journalism. He thanked people who contributed to his shows through different modes. As he resigned from NDTV, Ravish Kumar said that there is no journalism left in any media institution. This essentially underlines how he was considering himself to be the only real journalist left in the only real media house. Crediting viewers for watching and supporting his responsible journalism, he put on the shoulders of the common people the moral burden of supporting such activities in the future to save democracy.
Adding Chane ka Sattu, Honey, and Roses to the recipe
As Ravish Kumar realized that he is reducing melodrama, he again resorted to touching the sentiments as he said, “You trusted a journalist in this difficult era. You loved him so much.” He addressed himself in the third person like a true Narcissist. Then he quickly came back to his case as he said, “So many elderly women caressed my hair with love, many of them touched my cheeks and many others planted roses in my flowerpot. Someone sent “Chane ka Sattu” so that I get good health. Someone else sent honey for me. Somebody looked at me standing in scorching heat and he held an umbrella above me for shade. Someone else put an expensive pen in my pocket. So, today, I want to remember you, viewers, more and the NDTV less. I could do nothing without you and I am proud of you. I got unrestricted freedom in my organization but I used it only for you.”
Adding cricket flavor for better reach and attacking Adani Group
Just after saying that he did not have any ego, Ravish Kumar said, “I witnessed how time has changed. But I stood firm as a test match player. But now, someone has changed the entire nature of the game. Someone has made it like a T20 cricket match. Rich people consider the common public as inferior and like every other country, our country too has a few such rich people.”
This was essentially a jibe he took against Gautam Adani who recently batted for the possibility of a global Indian media that will back the stand of the Indian government when it is necessary to back the national interests internationally. Ravish Kumar said, “They will put a dollar in their pockets and leave a penny for you common viewers when they will claim that they want to convey the proper information to you through the news. They will file cases against real journalists and meet you in some religious talks where they will preach that they are doing this for the sake of journalism.”
Underlining societal differences even in the middle of a farewell speech
After underlining the rich-poor divide, Ravish Kumar tried to highlight linguistic differences as has been his leftist agenda of finding fault lines first and then crediting oneself for building a unified picture through those differences. Ravish Kumar said, “Hindi is not my mother tongue. Bhojpuri is my mother tongue. It is my village. Hindi is the first city where I reached. Many people from regional languages helped me by translating the content from their regional languages to Hindi so that I could make my shows more authentic. There was a time when only English journalist was considered to be journalists. In fact, the politics in the Hindi belt was responsible for this miserable condition of Hindi journalism. I know many Hindi journalists who did not get what they actually deserved. I thank all my supporters including those from the English language for what they did for me. They treated me equally. I don’t cry for those who did not.”
Ravish Kumar confirmed whom he batted for
Ravish Kumar further said, “I covered many protests. I saw how you trust a journalist. A state should listen to the people and what could be a better medium than a journalist? I felt that I am taking your voices to the government as I looked at the government from your point of view.” Ravish Kumar essentially addressed the protesters from this point on in the video. He said, “I see the light of the Sun in the protests like Shaheen Bagh and farmers’ protests. I have seen you become people. They can remove the tantra but they cannot finish Jan. One day this Jan will definitely make a better tantra. One day people will rise above hatred and search for a new place. They will remember a journalist at that time.”
Concluding with “Darr Ka Mahaul”
Warning newcomers about the “Darr ka Mahaul” in media, he said, “Many aspirants study journalism spending lakhs of rupees but they should know that there is no institution of journalism left in the Indian media now and they will be forced to work like agents. A scared journalist gives birth to a dead citizen. Therefore, say that you are not afraid. You are the citizen of a country that barefooted brought the British Raj to its knees. One day you will come out of the slavery of this Godi media and I have no reason not to trust you. Understand the gravity of the situation, you are the slave of a Godi media in an independent country. I will be seen only on YouTube for now and not on NDTV where you will never hear this again – Namaskar I am Ravish Kumar.”
What is being a Ravish Kumar?
For Ravish Kumar, journalism for all practical purposes can be propaganda against India, the Indian state, society, and government put together. He says so because he wants people to know that someone was fighting the battle even if the battle is lost. But while glorifying his own martyrdom, he cleverly conceals what he is actually fighting against. He, and many other journalists who are essentially off-shoots of the NDTV group, claim that they are the voices of the people who stand against discrimination while they are the ones who actually propel and peddle divides on Prime Time.
Ravish Kumar is a propagandist-in-chief leading the convoy of self-revering intellectual faces in the TV media, who claim to show the truth when they peddle their own agenda but weep for the “post-truth” era when they see people electing a government that doesn’t support their ideological biases. With Adani Group buying NDTV, maybe Ravish realised he can no longer push his agenda through his journalism, and knew now he can find his ultimate broadcasting place only where he himself had once said – a bathroom.
