Barkha Dutt Saves Hosni Mubarak

“It was impossible for Christiane Amanpour to not be there, so one can understand how hard it must have been for Barkha Dutt to have not rushed to Egypt. Someone must have stopped her, and thankfully so”.  This is what I wrote a couple of days ago in my post ‘Egypt & The Fifth Column’. As expected Barkha Dutt has proved me wrong once again and has rushed to Egypt. Well, she was just a bit late. Hosni Mubarak was looking for someone to pass the buck for the present crisis in Egypt. He wanted to pick Barkha for an exclusive interview, but in her absence he had to pick the poor man’s version of Barkha, Christiane Amanpour.

I have to presume Barkha was fed up with the comic work of CNN-IBN journalists who went there and were either detained or attacked. So on CNN-IBN the reporting was much about their own journalists’ plight than Egypt itself. After all, these are the representatives of India, the new super-kid on the block. To her absolute delight Barkha found she had scared the living daylights out of the protesters and Mubarak’s goons. Incidentally, CNN-IBN had originally planned to send Sagarika Ghose, but the Egyptians strongly objected to the fact that her shrill screaming would drown their own voices. So good sense prevailed on that channel. Another reporter, Karmic Soliloquy, who was in Cairo, has filed this live report from Egypt:

Protesters praying for Barkha Dutt to go..

“Live and direct from Cairo: NDTV journalist and all round news aunty Barkha Dutt has lodged a strong protest with the Egyptian government over the latter’s decision not to arrest or threaten her. Bharkha, who is reporting on the crisis in Egypt from Cairo, was among the few journalists left unharmed by President Hosni Mubarak supporters, policemen and army soldiers.....Barkha’s stock in India has been on a freefall since the last three years following among others an incident where she got a tiny small time blogger to shutdown his blog over some uncharitable comments he had made on the self proclaimed queen of Indian newsdom .......not only did the Egyptian government goons leave her alone, but they also treated her with much respect as if she was one of them. An angry Barkha rushed to the makeshift office of the Mubarak Goons Association and demanded an immediate arrest\detention or even a reprimand from the forces loyal to Mubarak..... (instead) The goons served her tea and breakfast and even gave her a sturdy horse to take her around Cairo. Grandpa Pranoy Roy has meanwhile condemned the incident and refused to dye his beard for three days in protest....” Read the full report by Karmic Soliloquy

The New York Post writer Andrea Peyser had once conferred the title ‘War Slut” on Christiane Amanpour for her reporting from conflict zones, and later called her a “Palestinian Propagandist”. Barkha is now angry that the international media has conspired to deprive her of similar titles which would have been well-earned.

 

Knowing Barkha was in Egypt can Nira Radia be far behind? Well, the Egyptian protesters suddenly realised that with Barkha in Egypt there was every chance that Hosni Mubarak may stay on in office. After all, some Indian journalists and PR bigwigs know how to put people in office or keep them there. So they have now shifted their focus away from Mubarak and instead want Barkha out.

Another Indian reporter in Cairo (Emmaarcee) has sent in this one:  “Here is a sms message which says that "After seeing (NDTV's) Burka Dutt's reports, several Egyptians dropped their demand for Mubarak's exit. They want HER to go”. So now you know how our very own Barkha saved Hosni Mubarak. I can confirm the Amanpour-Mubarak interview, but the rest is, of course, based on unconfirmed reports. Indian journalists can get anything done and keep anyone in power. Now you know!