CNN-IBN - A History Of Abuse

(This is a MaxiPost)

The media celebs are unable to reconcile to the awful truth that their monopoly on national discourse is over. It’s like a 70-year old ex-boxing champing desperately trying to make a comeback. In the absence of any sensible dialogue with people or adapting to new technologies their tactic is to provoke people, abuse certain politicians they dislike and paint an entire religious community (Hindus) as uncouth, uncivilised and abusive; that is, those on the net. Leading this campaign of abuse on behalf of the MSM is your dashing, dynamic duo of Sagarika Ghose and Rajdeep Sardesai. She is far more abusive than he is. Rajdeep has his stray moments when he loses composure but his deputy is a natural fountain of abusive behaviour. Their greatest trick is to abuse, miss, hit and run and then play victim. It’s now an SOP (Standard operating procedure). When they get pinned for their abuses they will have articles planted on the net to “sow suspicions” or get their fellow Hammamis to bat for them as “victims”. Let’s get to this business of abuse.

First off, Sagarika has used terms like Ugly Indian males, Lord Ram an encroacher, she sees Orange in our national flag, has Easter eggs on Good Friday and also calls judges crackpots. But let’s pass all that, okay? These are nonsensical utterances for which I call her a bimbo because such utterances can only come from a reckless bimbo. She also calls President Abdul Kalam a “Bomb daddy” because the “Sangh pulled off a cunning theft of secularism”. So, you know, it is criminal of BJP to back a Muslim president and therefore she calls him a “Bomb Daddy” in 2002. That, of course, is not wanton abuse of the Head of the State. She also likes to call MMS “Blue turban” as if he was her local ‘Chana-Kulcha” salesman. Try that in Hindi – “Neeli pagdi” - and it sounds even more fascinating, doesn’t it? But let’s pass all this.   

They call themselves journalists! For the record, journalists are supposed to be honourable public figures and conscience keepers and not like ordinary people. This used to apply to politicians too but we are past expecting such honour from them. Lately, with the likes of Sagarika and a few more, we have stopped expecting honour from journalists too. If the crooks were honourable I would have had no business running this blog at all. This month has seen more aggravated behaviour from both Rajdeep and Sagarika. It’s possible the BJP winning 4-1 in the last round of state elections, Narendra Modi’s popularity soaring despite CNN-IBN crowning Arvind Kejriwal “Miss Tantrum India” with their IOTY award has caused a lot of damage. One could have understood that. But that’s not true at all. The history of abuses and bad behaviour by this duo had started long before I even got on to social media. Let’s roll!

On February 9, Shivam Vij, India’s foremost expert in social media and scoops from inside the management board rooms of news channels put out an article titled “Why CNN-IBN’s Sagarika may no longer criticise Modi”. Blow to Modi! What the hell! The only person who ever offered Modi genuine and constructive criticism is being censored? How the hell did that happen? In support of his scoop (which looks a lot like an earlier article from Caravan on Network18) he quoted some tweets from Sagarika in which she claimed there was some “EVIL” out there which wanted to silence journalists and that “independent” journalists should “UNITE”. Vij also quoted Maharashtra’s greatest son Nikhil Wagle too. So this was a set up to help these unworthies whine and wail after they cause havoc with mindless abuse. But both Rajdeep and Sagarika were “totally unaware” of this leak and acted quickly to issue denials. Here you go:

All this hatred from the editors of CNN-IBN revolves around their discourse on Narendra Modi and their illogical contempt for him as a politician and as an individual. For instance, the cowards at this channel issued an apology to P. Chidambaram for calling him tainted. Here it is:

If the above is a genuine concern at CNN-IBN then imagine the truckload of apologies Rajdeep would have to issue to Modi. He has publicly humiliated him with names like “mass murderer” and “hero of hatred” when Modi was the key speaker at the HT summit in 2007. Despite the SC, SIT and lower court dismissing a petition to make Modi an accused in the 2002 riots Rajdeep still asks if the 2002 “taint” will go away. Isn’t it the same word “taint” for which he is apologising to PC? Not just calling Modi names but Rajdeep has gladly and willingly allowed many panellists to joyfully abuse Modi on his channel. What kind of honourable journalism is that? Pathetic gutter-level journalism! Let’s move on. Here’s CRI’s Prasanna making a casual observation about Sagarika’s hypocrisy on some count and the response should tell you who starts the abuse:

A guttersnipe? That word is clinching evidence that SG was educated at Oxbridge. It’s a very common abuse in ye old England for street urchins. Therefore, for uncouth, stupid, black Indians the word “guttersnipe” is not an unusual description is it? Of course, SG prides herself and brags about coining the term Internet Hindus (IH). This was a derogatory term she used to describe the “swarm of bees” that Hindus on the net are. But she always claims it’s a description of any Hindu on the internet. You know, that makes me an Internet Hindu. However, the IH’s have worn that label gladly but here’s what SG really thinks of IH:

Oh! Hindus are cowards who will hide behind their mummy’s saris. Listen all you Hindu morons, this does not constitute an abuse just because she called you Hindus. When asked why she chooses such a term as IH by KiranKS she responds as a Macaulay Putri would respond to an Indian dog. “Saar… understanding inglees”? Oh yeah! Inglees because these uncouth, uneducated Hindus can’t pronounce English. And she challenges they invent a phrase too. Well darling, I did invent one for you at least: CATEGORY5MORON. You’re famous by that name and there are even Twitter handles that proudly bear that name. There are other names I’ve “invented” too but let’s not make it about my “inventiveness”. And like Rajdeep, she too calls Modi anything – fascist! Hah! And why? Here’s why:

So C5M tells AMishra77 that Modi is a fascist because Ashis Nandy said so. Really? This Nandy is the world’s greatest authority on fascists? That’s your logic for calling Modi a fascist because someone else said so? I recall Nandy himself has a case against for Dalit-abuse at a Litterfest and was spared arrest by the Supreme Court. So it’s an incestuous family of abuses. Salma says it, Sabrina quotes it. So what about Swapan Dasgupta’s call? He clearly says the anchor is overwhelmed by hatred for Modi and is unfit to conduct the debate in question (And SwapanD is their friend and regular panellist on CNN-IBN). That’s why certain people with huge prejudices are unfit to conduct public debates. That they are unfit for this is increasingly evident to people and the same gets criticised on social media, including Twitter, which the SG types find hard to digest. Let’s not stop. Here’s another one:

Since SG was asking if the SC will act on some issue one RajivGupta suggests SC should act against her too since she contemptuously called the judge a “Crackpot”. What’s her response? That of a moron of the first water! She simply calls him a Modi-bhakt with no connection at all and talks of FDI. It is this absolute intolerance and contempt that gets the shoe-throws from the crowd. If you don’t answer, that is fine, but why answer with abusive insults? People don’t start or wake up in the morning thinking of her like she and her boss sleep and wake up thinking of Modi and abusing him day and night. Shekhar Gupta’s IE has not had a big blast since the “Raisina Hill” blunder so they pulled out something on Modi’s childhood wife which the media again gorged on like vultures when they actually had no business even talking about. Does she resist the temptation? Oops!

What exactly does Modi’s ex-wife have to do with his politics or his public life? This is not even considering the fact that it was a marriage of minors (over 40 years ago) which Modi chose to walk away from and which is even otherwise legally void. Sagarika’s tweet is worded as some great concern for the woman as if her life was destroyed. Is Narendra Modi answerable to this bitchy nonsense? Is this the language of a journalist? This tweet itself is enough to sack her. Because behind the snide the message she wishes to convey is that Modi ill-treated a woman, dumped her. Who the hell is this moron to ask this question? Does her being a below-average TV anchor allow her the luxury of slinging mud to her convenience? She was rightly slapped by not only Ashok Malik but even Numero Uno.

The only problem is that the so-called Editor is also the husband of the anchor and deputy editor. In any other situation this lady would have been sacked long back for her consistently abusive behaviour. I wonder what Raghav Bahl thinks of all this crap that these two frequently peddle on Twitter. Did all this mindless abuse about Modi and his followers start now? No! It seems to have started long before I even discovered Twitter or social media. Here you go:

Kids, dogs, garden and Monday she’ll get back to all the slime, garbage and corruption which include Modi and HINDUS! Why is it that Hindus and Modi are always bracketed with sleaze and corruption? If this is not a bimbo with a chronic disorder what is it? And this is what her criticism of Modi is? What personal damage has Modi caused her for her to constantly abuse him in this fashion? Well, the toothless editor isn’t far behind. He can’t walk his dog without a derogatory equation of the animal to Modi. Who are these morons? What do they think they are? And others are abusive and these cabbages play victims? Laughable!  

Here’s what I wrote on how Rajdeep as a “Super troll and hate monger” where he constantly trolls and peddles hate against Modi:

Sample the depth of Rajdeep’s hatred for Modi. In a report on March 8, CNN-IBN quotes the PM’s line from parliament: "jo garajte hain, woh baraste nahi”. Seems the target of that line was Modi. Fair enough! The Hindi line used by PM clearly means “Whoever thunders does not shower” and that may have been in reference to Modi’s speech. But what does hate-filled Rajdeep read it as? He reads it as “Bhokte kutte kattey nahin” and then translates into English as “Barking dogs seldom bite”. Now, I haven’t seen anyone direct so much hatred at a person to enrich their life as Rajdeep has been doing for over a decade. And then Rajdeep expects Twitter to be kind to him. What a moron! And now imagine that he heads an organisation. He also probably spends time in inculcating such hatred in all his team members. His deputy is a racist in addition to being a hater. And he still wonders why people call him “paid media”.

Rajdeep then adds to the nonsense by claiming his friend Screwvala told him he shouldn’t mentioned Namo and Nemo in the same tweet. Who is he apologising to? Fans of Nemo? That Nemo’s family was offended because the dog was insulted by being mentioned along with Namo? This clever innuendo and word-play is passed as apology. Does Rajdeep think people are idiots like some of those he surrounds himself with? Why does this couple start, live and end their day with Modi in their mind and soul? Is he some kind of poison that satisfies some vicious underlying vicarious pleasure? I can’t think of any other logical answer. Is this the discourse that journalists are supposed to be indulging in. Naturally, ordinary followers and supporters of Modi will hit back. And what does Rajdeep do then? He comes up with more nonsense:

Family targeted, death threats! Who the hell is this guy kidding? Why should anyone believe this abuser’s crap? And people will abuse his granny? Moron, stop abusing others and stop abusing a politician simply because you hate his ideology or his popularity. That is the absolute truth! Doormats like Rajdeep and Sagarika haven’t been able to dent Modi’s popularity or rise so first abuse and then blame Hindus and Modi supporters as abusers on SM. Not just that, they go wailing to members of their Hammam who then start tom-toming Hindus and Modi supporters are abusers. Irrefutable fact is that these two have a history of abuses and abusive behaviour and they shame not only CNN-IBN and some of their good colleagues but they shame journalism itself. And the bimbo puts out some more nonsense:

The evil isn’t out there Sagarika; it’s in your head and in your heart. Cleanse it! People who have an experience with you will tell you that and someone who has that experience has indeed told you who has been silencing others. And whenever they play victim they get even worse. They claim their profession as the resort (of a scoundrel?):

You are journalists? By what standards? By what measure? That you simply get to be on TV or put some words in print? Nothing in your discourse suggests you have any journalistic ethic even in the little finger of your hand. So stop calling yourself journalists. We have the good fortune of still seeing some genuine journalists around and people can tell the difference. It is for Raghav Bahl and the management of CNN-IBN to decide whether such abusive behaviour by their top two editors can pass for a media outlet. The tweet on the left indicates why the abusive behaviour was at peak during the last few days and the “victimhood” nonsense. It is a choice they have to make on whether to continue this deplorable history or to change direction for a better discourse. Hatred cannot and should not dictate journalism.

PS: A sequel to this post with more instances of hate-mongering and abuse will appear at a later date.