No,no,no,no,no! Sounds like Arnab Goswamis signature tune? It was indeed Times Now on Thursday but Goswami was away gargling or something and BJP frontman Prakash Javadekar had stepped into the breach. He had taken the helm on the pretext that RTI activist Anjali Damania was trying to take over and the young lady anchoring the show was all at sea. With forefinger aloft and awag,he was teaching her the elements of anchoring. Which consists in recognising that Javadekar speaks the truth and all others prevaricate. Hes on the Press Council of India. Maybe he knows better than us working journalists.
The issue was Damanias allegation that she had met Nitin Gadkari for help over the Maharashtra irrigation scam and was told that he was compromised on account of doing sit-ups with Sharad Pawar. In Hindi,unke saath hum uthte baithte hain. Damania has no proof of this communication. The only evidence is an SMS sent to Gadkari,which he ignored,so the specific charge that the BJP has links with the NCP is only an allegation. At this point,she poses no threat to the BJP and Javadekar could have loftily ignored her like his master,who replied only with a legal notice.
But no,no,no,no,no,Javadekar had to play his masters voice. Of course,first he played hard to get: I do not know the gentlewoman One would have thought that in his sixties,hed had enough time to get over parental injunctions against talking to strangers. But thereafter,he just lit in. The media is giving credibility,Anchor! Since Times Now often depersonalises anchors by denying them bylines,one can only address them as Anchor. But to her credit,the said Anchor had actually mentioned that Damania was short on evidence.
Javadekars response to Damania was meaningless: I cannot tolerate this! Please dont lose credibility in my presence. You can carry on your own canard but let me not be a hearing party to it! Times Now,this is not the way! Anchor had been institutionalised to Times Now.
When Damania asked for evidence that the BJP had not been muted on the coal scam,Javadekar stopped talking to strangers again. Damania: Can you show me one RTI filed by the BJP? Javadekar: I dont want to talk to you. Times Now,Times Now,it is your issue of credibility! How you allow participant to act as anchor?
Anchor: Why dont you say that the BJP is clean and welcomes a probe? Javadekar,wagging finger: No,no,no,no,this is absolute wrong. No question of probe into falsehood,thank you. And he unwired himself and stalked off into the BJPs national executive meet,ignoring Anchors entreaties to linger.
Now,heres the catch: Javadekar had followed Anchors suggestion to the letter when the Supreme Court granted relief to Amit Shah. He large-heartedly affirmed his belief that due process would establish his innocence.
No one caught Javadekar out on this doublespeak. In addition,almost all channels highlighted Shahs full bail right after the ruling,though yet another case being shifted out of Gujarat,a whole decade after the riots,was a far bigger story. But to return to Javadekar,inconsistency does not inspire confidence in a spokesperson. Javadekar has shown poor judgement in engaging when he didnt need to,but he has done worse before. In 2008,after delivering a motivational speech to students in Indore,he was photographed uncorking champagne at a party,to the embarrassment of his leadership. Not exactly the way an old RSS hand should conduct himself in public.
pratik.kanjilal@expressindia.com
