In the American justice system, where the charges against an accused are somewhat doubtful, prosecutions rarely go to trial unless they are 100% sure of a conviction. Prosecutions usually seek a confession or a “deal” that closes the case and thus avoids a trial. In such a case, the judge only has to pronounce the sentence and no hearing is involved. But if a defendant does go to court with a difficult case, then the job of his lawyer is to try his best to create a “reasonable doubt” about the guilt. Jury verdicts are required to be free of any doubts. In India, it’s the opposite. It is enough for “Reasonable proof” to convict a defendant than for “Reasonable doubt” to acquit someone. This is what two media morons are caught in right now – reasonable doubt.
Arnab Goswami and Nidhi Razdan made a thorough comedy of themselves on January 15 with some revelations. Both have covered themselves with ignominy and ridicule. I would have to say, all of it was unnecessary and senseless indiscretion that has got them here. We have to wonder what really happened. Let’s start with the “Larger picture” Nidhi. She is as dumb as they come in media – lots of noise and blabber and rarely anything credible. Add to this excessive contempt for the BJP or those who support the party. Nidhi announced to the world that she was a victim of a “Phishing” attack that appointed her “Associate Professor” at Harvard. She had got this appointment in June 2020 and was to join in September. But due to Covid it was postponed to January 2021 when she realised it was a fraud.
What happened? We will not really know but we can only estimate. Firstly, Nidhi claims she filed a police complaint against the “Phisher” but my suspicion is that no such complaint has been filed. If indeed such a complaint is filed, no crime reporter or daily police-beat reporter has reported it.
I estimate that Nidhi did get some mails on being referred by someone for a job at Harvard and that was followed up by a fake telephonic interview and an appointment letter by email. Since she claims “phishing” we cannot discount the possibility of an agency being involved and Nidhi having paid some money to them. She won’t admit that because it will make her look like a dumb fool. Within a week of all this, Nidhi resigned from NDTV and announced to the world that she is joining Harvard. Interestingly, she is neither qualified to teach at Harvard nor is there a journalism department in Harvard. But let’s not worry about that. Nidhi could have been a Math professor for all that matters. Since most journos are Math geniuses. Anyway, once she resigned from NDTV, there was no going back and, at the same time, nothing more was forthcoming from Harvard.
But Nidhi had already announced to the world that she was now a professor at Harvard and paraded herself as such on some debates and other news shows. From June till December, that is all of seven months, nobody asked her “Why aren’t you at Harvard teaching something?”. Maybe they did and Nidhi offered them the excuse that due to Covid her joining had been deferred to January 2021. During this period, she was making merry in Gupkar land probably with her boyfriend Omar Abdullah. Sometime in those 7 months she also put out a pic of her and Blabberdullah being on a flight. Although, this may be a trip to UK rather than Boston. I have to say it’s a very adorable pic with Dullah holding a rose for Nidhi. Time passed and nothing was moving and everyone was asking “When are you going to Boston?” just like they ask pregnant women “What is the due date?”
Naturally, this was upsetting Nidhi because she wasn’t able to apply for a Visa (for employment in the US) with the US Embassy as she didn’t have proper documents. She had shown all the communications she had to Dullah. But he being as dumb as she is, didn’t suspect anything. Amazing, that without any documents, without a Visa she promptly quit her job. Even average morons don't do this. So, she checks with that suspected agency again in December and they demand another instalment of payment claiming that due to passage of time some procedures would have to be done again and this would entail additional costs. Nidhi reluctantly must have paid some more money in December but when she didn’t hear anything till mid-January, 2021, she started having doubts. She had doubts because she is an intelligent woman.
As she grew more frustrated, Nidhi must have shown all the communications to some educated friend who is well-versed with Harvard. I guess that friend probably broke out in bladder-busting laughter and fell down the stairs of her house. When Nidhi rushed to him asking if he needed some first-aid, he must have said “No darling, it’s you that needs some Koolaid” and told her “You’ve been had”. In the meantime, Harvard had also noticed she was going around claiming to be their employee so sent her an email stating she has to immediately disown her claims or they will prosecute her for being an imposter and fraudulent misrepresentation.
Nidhi probably lost her temper and must have shouted at Dullah for not knowing anything, making her resign, making her lose money and now losing face all over the country. Finally, her lawyer told her to blame it on “Phishing” and let it die down. And that is where she left it for the moment. I don’t believe there was any phishing and Nidhi had to come out possibly because Harvard itself may have threatened to prosecute her if she didn’t publicly deny her Harvard nonsense:
The story of Arnab Goswami is far less complicated. He has been hounded by the Maharashtra govt and the Mumbai Police ever since he ranted wild nonsense against SoniaG over the Palghar Sadhus lynching incident. Arnab didn’t stop there, because cases were filed against him, he went on a rampage against Uddhav Thackeray and the Mumbai CP, Parambir Singh, personally. It gave all the incentive to them to hound him. His arrest and jailing for a week has sobered him a bit but he hasn’t really learned anything. When he was arrested, the BJP govt at the Centre couldn’t do anything but they organised protests across India through their local leaders. What is now hurting Arnab is not some legal cases but his own big mouth. The Mumbai police had arrested a few people, included those from Republic, and charge-sheeted them in the TRP scam:
A few weeks ago, the former CEO of BARC, Partho Dasgupta (PD), was also arrested. It appears Arnab was very pally with him and his Whatsapp chats have now been leaked to on SM by Prashant Bhushan & co. Obviously, the Mumbai Police may have got the WA chats texts saved by PD on his computers in some form. Most of it is in text form but it is certainly all over Twitter and it is certainly not showing Arnab in a great light. Some of the chats also show Arnab having some “leaked” information about the Balakot strike which he discusses with PD. The chat doesn’t mention Balakot specifically though:
The chats also reveal Arnab gloated it will be a big success and will help the “big man” sweep the polls because of the action against Pakistan. All of this means nothing legally and nor would constitute evidence of anything in the court. But all the chats, 500 pages of it, may be quoted as “circumstantial” evidence of Arnab and PD screwing up the TRP system to favour Republic TV. The chumminess between the two is enough for anyone to doubt this. Apart from this, Arnab also claims Amit Shah called Navika Kumar “Kachra” (Garbage) which is not true. Amit Shah only called the claims of Navika as garbage. There is video of it on Twitter. I do have the video but saving space and length of this blog by not adding it here. This is poor back-bitching by Arnab against his peers. His constant abuse of “Lutyens” journos is also uncalled for because he too is pretty much a product of the same mob and no angel.
Arnab didn’t comment on Navika alone. He called Jaitley a failed FM, quoted Hrithik Roshan’s description of Kangana Ranaut suffering from an “Erotomania” which refers to a sex-obsessed person who has imaginary notions of someone being in love with her when it is not true. Kangana had recently almost been a furniture in Arnab’s studio with all her victimhood and nepotism tirade. Arnab calls Prakash Javdekar a “useless” person. A lot of such juicy stuff is being bandied around. With such chumminess with the CEO of BARC there is little doubt that TRP manipulation may have taken place. While the chats themselves are not illegal or incriminating in any way, it certainly tarnishes the discretion and maturity of Arnab as the Head of a news channel. He has made a thorough ass of himself with such wanton gossip. The ED is also questioning the CFO of India Today on the TRP scam. The CBI is also investigating. It is quite a muddle and nothing will come out of it.
All that the TRP muck confirms is that journos are involved in activities that could easily fall into the criminal category. Every channel chases TRP and tries to manipulate it. There is no exception. But the eternal chest-thumping Arnab was foolish to be chatting and back-bitching about people with the BARC guy. While these episodes may not cost Arnab or Nidhi anything in legal terms it certainly proves they are both morons and as I have said many times before “Journos are not very bright people”.
Follow the blog on Twitter.
Subscribe To EducatingForward / Buy The EF Handbook
