Arnab is back shouting; hope he doesn’t TRP up

Unlike the Times Now days, the pressure to be No 1 is wholly dependent on the anchor himself

Last Saturday Arnab Goswami’s Republic went alive. The morning speech by Arnab was subdued, and he seemed rather overawed by the responsibility of fast forwarding his channel into No 1 position from day one.

But as the day proceeded, and the panels came on screen, the talking heads looking as usual bludgeoned and dazed, Arnab was increasingly in his element. Even as you watched he grew back into his former self. For some, growth is always in the reverse direction, perhaps.

The main stories themselves were weak. The opening “expose” about a mafia and political don Shahabuddin calling from his Siwan jail cell in Bihar on April 15/2016, asking Lalu Prasad Yadav to rein in the cops in the middle of a riot was largely pointless.

In Bihar, in almost all the jails those inmates with money and influence have access to cell phones. Good food and liquor as well. Besides, Shahabuddin is Rashtriya Janata (United) member, and Lalu Prasad is his chief. The conversation itself was quite harmless. Shahabuddin says the police are firing in the middle of a minor riot, and would Lalu Prasad talk to the authorities concerned?

Is this an explosive scoop, especially in a La La land like Bihar? Nevertheless Arnab packed into it his characteristic apocalyptic passion and raised his voice to the maximum in the usual signal so every one on the panel could also shout simultaneously, so nothing meaningful could be conveyed to anyone.

The following days, the big debates centered on the sacked AAP minister of water supplies Kapil Mishra’s charge that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal allegedly took a bribe of Rs2 crore from one Satyendra jain, and that Mishra was witness to it. No one seemed to question why Mishra waited so long before he confessed to the media what he had seen.

No matter. Arnabi went hammer and tongs at the “bribery charge” as if it were already established and now the only question was what punishment should be meted out to Kejriwal.

Even as you watched he grew back into his former self. For some, growth is always in the reverse direction, perhaps

Resignation from his post as chief minister, Arnab made out, was disproportionately merciful. Should Kejriwal be quartered and hung? The question was not raised in as many words, but it hung over the entire debate hour as a real possibility.

On Monday, that earth-shaking debate was wholly forgotten. That day it was the do or die issue of Sunanda Pushkar, Shashi Tharoor’s wife, who in January 2014 died under suspicious circumstances. Short of pronouncing Tharoor’s death sentence, Arnab — and his panel of people, all of whom behave exactly as the Master does — tried the old case once again, cross examined Tharoor in absentia, and said Tharoor no longer ought to be in public life.

Clearly nothing much has changed from the days Arnab was running his show in Times Now — whose present anchor mimes Arnab as if his life depends on it, and perhaps it does — and the Republic which he more or less owns. Exact comparative TRPs to the hour are not yet available, but market watchers said Republic was ahead of other channels.

But unlike the Times Now days, the pressure to be no 1 is wholly dependent on Arnab himself. Earlier he had the Times of India group’s backing. Now that he is on his own, we are likely to see desperate dipping down of TV standards in the desperate search for TRPs. Stay tuned if you are desperate.