The controversial Indian TV anchor has earned a reputation for his rants, lectures and shouting on prime time television. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/videos
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00:00Well, you know, I represent a new kind of journalism that has come into India, and wherever
00:12there's a new form of journalism that comes, there's always going to be a clash between
00:15the way things were and the way things are.
00:18The only problem is, for some people who don't like my form of journalism, is that, largely
00:24among my peers, is that they still belong to the old form of journalism, and they don't
00:28want to see the change.
00:30I saw the change happen around 2007, 8, 9, when I was with Times Now, and I have spearheaded
00:36the change, and I refuse to follow the rules set by someone who did journalism 20 years
00:41back.
00:42It does not mean I disrespect them, but it's just like I like to do things my own way.
00:46But you still call it journalism, the way you do it.
00:49Well, I mean, if you say that, you know, the kind of journalism that we have done has broken
00:53all the stories that matter in India over the last 10 years.
00:56So, if you take those stories out of the Indian social fabric, there would be no big
01:02or exclusive stories.
01:03So then what is it but not journalism?
01:05In fact, I think what others do is not journalism.
01:12I feel that is an unverified complaint.
01:17In fact, we are the most robust in our criticism of the BJP on issues, but it needs to be criticized.
01:23Recently, during the, you know, the Unnao and Kathua rape cases, we tore the ruling
01:30dispensations in both the state governments apart.
01:34I have broken the only big story after this government was elected, which was Lalitgate
01:40in 2015, and consistently we've been front-footing all stories which require accountability.
01:48But you know, Bobby, what I can't do is that I can't do reverse engineering.
01:52I don't do journalism where I say, oh, I've got to be anti-BJP, now let me do some reverse
01:56engineering and find 10 stories that fill that pattern.
01:59Similarly, similarly, I don't look at stories, say that, oh, I've got to be anti-Congress
02:04or anti-Mahagadbandhan or third front, so let me do my journalism that way.
02:09It doesn't work for me because I'm not in Delhi, so I'm not a player.
02:13Those who are the players may look at things that way, but I just do whatever matters every day.
02:23You know, it's a damn catchy phrase, I know that.
02:26And I think it's very apt in our society because, you know, when I see some current issues,
02:32it almost appears to me like members of four categories work together.
02:38And this should be known among all the viewers of Gulf News and across the country.
02:42I haven't spoken about this, but since I met you here in Dubai, let me tell you.
02:47You see, it's like they take instructions from a hidden master.
02:50You think so?
02:51Let me explain.
02:54And there are four parts of this.
02:57Right now, there is a set of politicians, then there are activists, then there is lawyers,
03:05and then there is media.
03:07And either they have extrasensory perception or they work together.
03:13And so we must, therefore, look at the way they respond to issues.
03:18In the case of Rohit Vemula, and we've all seen what unrest in university campuses is like,
03:24the first category of people who politicians use when they want to create civic strife are students.
03:30You've seen it.
03:31I've seen it during the Mandal Commission agitation.
03:33And hence, Hyderabad becomes like a laboratory to create strife and unrest.
03:39And we saw what came out this week in the case of Rohit Vemula.
03:42Political parties offering the victim's mother money.
03:46And the thought of it is bizarre and macabre.
03:49It's a form of cannibalism and political vulturism, which we cannot accept.
03:52She says they help her.
03:54Whatever.
03:55May help.
03:56It's not a statement on her, but it's a statement on the people who try to do that.
04:01We've also seen what happened at JNU.
04:04We've seen the attempt, what happened at AMU.
04:07We've seen the attempt to support the secessionism of Kashmir from India, right?
04:13We've seen the Judge Loya case.
04:15In all these cases, the very fundamental basis of either journalism, honest activism or clear
04:23legal activism would be a respect to the facts.
04:28If you disregard all the facts, then you cannot simply say that you're right because you're
04:32some kind of a political caucus.
04:34I think it is therefore necessary to club these four groups together.
04:38What I have simply done is that I have said this.
04:41You're not a lawyer.
04:42So who are you?
04:43Allow me to complete.
04:44You're not a lawyer.
04:45You're a member of a gang.
04:48You're not an activist.
04:49You're a member of a gang.
04:52You're not a journalist.
04:53You're a member of a gang because you have disrespected your profession in order to suit
05:00the narrative of some political master because it cannot be accidental.
05:03Who is that master?
05:04I wouldn't know, but it wouldn't, it can't be accidental that all of you follow the line
05:10of a set political group.
05:12That's it.
05:13It's as simple as that.
05:14And then the second thing is, there is no course correction.
05:17Suppose your facts are proven wrong in case A or case B or case C.
05:21None of these people ever come out, Bobby, and they apologize.
05:25And I feel it's bizarre that sitting in my country today, any group of people should
05:31be talking lies about my country.
05:33You see, we are talking in Dubai.
05:35Now, if someone is in the UAE, there's got to be some sense of loyalty for a UAE resident
05:40to the country he lives in.
05:43And there has to be some respect for the laws.
05:45So are you saying that these four groups, students, lawyers, journalists, what are the
05:50four categories?
05:51No, no, one second.
05:52Let me explain.
05:53You're saying that they are not loyal to India?
05:54No, no.
05:55I'm saying there has to be loyalty to India.
05:57Now, if you were to go and go on some Jurassic Channel and sit there in London and say, you
06:04know what?
06:06India is a terrible country.
06:08And the person says, why?
06:09And say, oh, you know, in India, children read textbooks with Hitler's photograph on
06:13it, because this government feels that Hitler is a great leader.
06:17Now, that's complete BS.
06:20It's completely untrue.
06:21Why are you parading these lies about your country?
06:24Whatever.
06:25You want to sell a book?
06:26It's a free country.
06:27People can say anything.
06:28You can say what you want.
06:29But the fact of the matter is this, that it is a factually incorrect statement.
06:34You say there's no leather industry, there are no handicrafts in our country, you can't
06:38eat meat in India, because this government won't let you eat meat, they won't let a community
06:43do handicrafts, there won't be any leather exports, all of which are factually incorrect.
06:48So to respect, to respect facts is an essential prerequisite, which we cannot say that we
06:56can choose to disrespect.
06:58If you're going to judge me by facts, I'm going to judge you by your loyalty to facts.
07:03But if you're completely, if you just want to give away any respect for facts, then I'm
07:08going to question why you do so.
07:10So we are at a right today.
07:11We therefore say that you must question the motivations of a group who seem to work as
07:16a cabal.
07:17Now, this group doesn't like to be described as a cabal, but the fact of the matter is
07:20it is.
07:21You ask anybody in India today, this group is a cabal.
07:24It's a perception of people, they're free to have it.
07:35We are the number one channel in the country watched by a large number of people every
07:39night.
07:40They judge us, not some people within the profession who may be unhappy at what we do.
07:46I'm not here to satisfy my peers.
07:48We are here to take the Indian media forward.
07:51No, we're talking about groups.
07:53Our audiences watch us all the time.
07:56Why would we be the number one channel, number one network in India today if we were not
08:01watched?
08:02We are the most trusted and the most watched channel in the country.
08:06And of course, you must also understand this, Bobby, that we represent a change in the Indian
08:11media where we have actually grown an organization from scratch.
08:17Why did Republic become the number one channel in the country in week one?
08:21Why did we get 52% market share in week one?
08:24Why are we still getting huge amounts of viewership?
08:28Why are we growing every week?
08:29Because people like us, people watch us.
08:33Again, again, there is no need for, these are not, you know, we're not doing Venn diagrams
08:41here.
08:42How does it matter?
08:43I just want people to watch me.
08:45I have no demography in my mind.
08:47I feel that the journalism we do is pure.
08:50People should watch us for it.
08:51How does it matter which political leader they like or don't like, Bobby?
08:55If we were to start doing journalism like that, then what would be the difference between
08:59me and other members of the Lutyens media?
09:08I am telling you what I say.
09:11I'm sure that, you know, you do know the fact that our organization, our company's name
09:17is called Outlier Media.
09:19So I like outliers.
09:20I like people who do things differently.
09:23I've chosen to do things differently.
09:26I like to do things differently.
09:28I don't like any politician, Bobby, in case you're trying to ask me a leading question.
09:32I'm not going to give you a headline like that.
09:34I have no view of individuals I report on.
09:38And that is our badge of honor, that we, we therefore will question anyone at any point
09:43of time on anything.
09:45And that's the basis for the launch of Republic.
09:53I feel that is such a factually inaccurate question.
09:57Because if you were to go and find out, go and do the research, Bobby, and ask yourself,
10:03who went after the Sriram Sena when they attacked a bunch of young boys and girls who had gone
10:09to a pub in Mangalore?
10:11Who did the campaign?
10:13Question number one.
10:15Question number two, Bobby, find out that this Sriram Sena, which is actually what you
10:20would call a right-wing organization, though I think they should be called an extremist
10:24organization, because the phrase right-wing, as I said, is also often misused.
10:28This particular group, the Sriram Sena, had all the charges against it cancelled by a
10:36political party you call liberal, the Congress Party.
10:40And question number three, this particular group, whose founder and president is now
10:46under the radar, though not charged, of course, in the context of the killing of Gauri Lankesh,
10:55was campaigning against the BJP and effectively, therefore, for the Congress Party, a party
11:00you call liberal, in the last state elections in Karnataka.
11:04So who built that narrative?
11:06Who fought the right-wing forces?
11:09If I throw the question back at you and you look at it very factually, people who use
11:14religion for politics, be they Muslim or Hindu, are not being loyal to their respective religions.
11:23They are using politics, they are using religion in a political context which is inappropriate.
11:29Therefore, I do not think we are building any narrative.
11:31I'll tell you what we are building, Bobby.
11:34We are building the right narrative.
11:36We are with the people of India who are now asking questions about what is right and wrong,
11:40what is corrupt and not corrupt, what is black and white.
11:43And these questions are not meant to suit the powers that be.
11:47Therefore, the question can be turned around and asked that in 70 years of Indian democracy,
11:53you've only seen in the last 10 years, effectively, a media which has come and has started asking
11:58some very straight and direct questions over a period of time.
12:02Now, if they did not follow a particular line, that is for the media who did the work before
12:09to ask why they did not.
12:11Can I ask you a question, Bobby?
12:14This liberal media, the sort of pseudo-liberal media which you are talking about, why did
12:20they never report any case of corruption in India after Bofors?
12:25Question one.
12:27Question two.
12:28Bofors brought down a government.
12:31Why between Bofors and the CWG scam, which would be an effective period of about 10,
12:3720, at least 20 years, was there no big scam in India?
12:41There was so much big-ticket corruption.
12:43Why was it not spoken about?
12:45Was it because the media was the lapdog at that point of time of previous establishments?
12:52And can the same media, which never raised questions then, and you will remember that
12:56I did plough a very lonely furrow when I broke the many scams between 2010 and 2011.
13:04I did plough a very lonely furrow.
13:06It was not as if I had the rest of the media with me.
13:09In fact, the rest of the media was on the other side.
13:12Why did they not ask questions then?
13:14And now that they did not ask those questions then, how did the same people who were so
13:17quiet then suddenly start becoming so active now?
13:22These are questions they must ask.
13:24That's it.
13:26On what basis…
13:34I want to know on what basis.
13:38Suppose you are interviewing me now.
13:41And suppose somebody says, oh, you know what, Bobby didn't just walk through the door,
13:45it was all pre-scripted.
13:46Well, if you know, in India, you do an interview, you'll ask questions about the economy,
13:56economy I did, Pakistan I did, China I did, strategic policy I did. The problem some people
14:02have is that I called him Mr. Prime Minister. The problem that some people have is that
14:07I called him Mr. Prime Minister. What should I have called him? If I described the Prime
14:13Minister of the country as the Prime Minister, you would do the same.
14:16Several journalists analysed your interview. Which journalist? Which one of those journalists
14:20has ever done an interview that is questioned? Which one of those journalists has a right
14:24to question my interview? Really? As I told you, I am not here to be judged by my peers.
14:32My peers know it.
14:41We don't pay anyone to be abused. That's a fallacy. We believe that we have asked some
14:48serious questions about Pakistan's role in terrorism. This has been consistent, Bobby,
14:56and we are on the side of the Indian army and the Indian security forces. Everyone knows
15:00that. And I'm sorry if it doesn't suit anyone's narrative, but in a choice between India and
15:05Pakistan, I will not be neutral.