By Sharanya Gopinathan
So yesterday, the aptly named user idiotbox on Youtube posted a video with the title Arnab’s befitting reply to Cong leader Brijesh Kalappa who was misbehaving with female anchor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=WrJtw637yRs&app=desktop
Except when you watch the video, you realise just how misleading that title is. It’s basically a clip from Republic TV, and features Congress leader Brijesh Kalappa fighting with Republic TV‘s anchor Sheetal Rajput (yes, she has a name, and it isn’t “female anchor”) in what is already recognisable as that classic Republic TV style. A couple seconds in, Kalappa calls Rajput a “BJP journalist” (I suspect it is because MP Rajeev Chandrashekar, the vice-chairman of the BJP-led NDA-coalition in Kerala, has invested $4.7 million in the channel), causing Rajput to demand an apology. That was the extent of the misbehaviour. At this point, Goswami swaggers onto the screen, demands that Rajput hand over the mic, and starts yelling at Kalappa.
Just a minute to touch briefly upon the rant, before getting into the ignominy of the entire situation. In his rant that nobody asked for, Goswami, with no irony whatsoever, told Kalappa to check himself into an asylum, that he has mental health issues and needs a psychiatrist, and literally immediately after that, shouts to Kalappa that he should speak with respect.
Anyway, there are so many components of this whole video that are just wrong. The title of it names Arnab, but declines to mention Sheetal Rajput’s name, which sets the tone nicely for the rest of the video. Rajput was doing her job, such as it is, and didn’t ask for any help from Goswami or anyone. I guess at this point its silly of me to be the slightest bit surprised at masculine posturing and swagger and bluster from Goswami, but there’s something so loaded about the way he muscles into the frame and demands that Rajput hand over the mic to him. She literally walks completely out of the scene and you can later see her fiddling at a desk in the background behind Goswami, who now totally dominates the screen on what was supposed to be her show.
There are legions congratulating him on the internet for being such a great saviour and for “giving it back” to Kalappa (whose sound I suppose was muted by the channel, leaving him unable to respond to Goswami’s rant).