Mr Bhupendra Chaubey is currently serving as a “consulting editor” for CNN-IBN. Formerly, when Rajdeep was still in CNN IBN, Chaubey used to host many prime time shows. I always got the feeling that Chaubey was a balanced journalist with no political leanings, or at least he never made it clear. Maybe this was my impression because he was being compared with Rajdeep who is openly anti-Modi and has a soft corner for AAP.
But a tweet by Bhupendra yesterday shocked me:
Two loud and clear messages to Modi: 1: dilli is no Gujarat; get rid of politics of autocracy. 2. If you call media “bazaaru”;u won’t go far
— bhupendra chaubey (@bhupendrachaube) February 10, 2015
This tweet makes so many subtle points it’s hard to believe it has come from a neutral journalist.
First of all, he says to Modi that Delhi is no Gujarat, so stop your autocracy. What does he mean? Does he imply that Gujaratis are fond of autocracy? That they are brainless zombies who liked to be pushed around by a pseudo dictator and yet they vote for him for consecutive elections? Is this an insult to the intelligence of the voters of Gujarat? I am not even going into the fact that Chaubey has suddenly realised Modi is autocratic, only after AAP won in Delhi.
The second limb of Chaubey’s tweet though is far more serious. He says: “Clear message to Modi: If you call media “bazaaru” you won’t go too far”. What is this? Is this a threat? or a show of strength post results? Is a senior journalist actually saying that if a politician criticizes Media, the Media will gang up and put all efforts to teach this politician a lesson?
It is already alleged by many that many editors have helped AAP win either thanks to their Anti-Modi stance or Pro-AAP views. Is this tweet by Chaubey the most clear indication that this might have actually happened?
Secondly, is this “threat” applicable to only Modi, or to any politician who has the guts to pull up the media, rightly or wrongly? It is time Chaubey was reminded of the days when Arvind Kejriwal wanted to “jail” media.
Kejriwal had then alleged that heavy amounts of money were paid to media by Modi and company. And he also promised to set up an enquiry and jail media and their friends. Did Chaubey ji teach Kejriwal a lesson? Being called “Bazaaru” and being called “paid” along with a threat to be imprisoned.
And look what Chaubey had to say then:
All I will say on kejriwal attack on media is; we do have a lot to answer for on behalf of media; we need to tone up as well.
— bhupendra chaubey (@bhupendrachaube) March 15, 2014
The only thing that can explain this is Mr. Chaubey’s bias. If indeed Mr Chaubey has some affinity towards AAP, it won’t be hard to explain since Ashutosh, who used to earlier work in IBN-7, a sister concern of CNN-IBN, is now a prominent AAP leader.
It wouldn’t be hard to imagine ex colleagues and possible friends Ashutosh and Bhupendra discussing something “krantikari” on phone. Is Bhupendra Chaubey hiding behind the burqa of “bazaaru” to express his real pent up feelings?
