Part-time journalist and full-time propagandist Sagarika Ghose’s new book, ‘Why I am a ‘Liberal’ is finally available on Flipkart. Apparently, the book is a ‘Manifesto for Indians who believe in Individual Freedom’.
Given Sagarika’s history of duplicity, we can be fairly certain she could never have been anything but a ‘liberal’. After the Charlie Hebdo massacre, she thought it was wise to chastise them for publishing cartoons that offended Muslims.
She had this to say:
“The killing of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists was unacceptable, no one has any right to gun down a critic. Yet beyond the tragic deaths, perhaps it’s best when the cartoon remains a cartoon: a weapon of laughter and thought, not a weapon of war against religious beliefs. After all, a bellyful of laughter always dignifies both the prankster and his target.” And yet, she lectures us about ‘individual freedom’.
Sagarika Ghose’s track record
In the past, Sagarika has used abusive, elitist, Hinduphobic rants to attack those who question the Nehru-Gandhi family. She has been forced to delete tweets fanning communal disharmony after being threatened with legal action. Sagarika has also been slammed by fellow journalists for spreading lies about them. She has written an article in the past with the headline “‘Tamil teri maa? Even those who don’t understand Tamil, can see that the OPS-Sasikala battle is spicier than sambhar”. Please don’t ask me what she meant by “Tamil teri maa?”
Ghose has also spread communally charged fake news on social media where she claimed that women were raped in Uttar Pradesh for eating beef. She criticized the NDA government’s celebration of Yoga only years after she advised them to promote such cultural heritage.
Sagarika has also attacked the government for trying to crack down on Fake News and called it an attack on press freedom. She has also insinuated that Lalu Prasad Yadav’s conviction and the harsh punishment that was meted out to him as a consequence of his anti-BJP politics. Ghose even blamed Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death for dynasty politics in India to deflect the blame from Nehru, whose fangirl she claims to be. On a particular instance, she spread Congress’ allegation that EVMs were being hacked via Bluetooth. And of course, who could forget her contribution to the fake ‘Christians under attack’ propaganda?
What it means to be a ‘Liberal’
People need to understand ‘liberals’ do not stand for values, they stand for power and their primary objective is the acquisition of it. If ‘liberals’ actually stood for any values, they would first take the opportunity to introspect their own conduct. It’s not just an India specific phenomenon, the duplicity of ‘liberals’ can be observed all across the world.
There is a remarkable discrepancy between their deeds and speech. In the 21st century, this is what being a ‘liberals’ means. Being a ‘liberal’ implies that you pontificate about the virtues of tolerance and integrity while you display none of it in your own personal conduct. Proclaiming one’s resolute opposition to Fake News while spreading it yourself, this is what means to be a ‘liberal’. Peddling a partisan agenda while professing neutrality, this is what a ‘liberal’ is all about. ‘Liberalism’ is all about the acquisition of power but convincing people to award you with it is a bit difficult if you are not careful enough to cloak your real objective underneath the garb of a love for certain humane values.
Given the bile that Sagarika spreads on social media and the kind of abusive language she indulges in and her evident lack of journalistic abilities, the fact that she is still even employed makes it abundantly clear that she could only be ‘liberal’. That she believes she can lecture others despite her own dubious credentials reveals abundantly that she could only be ‘liberal’. The fact that she could even feel morally superior to the rest of us despite her track record shows that she could only be ‘liberal’. If ‘liberals’ were honest about their commitment to honesty and integrity and individual freedom, they would have thrown out Sagarika from their ranks. But since their real objective is power, she continues to occupy a significant position in their camp.
A Partisan Hack
Sagarika’s career as a journalist can be described as a staunch defence of the Congress party and resolute opposition to everything that the Bharatiya Janata Party regardless of their merit. She is less of a journalist and more of a political hack. Both she and her husband are examples of exactly what journalists’ should not aspire to be.