While the rest of the mainstream media folded like a pack of cards and toed the party line, one man refused to do so. Yes, I’m referring to Ravish Kumar and his prime time show on NDTV. His resignation from the news channel is the end of an era. There are no two ways about it.
As you can tell by now, I’m clearly a fan. Call him the posterboy of liberal politics on TV or an outdated Gandhian if you will, but you have to respect the man for swimming against the tide in hostile and choppy waters. As a budding journalist, he was definitely one of my inspirations.
No-one noticed Ravish when he was an ubharta sitara at NDTV, hosting “Ravish Ki Report”. But as they say, “come the hour, cometh the man.” Everyone started taking notice when he launched into impassioned and witty polemics on the problems plaguing modern-day India.
His primetime show always had space for the marginalised. Be it workers fighting against the privatisation of certain public sector industries, students demanding better educational infrastructure and job opportunities, or defence personnel asking for the implementation of the “one rank, one pension” scheme, Ravish reiterated time and again that the people’s voice is paramount and sacrosanct.
The anchor’s command over the Hindi language, erudition and sarcasm-laced quips deserve a separate blog of their own. But I will try my best to do justice to his journalistic genius and screen presence. I am reminded of the time he brought mime artists on his show to make a point about how anyone who will ask questions of the government will be silenced.
He did this to protest the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s move to take NDTV off air for 24 hours to punish it for the way it reported on the Pathankot terror attack. Apparently, its coverage compromised national security. Ravish disagreed, of course. And, what better way to protest by being silent, rather than speaking up, when speaking up is precisely what one was targeted for.
I am also reminded of the episode he did after Akshay Kumar’s interview with Narendra Modi went viral. The Bollywood celeb had quizzed our honourable leader on his mango eating habits in a supposedly non-political interview right before general elections (2019) were set to take place. Ravish decided to take the bull by its horns and hosted an entire episode on mango eating, while talking with a deliberate drawl and thehraav.
As I understand, the point he was trying to make was that just because you claim something is apolitical, doesn’t mean it is. He used humour to convey this and I was in splits throughout the episode. I tip my hat to the man for putting across his “biting” remarks in a creative fashion.
Speaking of Modi, he is not the only man to have risen the ranks in the career of his choice. Ravish is very much the same, as much as I assume he would loathe being compared to the former. He went from sorting out audience mail at the news channel to sorting out the audience’s miseries against the mighty.
Did he face consequences for the same? Well, of course! He has received death threats. He has been doxxed. He has been blacklisted by the ruling party and its santri-santras. Did that stop him from doing his thing? Hell no! Nothing could shake Ravish’s courage and conviction.
He was an integral part of NDTV for more than two decades. As the Adani takeover of the news channel got confirmed, Ravish resigned given that he is a man with a conscience. And, as someone who had questioned crony capitalism many-a-times, he couldn’t have possibly continued working at the news channel while staying true to his beliefs.
No wonder he has been conferred with the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay, given to people across the globe who have set an “example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society.” He was also honoured with the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism award twice.
I must also mention that I remember watching him speak at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai. As eloquent as he was when talking to students about the problems of corporatisation of the media, destruction of our democratic principles and addressing roti-kapda-makaan-swasthya-shiksha, his true charm was revealed to me when I saw him speaking to the watchman of our college while he waited for his car to arrive.
As Ravish casually chit-chatted with kaka, I could see that he was eager to listen and easy to laugh. He had no airs about him. Humility is certainly an admirable quality.
Sad as I am to see him go, I am also grateful to have borne witness to his resistance. Whatever he does next, I can be sure of one thing: they don’t make ‘em like him anymore!