I never imagined I would have to write on Arnab Goswami because normally it’s speech that is associated with him. But then Arnab quitting Times Now has expectedly sent the media into a tizzy – for many TV studios it is a sigh of relief and for others, exuberance coupled with envious glee.
I have known Arnab for almost 20 years now, from his ABP days in Calcutta and then when he joined NDTV.
From my usual visits to NDTV studios, one came across a man who was extremely polite and one might even say painfully shy but when the cameras came on, his personality morphed.
For those of you who believe Arnab is all bluster, think again: The man is an Oxonian, has deep intellectual moorings and almost always calls a spade a spade.
The Arnab of then and the Arnab of now is not much different. I am sure he revels in the adulation and why grudge him that?
I have always maintained that he is the perfect example of a benign Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Charming to a fault and hiding behind a curtain of shyness, all of which changes when the clock ticks 9 pm. But to understand this change, you have to understand the man better.
There are many brilliant, erudite television anchors. But somehow Arnab caught the nation’s imagination because he epitomised their rage and made it his own.
He pontificates not in a preachy manner but in an accusatory one and every Indian wants someone who can pull down people who they believe are ruining their lives.
Hence the one defining quality of Arnab has been and remains to this day, a deep sense of nationalism. Which, when you blend with an agenda that seeks nothing, is lethal.
We’ve obviously spent hours together both in and out of the studio. He is a deeply committed family man as he should be and that streak of nationalism perhaps even runs in the family.
Many years ago, Arun Jaitley, his wife and children, and my parents and I, were holidaying in Venice when I suddenly heard a booming voice calling out ‘Suhel’ and I thought I was hallucinating.
In St Mark’s Square, to believe you’ve switched on ‘The Newshour’, can be very unsettling. And there he was, Arnab, his wife and his son Che – yes, named after Che Guevara.
He must have been seven or eight years old at the time and when we asked him to join us, Jaitley turned around and said, “Son which class are you in?” to which Che replied, much like his father, ignoring the question, “Bhagat Singh was the true hero of India. The rest are frauds.”
Upon hearing this outburst from the child, Jaitley smilingly remarked, “This boy has gone on the Dad” and Arnab was exulting; proud of the streak of nationalism that his son possessed.
Immediately after 26/11, Arnab and I were invited by the Bombay YPO chapter to discuss the news coverage on Times Now (which is when Arnab first came into the limelight) and I too played a reasonable part during those days, so the folks at YPO believed we were best suited.
Each of us spoke individually and post that got into a conversation.
And once the speaking bit was over, almost everyone came up to me and said, “This Arnab is so different from who he is on TV.” Yes and perhaps no.
What never changes (and hopefully never will) is his avowed belief in India, Indians and the idea of India. And like the many things that have been attributed incorrectly to him, the most critical attribution he never uttered ever was, “The nation wants to know.”
9 pm will be duller till it begins again. In another studio, at another time but with Citizen Goswami.
(The writer is the managing partner of consultancy firm Counselage India. He is also an author and columnist. This is a personal blog and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
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