Kerala MP MB Rajesh Lashes Out at Arnab in Open Letter

On 26 May, a debate between Kerala MP MB Rajesh and Arnab Goswami went awry when the latter insulted the former.

In a vitriolic open letter to Arnab Goswami, Kerala MP MB Rajesh calls out the former for poor behavior, lack of ethics and more. (Photo: Altered by The Quint)

On Sunday MB Rajesh, a Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) leader from Kerala’s Palakkad constituency, lashed out at Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami in a scathing open letter on his official Facebook page. As cited by Rajesh, the letter was with reference to a 10 pm show on Friday on Republic TV, to which he was invited to participate.

Things went awry when Rajesh realised that the show was about to conclude by the time he was supposed to reach the studio. To make matters worse, Arnab changed the topic of debate on air, without any notice to Rajesh. The original topic of the debate was “3 years of Modi government”.

The MP writes:

Suddenly I came to know on air that you have changed the topic to the alleged “Kodiyeri’s Speech Against Army”. I could have boycotted the show at that moment but I chose to remain because in my absence you may repeatedly scream the lie that I ran away from the show. I wanted to avoid such a situation and tried to present my views on the fabricated story.

As expressed in his bitter letter, the MP resisted his urge to boycott Arnab’s show on account of his alleged unethical actions, and went on air that night. To add insult to injury, Arnab allegedly insulted Rajesh on air, which the latter mentions in his letter:

During the course of that show you arrogantly told me “I have handled bigger leaders than you”. Perhaps that was the only truth you said in that entire show. This one sentence alone is enough to show your ego, arrogance and pettiness.

The debate’s new topic on the night of 26 May was the issue of CPI (M)‘s Kerala Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s statement on 25 May, which claimed that the Indian Army could “do anything to anybody” as quoted by ANI. The report also quoted Balakrishnan as saying:

If they see more than four people standing together, they can shoot them...They can take any woman and rape her, nobody has the right to question them. This is the state wherever the army is.

Balakrishnan’s statement was interpreted by Arnab as “anti-Army” but according to MB Rajesh, the criticism was in reality, not against the Army per se, but rather a comment on the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), which grants special powers to the army in “disturbed areas”. Rajesh, in his open letter tells Arnab:

I repeatedly countered your biased statements that Com. Kodiyeri insulted Indian Army. I said that not a single TV Channel in Kerala including your own Asianet have taken this up as a topic of debate and this was not at all controversy in Kerala because everybody knew that his comments were only against the atrocities committed in the name of AFSPA and not against the army. Still you continued your accusations against the CPI(M) as part of your prepared screenplay. 

Rajesh further added, calling out Arnab’s alleged lack of knowledge of cases pertaining to the AFSPA:

I drew your attention to the Supreme Court Order on 27.04.2016 to investigate all the 1528 murders in Manipur done by security forces under the AFSPA. You ignored that inconvenient fact, probably because you might not have keenly observed such issues related to AFSPA.

In the letter that went viral, Rajesh also criticises Arnab’s supposed lack of understanding of Indian history, and suggests “tuition” to improve his knowledge. Rajesh also mentions the fact that he himself was born to an Army veteran who served in the 1971 Indo-Pak War, and questions what Arnab has “genuinely done for the army”.

You can watch the debate between MB Rajesh and Arnab Goswami here:

You can read the full letter by MB Rajesh to Arnab Goswami here.