Did Arnab Goswami Really Call People of J&K ‘Collateral Damage’?
The video was shared on Wednesday claiming that Arnab said, “As a proud Indian, I am ready for collateral damage.”
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An Instagram story with multiple clips of journalist and anchor Arnab Goswami speaking during a Republic TV debate was widely shared on Twitter on Wednesday, 7 August.
The clippings were shared with the caption: “While millions of people in Kashmir are under a military siege, Arnab Goswami says, 'As a proud Indian, I am ready for collateral damage... kill them... kill them in thousands.’ Primetime journalists in India are baying for the blood of Kashmiris. #StandWithKashmir.”
The tweet was later taken down, but an archived version can be seen here.
The Quint could also not locate the original Instagram story, published by a handle called ‘with kashmir’, that the tweet had used.
But, various clips in the viral video seemed to show Goswami attacking Kashmiris, calling them a “sloganeering brigade” who “had been given chance enough” and saying that they should be “eliminated” and that as a “proud Indian” he “was prepared for collateral damage.”
Since the clips were shared on Wednesday amid the crisis in Kashmir, after the effective revocation of Article 370, where people of the erstwhile state are facing a curfew and a shutdown in communication channels in the middle of a general atmosphere of fear, Goswami was slammed for his alleged strong stance against Kashmiris.
People on Twitter called him out, terming him a “criminal” and saying that he was calling for “a genocide.”
What Did Arnab Goswami Say in the Debate?
While Goswami did actually say these things in the debate he anchors, a clarification is necessary on two points.
Firstly, the video is actually from a debate he anchored on 24 February, which was held in context of the Pulwama terror attack in J&K.
Second, the video is snipped to make it seem like he is attacking Kashmiris. But, he is talking about ‘stone pelters, separatists and terrorists’ who he blames for causing trouble.
(Editor’s note: The Quint is of the opinion that mass violence of any kind, as prescribed in the debate, should be condemned.)
On watching the video, we were able to see that there was a hashtag on the top of the screen, #KashmirDebate.
On searching through Twitter with that hashtag, we came across the debate on the channel aired on 24 February 2019.
On watching the full debate, we were able to see that the comments showcased in the Instagram story were actually made by Goswami in context of a discussion, which was happening at that moment in the debate.
The comments also did not proceed as shown by the Instagram story, but were made at different points in the debate.
We will address each of them separately.
Comment 1: We Will Have to Eliminate People
The first comment, where Goswami says “Now Operation Elimination starts. We will have to eliminate these people” features between 1:07:48 and 1:08:07, when he also says, “As a proud Indian, I am prepared for collateral damage,” the third comment, which features later in the Instagram story.
However, while Goswami does make these comments, he does so in reference to terrorists within J&K and their supporters and not Kashmiris in general.
What Goswami says is: “We now need to have a tough military option and as a proud Indian, I am prepared for collateral damage to take on terrorists within Jammu and Kashmir and their supporters because now Operation Elimination will start, we will have to eliminate all these people.”
Comment 2: ‘These Traitors, This Sloganeering Brigade...’
The Quint found that the next comment in the video, which is part of the same first clip, is “These traitors, this sloganeering brigade, you think we’ve not given you a chance enough?”
This comment, in the full video of the debate, features between 1:05:10-1:05:32 and the discussion which prompts these comments ensued while speaking about Ayub Pandit, an on-duty Indian Kashmiri Muslim security official who was lynched by a mob in Nowhatta in 2017.
What Goswami says, attacking the people behind his murder who were also separatists according to him, is: “These traitors, you want us to be soft on them. They say ‘Bharat tere tukde honge’. These traitors, this sloganeering brigade, you think we’ve not given you chance enough?” He goes on to say that he wants the country to take a chance at taking a hard military stance against such separatists and “anti-nationals” and guarantees that in two years, none of them will be left standing.
Comment 3: ‘Kill Thousands... Kill Them’
The next comment by Goswami in the Instagram story is “Kill thousands..kill them.”
In the full debate video, this comment occurs between 55:11-55:24, when Goswami suggests this as a solution to dealing with stone pelters in Kashmir. Goswami was speaking about pelters in the context of tourists in Kashmir who had died in stone-pelting incidents, naming a few.
What he says is: “First we’ll have to tackle these stone pelters,” and when a panelist asks how many, he replies “As many as required...kill thousands...”
The Twitter handle that had put up the video on Instagram, With Kashmir, issued an apology stating that they had deleted the post and that they regretted making the editorial error. However, they stated that “Republic TV’s journalism incites hatred against Kashmiri people in India.”
Republic also issued a clarification later in the day, tweeting that Goswami had made the “collateral damage” comment in context of terrorists within J&K.
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