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“I will always stand up for the national anthem and speak in favour of the Indian Army. Does that make me a Sanghi?” A visibly perturbed Arnab Goswami had asked this question while addressing a crowd at the FICCI FLO event in Chennai on 21 February. The speech came a day before the Ramjas protests rocked the national capital.
Goswami, who is all set to launch his new TV channel Republic, appeared disappointed, with a tinge of anger in his voice. He couldn’t quite fathom why the country’s “pseudo liberals” rake up the intolerance debate only at selected events, only at selected time frames.
“Why are the tolerant intolerant and can we tolerate it any longer in this Republic,” he asked, before proceeding to explain his counter-view on a debate that has been propelled into an average Indian’s living room now.
At a time when everybody’s talking about how limits on freedom of speech and expression are fraught with problems, Goswami asked the extent to which we can “tolerate the tolerance”. In context of Leslee Udwin’s documentary on the Nirbhaya rape case, the journalist said:
Raking up the JNU row, Goswami said all those who had raised slogans in the university in February last year did not speak up when 19 soldiers were killed in the Uri attack.
Making his stance quite clear, Arnab asked: “Should there be tolerance in this Republic for those who run down our country?”
Offering his critique about everybody who chooses not to stand for the national anthem, Goswami asserted there’s a pattern to it.
Goswami also cleared his stand on the tolerance debate.
Bringing up the issue of Jallikattu and how the liberal faction raised their voices against the inhuman tradition, Goswami asked why the same faction is often silent about other environmental issues.
The nationalism debate in the country got revisited during the recent Ramjas protests, exactly a year after the JNU incident rocked the capital city. In the context of fractured ideas and divided ideologies, which side are you on?
You can watch his full speech here:
Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam
(This story has been re-published from The Quint’s archives on Arnab Goswami’s birthday. It was originally published on 3 March 2016.)
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