I'm Neither AAPtard, Congi or Sanghi; I'm Arnab

After a Decade of Verbally Scorching Politicians, Bureaucrats, Left-wingers, Right-wingers, Pro-maoists, the Saffron-clad, the Liberals, the Pseudo-liberals, the Communalists and Everyone Else on Times Now, Arnab Goswami Is Going Solo, With a News Channel of His Own — Republic TV — Which Will Launch in the Coming Weeks. If This Interview Is Anything to Go by, He Is Getting Ready to Rage Against the Machine With Almighty Force Once Again.
 

- Pablo Chaterji & Ekta Mohta

Arnab Goswami’s new news venture Republic TV, which launches later this month, has gotten into scraps even before its first broadcast. After Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint that the name Republic breached the Emblems and Names Act, its original name was changed to Republic TV. There is also an ongoing legal battle over an article published on the news website The Wire, titled ‘Arnab’s Republic, Modi’s Ideology’, about the conflict of interest concerning the business dealings of Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the entrepreneur-turned-Rajya Sabha MP, known for his closeness to the BJP, who is a major shareholder in Republic TV. Chandrasekhar filed a court injunction that has since restrained The Wire from providing access to the article.

Thus we were mildly surprised when we received an enquiry from the new channel’s PR team on the possibility of a cover story with him, with a full-fledged MW-style shoot. The interview itself took place at a co-working space, tucked away inside one of Mumbai’s old mill compounds, where Goswami operates out of these days. He shows up a few minutes late, casually dressed, freshly shaved and with his hair a great deal longer than it used to be during his Times Now days. It’s almost surprising when he politely and quietly introduces himself (and apologises for being late); such is the effect of his constructed personality on Times Now that one literally has no other mental image of him other than a ball busting, fire-breathing hardass, who will snap at you at the slightest provocation.