Why is Arnab Goswami in so much Trouble?

What Exactly happened? In an explosive exposé, it has been revealed that Republic TV's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami purportedly knew about India's plan to attack Pakistan to avenge the Pulwama terror attack in advance. Not just that, he even seemed to have shared this sensitive information with former BARC chief Partho Dasgupta!

According to the leaked WhatsApp conversation between Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta, the journalist-cum-proprietor claims to hint that "something major will be done" which will be "bigger than a normal strike".

Curiously, the conversation is dated February 23, 2019, which was roughly three days before the IAF-led airstrikes in Balakot, Pakistan.

The Political Back and Forth Given the nature of sensitive information discussed in the leaked WhatsApp chats, the Opposition has trained guns at the Republic TV's Editor-in-Chief and questioned his intentions.

The Opposition parties are now demanding an internal inquiry into the alleged leak while military experts across the country have slammed Goswami for his indiscretion.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) demanded the forming of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the purported WhatsApp chats of Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami and BARC former CEO Partho Dasgupta where Arnab claimed to have the Balakot airstrike information three days in advance of the incident. For example, a Catholic nun, along with four tribal women, was detained in June 2017 based on suspicion of induced conversion. In April 2017, three Christians were arrested in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh following allegations that they were converting people. Maharashtra Congress leader and former CM Prithviraj Chavan tweeted that the Government of India must launch a thorough probe. “Also the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence must take this matter with utmost priority. #ArnabGate. The voluminous transcript of Mr. Goswami’s chats released by Mumbai Police is deeply disturbing. Who gave access to such sensitive information from national security to constitutional amendments and political appointments? #ArnabGate,” said Chavan.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra BJP distanced from the leaked In the WhatsApp chat. Chandrakant Patil said that the BJP and its leaders have nothing to do with the leaked what's app chat of the Arnab Goswami.

"Someone is saying or claiming something that does not mean it is true. And, we should not also believe it also,” Patil said.

Shiv Sena attacked the Centre over the leaked WhatsApp chat of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, saying it’s a breach of the country’s internal security, and demanded action against the TV journalist.

Nawab Malik, NCP minister, and a spokesperson said that Arnab Goswami has got the classified military information and he has subsequently shared it with BARC former CEO Partho Dasgupta. “This is a very serious matter and concerned with national security. We will take up this matter to parliament and demand the setting up the JPC. We need to probe whether this classified information of Balakot airstrike by the Indian Air Force is only shared with Dasgupta or anyone else who is spies and enemy of India. Besides, who is the person in government who shared this confidential information with Arnab Goswami,” Malik said.

Statement from the Mumbai Police Mumbai police have submitted the over 3000 pages charge-sheet and the purported WhatsApp chat that runs over 500 pages are part of this additional charge-sheet of TRP scam. In the WhatsApp chat, it was revealed that Arnab had information of Balakot airstrike three days in advance of the actual strike incident.

Where is the Congress Lost? Outrage is strictly the opposition’s territory. If we are expected to outrage on their behalf, then India might as well be a single political party pseudo-democracy. Where are the acerbic questions from the opposition? And where’s the holier-than-thou television media, whose anchors were reading out to their viewers leaked chat messages from the phones of Rhea Chakrabarty, Deepika Padukone, Sushant Singh Rajput, and others?

With the latest revelations from the alleged WhatsApp chats of Arnab Goswami, which the Mumbai Police submitted in court along with its supplementary charge sheet in the TRP scam case, two possibilities emerge. Either the opposition in India is very shady itself, with too many skeletons in politicians’ closets. Or, in the prophetic words of Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav, who said “Congress must die”, the Congress has died.

In spite of the incriminating evidence against Arnab Goswami that has been exposed in these chats — for example, allegedly having prior information about the Balakot airstrikes — hardly anyone from the opposition parties has so much as even spoken about Arnab Goswami or questioned how he seemingly had military intelligence.

This is in stark contrast to the BJP when it was in opposition during the audio leaks of telephone conversations between former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, politicians and journalists in 2009. The BJP ensured that in every political rally and throughout its campaign in the run-up to 2014 Lok Sabha election, the alleged 2G scam was mentioned. It was the media conversation around the 2G scam allegations as well as the opposition’s continuous pressure that led to the arrests of DMK chief Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and former telecom minister A. Raja in 2011. And Arnab Goswami was at the heart of raising the heat on that story back then. All the accused were acquitted in 2017.

The media too has remained obviously quiet because in most likelihood, if one was to scratch the encrypted surface of chat messages, a lot of journalists will be unmasked as brokers trying to do “business” through their connections in the PMO, instead of journalism.

But the congress' silence is what allows everyone to play to their gallery. Because, 'sab changa si'.

Pakistan's Intervention Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan waded into the controversy over leaked conversation saying that they proved that the Modi government had planned the Balakot airstrikes in February 2019 in order to “win general elections”, and to “push our nuclearised region to the brink of a conflict it cannot afford”. Mr. Khan’s statement, which followed a similar statement by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, raised a response from the Editor-in-Chief of the “Republic media network”. He claimed that there was a “Pakistani hand” in the case against Republic and BARC’s former CEO Partho Dasgupta, currently in police custody.

Mr. Khan said the communications revealed the “unholy nexus between the Modi govt & Indian media” and accused the government that “dangerous military adventurism to win an election”. Response from the Republic Republic Media Network rejects the allegations of the Government of Pakistan against Arnab Goswami. They say that the desperation with which the Government of Pakistan has attacked the Republic Media Network in an open forum today lays bare the involvement of anti-India forces in the conspiracy behind the Republic Media Network. As the days pass, they plan on exposing this "conspiracy" and the involvement of people who are working against national interest. In the statement, they also urged the Congress party to "stop working in tandem with the Government of Pakistan, consciously or unconsciously, to spread lies against India’s interests."