CHRISTMAS EVE VIDEO INTERVIEW between articulate and incisive interviewer Karan Thapar and celebrated NDTV journalist Ravish Kumar has elicited much appreciation within the chattering classes, particularly leftists and liberal fellow travellers. Kumar’s claim to fame is that as an anchor of NDTV’s Hindi channel, he had established an excellent reputation for fearlessly speaking truth to power, particularly to the BJP government at the Centre. Your editor can’t comment on Kumar’s capabilities because I unapologetically patronise English language TV news channels.

Be that as it may, the Thapar-Kumar interview was remarkable on several counts. One for Kumar’s extraordinarily large ego. Without adducing any evidence, he claimed that fast-track business tycoon Gautam Adani purchased the majority stake in NDTV Ltd valued at Rs.493 crore with the primary purpose to silence him. Therefore, he pre-emptively resigned from the bought out company. Moreover, he plainly stated that Adani who is “close” to prime minister Narendra Modi did so at the latter’s instigation because Kumar is the sole, even if unelected, champion of poor and marginalised citizens.

The mutual admiration interview is typical of the anti-business and private enterprise prejudice of Cadillac communists of the Prannoy Roy and Thapar genre who dominate the media and academy. They indulge lavishly in the goods and services produced by industry but hold risk-taking entrepreneurs who produce them, in hatred, ridicule and contempt. Quite unlike Mahatma Gandhi, anti-business lefties in the academy and media have little understanding that successful industrial enterprises of the Adanis and Ambanis generate direct and indirect tax revenue aggregating an estimated 5 percent of GDP apart from providing employment to millions while also producing goods and services that consumers want.

Therefore, it’s quite normative for free-spending prime ministers and princes to respect wealth creators and big taxpayers. Kumar’s presumption of guilt against a highly successful businessman and duly elected prime minister is illustrative of a runaway ego.