Iconoclastic Republic TV anchor Arnab Goswami is the man every well-mannered or aspirationally genteel middle class individual, deplores. But the meteoric rise in the viewership of this relatively new (2017) English news channel tells another story.

Ab initio Arnab Goswami transformed Republic TV’s 9 0’clock news hour into a nightly slugfest in which prominent public figures are let loose to rage, rant and outshout each other with Goswami who controls the main microphone (and mute button) at the head of the pack. 

Although an ill-advised reaction of Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi to file a dozen criminal defamation and other charges in multiple cities — a clear case of vexatious litigation — prompted the Supreme Court to dismiss all except one has been interpreted by Goswami as a triumph, it’s likely to prove a pyrrhic victory.

Without any proof, Goswami has accused Sonia Gandhi of commissioning a violent criminal attack on him by two Congress party workers on the night of April 22. This unsubstantiated accusation made on Republic TV’s national peak hour broadcast of April 23 was supplemented with references to Sonia Gandhi’s Italian roots and innuendos of Mafia connections.

Unsurprisingly, Mrs. Gandhi has initiated legal proceedings against him under several sections of the Indian Penal Code which is likely to cost Goswami dear. This reckless self-styled journalist seems quite clueless about the laws of civil and criminal defamation, the basics of which every self-respecting journalist should be cognizant. This rumbustious newscaster with a tinge of megalomania, has shot himself in the foot.