Consulting Editor and TV Anchor at News Nation Television, Deepak Chaurasia, was once again in the spotlight after he blamed Jawaharlal Nehru University for the 2019 terrorist attack on CRPF men in Pulwama which claimed lived of 40 jawans.
The senior journalist can be seen getting hysterical in his prime time show Khoj Khabar. Ignoring cameras Chaurasia got up from his seat and walked towards and tore into JNU Students Union leader Sunny Dhiman. Before Dhiman could understand anything Chaurasia started shouting at him. ‘Aap log (JNU students) jaatein JNU hai, taxpayer ka khaate hai aur gatein Pakistan ka (You students go to JNU on taxpayer’s money but sing praises of Pakistan),’ Chaurasia thundered.
‘Aapko sawaal poochna chahiye’ (You should ask questions), Dhiman shouted in response.
Disregarding his answer Chaurasia jabbed his finger at Dhiman, ‘Aap jaise log jo yeh mansikta phela rahein hai, aap jaise desh drohion ne ikhata kiya Pulwama mein’ (You are responsible for spreading this mentality, all anti-nationals had gathered in Pulwama).
Over the years he has worked with many leading news channels including ABP News, India News, and DD News.
What did I just see? Is this shouting and name calling by the anchor in a TV studio supposed be a debate? ð¤ pic.twitter.com/ASgSu0vrn3
â SamSays (@samjawed65) February 16, 2020
This is not the first incident of Chaurasia painting JNU students as traitors. In 2016 after the anti-India slogans were raised inside the JNU campus by some of the people, Chaurasia blamed Kanahiya Kumar for the incident and asked how did the incident happen in his presence. It must be noted that Kanahiya doesn’t feature in any of the videos of the event that surfaced on the internet.
Chaurasia’s hysteria also caught the eye of Stephen Sackur, a veteran journalist and host of BBC’s flagship show the Hard Talk. He took a jibe at the anchor and tweeted, ‘I have been doing Hard Talk wrong.’
I watched this and realised I’ve been doing @BBCHARDtalk all wrong….𤣠https://t.co/kZbiuhoFgV
â stephen sackur (@stephensackur) February 18, 2020
Several people on social media too called out Chaurasia’s actions and soon became a laughing stock among netizens.
My goodness. If a TV anchor ever jabbed his finger in my face like that he’d wake up in a different time zone. https://t.co/osgev5E4MD
â Jeff M. Smith (@Cold_Peace_) February 16, 2020

Watch the faces of the other three panelists. Amazing. ð https://t.co/iftHULE75S
â Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) February 19, 2020
#DeepakChaurasia ð pic.twitter.com/thKn5jEI52
â Vaishali Singh (@imvaishalisingh) February 20, 2020
The Logical Indian Take
Questions or challenges are expected in a debate. Having said that, insulting, condescending, or comments involving personal language or attacks have become a new normal in Television news debates.
Debate provides people with an opportunity to put both sides of a story ‘on the stand’ and to hold people in power accountable by asking them tough questions they normally evade. The hyper excitement of anchors not only reveals their political biases but also shows their lack of better arguments.
Also Read: Security Lapses, Intel Failure: Questions That Remain Unanswered About Pulwama Terror Attack
