Reverberating Rajdeep Slap: The Rashomon Effect

The many many versions surrounding #RajdeepSlapped: trying to find our way through the Rashomon maze.

WrittenBy:Abhinandan Sekhri
Date:
Article image
  • Share this article on whatsapp
imageby :
subscription-appeal-image

Support Independent Media

The media must be free and fair, uninfluenced by corporate or state interests. That's why you, the public, need to pay to keep news free.

Contribute

On September 28 #IStandWithRajdeep was trending, as was #RajdeepSlapped. The way Twiterrati and newshounds reacted to this incident can be broadly divided into three categories. One, (like the writer of this piece) feel Rajdeep was the victim of rough treatment by a rowdy and loutish group that thrives on anonymity provided by mobs to indulge in shoving and abusing – even groping if they happen to corner a woman (too harsh no? I think so too).

The second are those who feel Rajdeep was the one to blame for grabbing a benign onlooker’s collar and was in fact the aggressor. It was he who provoked an otherwise polite and peaceful assembly of NRIs with his questions and subsequent belligerence. No, they weren’t singing BuddhamSharanamGachhami, they were Hindu, not Buddhist ok?

The third category includes those who feel that there is no excuse for a journalist reporting from the streets to get physical with an unruly mob, no matter what the provocation. That kind of harassment comes with the territory and learn to deal with it peacefully. Ok? Ok!

The third category is very different from the second who in fact don’t see any fault at all with an abusive and unruly mob.

The glee many felt at the sight of a rattled and perturbed Rajdeep outside Madison Square Garden is a sign of the resentment people have towards news media, not all without reason, even if the abuse and venom that flows is often unreasonably intense.

So what actually happened? Was Rajdeep the assaulter or a victim? Let’s be honest, most of us have taken positions based on our leanings, and not on evidence.

We try and piece together what happened from the many bits of evidence and eyewitness accounts flying around – many completely contradictory. It’s the Rashomon effect evident in all its conflicting glory.

It started with the video below that was shared online late on the evening of September 28.

An 11-second clip of what appears to be the fag end of a scuffle between two people. For many, this was enough to conclude that Rajdeep started the fight and was the aggressor, since it is he who grabs the man in the mustard kurta. Why he would randomly turn around and do that was not questioned presumably because Rajdeep (like Mike Tyson) is well-known for getting into brawls, even walking upto people on streets and grabbing their collar, I’m assuming.

This second slightly longer video below surfaced a few hours later and does show Rajdeep as the aggressor (at least physically) in response to abuse we hear hurled at him.

Then there was the version below that made it on air, live on Headlines Today. It shows Rajdeep approaching a group of Modi supporters trying to speak with them as they shout slogans of Rajdeep murdabad. Amidst the sloganeering and hostility in this clip you can see the man in the mustard-coloured kurta (the one whose collar Rajdeep grabbed in the clips above) pop up a few times (at 2:41 he pops out from the back and says something to Rajdeep) and later at the very end, as Rajdeep is winding up his piece to camera, the mustard-coloured kurta arm pops in again yelling “Number 1 news trader”, a term coined by Narendra Modi, and like all good things, it has caught on fast. A visibly agitated Rajdeep hands the mike to someone out of frame.

Later still, the clip below was shared on social media and shows a group of Modi supporters abusing Rajdeep as they chant Vande-mataram which means – salutations to you oh Mother, just after one of them shouts another salutation – “motherfucker”.

Transcript of above exchange –

Voice 1: Fuck you motherfucker.

Voice 2 (off frame): You’re not an Indian.

Many Voices: Vandematram

Voice 1: Listen ladaai ho gaihaiRajdeepki.

Voice 2: Ye nikalo..BJPkokharabdikharahey ho…deshkokharabdikharaheyho,,

Modi supporter in muffler: Congress ka chamchahai, Sonia kachamchahai…until now he has done like this…since last 10 years…

There are many other versions doing the rounds on social media, but most are third-party claims. However, there were a few who claimed first-hand information like Achint Sharma, Deputy News Editor, Dainik Bhaskar who posted this on facebook.

imageby :

Meanwhile the usual suspects on Twitter outdid themselves. There were those at this end of the spectrum.

The predictable libtards.

And the international observers.

Achint spoke to Newslaundry about the entire episode and told us that he in fact witnessed Rajdeep get into a scuffle with Modi supporters twice in the day. One, before the event at around 9:30 in the morning and, another, after the event got over at about 1:00 pm. “I did not really see the first time Rajdeep got into a brawl with Modi bhakts because I was standing away from where all the commotion was happening. But I saw one guy show him the middle finger and it seemed that Rajdeep was being provoked,” he says. This was the incident where Rajdeep is seen to be accosting a man in the crowd.

Achint was present when Rajdeep got into another altercation after the show. “He was standing outside the Madison Garden venue, and a crowd of 50 people gheraoed him and started chanting slogans like RajdeepHaiHai and RajdeepMurdabad as he was jostled by the crowd.

Achint says Rajdeep was trying to get out of the situation, and he and Bhupendra Chaubey came to his aid to get him out of the crowd. He says Rajdeep at that time was mostly avoiding confrontation and was trying to stay calm. “Most of these people seemed to be overseas friends of BJP and were donning saffron scarves. It seemed to have all started with Rajdeep enquiring about the tickets to the MSG event. BJP supporters got jittery because apparently the event was pegged as a charity event and the tickets were not charged but distributed to people. At least, this is what BJP guys claimed.”

Newslaundry also spoke with Bhupendra Chaubey who was doing his live stand-up report right next to where Rajdeep was doing his when the first altercation broke out. Bhupendra said he could hear the sloganeering and anti-Rajdeep curses flying around, but was live on air at the time, so he didn’t go into the crowd. This was when the scuffle started. Bhupendra wound up his report and rushed into the crowd to diffuse the situation. But Bhupendra was unable to clarify who hit who first, since that part was over when he got into the crowd. When we asked if it were Rajdeep’s questions that provoked Modi supporters, Bhupendra said that even he had asked Modi supporters questions like “Is this myth-making at its peak?” and other questions about Modi’s bombast. Bhupendra got straight answers and no one got abusive or violent with him. But that there was pushing and jostling happening next to him in the crowd around Rajdeep was fairly obvious to him.  This was before Modi made his speech at Madison Square Garden.

So did Rajdeep unwisely and unnecessarily over-react to a frenzied crowd who were at their excited and aggressive best? Or did he try and confront who he thought was an aggressor? Well, we also have this.

imageby :

Above is the screenshot of a facebook page that was widely shared on Twitter and facebook.   A certain Yogesh Tibrewal boasts to his facebook buddies about how he hit Rajdeep as part of a jostling crowd without Rajdeep even knowing who hit him. He gets many pats on the back for this daring act by his facebook friends.

However, when we went to this facebook page again, the name of the user is now Vicks Jhujhnu, even though the url shows the username as Yogesh Tibrewal. We have asked Yogesh (or Vicks) why he changed his name on his facebook profile and deleted the above image. We are yet to hear from him. We will update this article as soon as we do.

imageby :

We will wait for the US festivities to end and the entire media troupe to return home and get first-hand accounts from those who really witnessed the entire episode. Also, it gives us time to contact and get versions from some of those shown in the footage around Rajdeep. Until then, or maybe even after that we can all retreat into the safety of our wells of biased positions based on prejudice and not evidence.

Meanwhile Zee News ran an in-depth discussion on the Rajdeep episode last night, accusing him of bringing shame to journalism and the country. Yes, Zee News. Here, I will not comment on the quality of the broadcaster or the specific debate, but the fact that a journalist’s conduct is being discussed by all and especially peers (no matter what their antecedents) is a welcome change from the days of thou-shalt-not-discuss-fellow journalists. This in my view will be more effective than any self or governmental regulation, because we will all have to watch our conduct with the knowledge that it will be scrutinised as closely as politicians are, which is a good thing.  But, Zee News? Yes, it is a good thing.

(Disclosure: The writer of this piece belongs to the #IStandWithRajdeep category)

Achint Sharma interview conducted by Manisha Pande & social media inputs by Kartik Nijhawan.

subscription-appeal-image

Power NL-TNM Election Fund

General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans together to focus on the issues that really matter to the voter. From political funding to battleground states, media coverage to 10 years of Modi, choose a project you would like to support and power our journalism.

Ground reportage is central to public interest journalism. Only readers like you can make it possible. Will you?

Support now

You may also like