Nineteen hours ago, a possibly excited Markandey Katju tweeted that he was to appear on Times Now, aka on Arnab Goswami’s show. Six hours later, it seemed as if the poor man didn’t know what hit him.
Former Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju tweeted on Tuesday evening saying that he had been invited as a panelist on The Newshour by Times Now editor in chief Arnab Goswami.
The topic of the show was a blog post of Katju on September 12, in which he called Rabindranath Tagore a “British stooge” and Subash Chandra Bose a “Japanese agent” and gives his reasons for saying so.
In the post titled 'The Japanese agent Subhas Chandra Bose', Katju said, "In my opinion Bose was a highly ambitious person, and he became a Japanese agent because neither Gandhi nor Hitler had given him any ' bhaav ', so he thought that the only alternative left was to ally with Japan."
After his views became known, Bose’s family demanded an apology from Katju.
Goswami magnanimously offered Katju a chance to apologise, in which case the debate would be dropped. Given what we know of both individuals, the offer was made with no expectation of being accepted, and neither was Katju likely to accept it.
Right at the beginning of the show Arnab called my statement on Bose condemnable '. He then called me superficial and supercilious ( arrogant ), and that I have the tendency of plunging into debate without knowing any facts. He also said that I don't believe anyone except myself. Is this the way a T.V. anchor should behave ? Is this not abuse ?”
After the debate, he was really annoyed. He said:
Then, he said that if someone (presumably Goswami) disagreed with him, he should be given reasons for the disagreement, not be abused for his views.
Lastly, he repeated his views that abuse was not the response for disagreement, but a counter-argument: "When Ardhendu Bose said that I was a publicity seeker Arnab repeatedly agreed with him. I was befooled by Arnab Goswamy into appearing on his show, and I told him I will never again do so as he does not know how to behave."
Looks like Katju won't be a prime time guest anymore.