Reading Arnab Goswami’s recent prime time turn | Powertrip #131

Welcome to this week’s Powertrip, a political newsletter exclusively curated for TNM and NL subscribers. This week’s edition is by Shabbir Ahmed and Pooja Prasanna.In this week’s newsletter, we ask people who know Arnab Goswami to decode his latest videos questioning the government. Has something changed? Or it hasn’t? What we found is that while there are business interests involved, it also goes beyond that.What we found is that while there are business interests involved, it also goes beyond that. We also tell you about how one section of the Congress in Tamil Nadu wants to drive a hard bargain with the DMK.Read the full newsletter for all the details. For those who can’t access the full newsletter, get a subscription and read every Tuesday. .Inside TrackExclusive stories, for your eyes only.Why Arnab Goswami is suddenly questioning the Modi governmentArnab Goswami’s sudden rediscovery of the art of questioning the Modi government has set tongues wagging in newsrooms and on social media alike. Supporters are hailing it as a long-awaited return to form; critics are looking for a hidden motive. So what really changed?We had conversations with nearly a dozen people who know how Arnab Goswami works, and most were equally puzzled. But all of them suggested this is less a political awakening and more a calculated business pivot. The trigger, insiders say, was the Indigo crisis. As we reported earlier, the decision to go all out on the issue was driven by a simple assessment: public anger was high, and no one on television was owning the story. Republic did, slammed the TDP, and the gamble paid off. TRP numbers jumped sharply that week, offering proof that confrontational journalism, even when directed at the ruling establishment, still sells.What followed was a familiar playbook. Arnab took on the Modi government over Delhi’s toxic air, turned the spotlight on alleged destruction in the Aravalli mountain range, and even zeroed in on a Madhya Pradesh BJP leader accused of spending Rs 70 lakh on firecrackers at his son’s wedding. And this has created a buzz among viewers. Whether appreciating or questioning Goswami, the point is that he has become a topic of discussion. The Aravallis coverage, insiders insist, is not just about ratings. It also carried a distinct corporate subtext.Not long ago, Arnab had been one of the Adani Group’s fiercest public defenders, especially during the fallout from the Hindenburg report. Today, that equation has changed. With Adani’s acquisition of NDTV, the group has emerged as a direct competitor. NDTV, now flush with resources, has been aggressively poaching talent from rival newsrooms, including Republic’s and offering advertising packages that undercut the market.“The Adani-NDTV machine is hurting us commercially,” said a senior executive from Republic. “So when Arnab appears to be attacking the government over the Aravallis, he’s actually going after Adani.”Inside the Republic newsroom, however, these strategic calculations remain largely unspoken. Even senior journalists say there has been no formal announcement of an editorial course correction. “Nothing has been discussed explicitly in edit meetings,” one reporter said. What has openly been discussed is the data. Clips of Goswami grilling the government are going viral. TRPs are climbing. Ad rates have nudged upward. For a channel built on high-decibel relevance, that feedback loop is hard to ignore and even harder to abandon.As for the Modi government, those familiar with the arrangement describe it as an unspoken truce. Occasional criticism is permissible, even useful. But on core ideological terrain, the red lines remain firmly in place. And this is where the real crux of the matter lies. What position will Arnab take on issues like communalism? Let’s also not forget that around the same time these clips on Indigo and Aravallis were going viral, Arnab interviewed RSS ideologue Gurumurthy over the Thiruparankundram deepam row and slammed the opposition for asking for impeachment of Justice GR Swaminathan. In prime-time television, it seems, dissent can be flexible but loyalty, like business sense, knows its limits. .Congress to play hardball in Tamil NaduDespite the All India Congress Committee (AICC) constituting a five-member committee to hold seat-sharing talks with the DMK for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, a section of Congress leaders in both Delhi and Tamil Nadu continues to remain hopeful of a possible tie-up with actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).Speaking to TNM, multiple Congress leaders said there is a “strong push” within the party to seriously consider an alliance with TVK. A Congress leader from a southern district of Tamil Nadu admitted that the party is still undecided between the DMK and TVK, while a senior leader said there is growing resentment among grassroots workers towards the DMK. According to him, party cadres want the high command to take political risks and focus on rebuilding the Congress in the state, rather than continuing as a junior partner in the DMK-led alliance.The five-member Congress committee that met DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin in Chennai on December 3 reportedly demanded more seats, while also expressing its willingness to finalise the seat-sharing agreement by December 15. However, the DMK conveyed that formal talks could take place only after the election notification is issued.What is worrying the DMK is the mixed messaging coming from Congress leaders. The party is reportedly unhappy that the Congress did not take action against Praveen Chakravarthy for meeting TVK chief Vijay.Adding to the discomfort was a recent interview with ANI by Tamil Nadu Congress in-charge Girish Chodankar, in which he spoke about the possibility of being part of the next government. Congress sources told TNM that Girish Chodankar believes the party should indulge in a hard bargain with allies and this has found support within the party. However, Congress leaders are also aware that no matter how hard they press for their demands, a final call will be taken by the party president, Mallikarjun Kharge, in consultation with the Gandhis. Senior DMK leaders believe the Congress is flexing its muscles, aware that the DMK would not accept a co-governance demand, and is instead using it as a bargaining tactic to extract more seats. At the same time, DMK leaders are cautious about letting the situation spiral. 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Reading Arnab Goswami’s recent prime time turn | Powertrip #131

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