A day after Republic TV senior correspondent Shweta Kothari resigned and lashed out at Arnab Goswami for " witch-hunting" her for being an alleged spy of Shashi Tharoor, anti-nuclear activist SP Udayakumar has written a hard-hitting reply to the female journalist.
Shweta, earlier this year, had conducted a sting operation for the channel on Udayakumar, against which he had filed a complaint with the Press Council of India for harassment.
Udayakumar in an open letter asked Shweta what moral right does she have to complain about being wrongly accused and spied upon, after having "mercilessly backstabbed" his entire family.
"It is interesting to note that you are upset that Arnab Goswami suspected you of 'being a mole.' I am sure you have heard the saying 'those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword' - he said in the letter.
Under the disguise of being a research scholar with foreign connections ready to make financial aid for the Koodankulam struggle, Shweta had secretly recorded conversations with Udayakumar which was later aired by the channel. The broadcast showed him telling that he cannot receive money from foreign sources through the bank since his account was frozen. He is shown refusing the offer telling her that it could land both of them in trouble.
Calling Arnab a "criminal", Udayakumar wrote that Shweta might now understand the kind of humiliation that himself and the Koodakulam agitators went through upon being labelled "stooges of the Catholic Church, greedy for foreign money," by the channel.
Taking a dig at her statement against the company Reporting Manager for scrutinising her social network profiles and labelling her a spy, Udayakumar asked what else could be a person who recorded an unsuspecting host family including aged people be called.
"How many days did you, your stupid boss and other morons in your TV humiliated us, the noble people who have been struggling against an authoritarian government who was imposing dangerous nuclear projects on us? Didn’t you probe our financial status and try to extract information through SPY cameras and hidden equipment, Shweta?"
In a post-resignation Facebook update on Friday, Shweta Kothari had described the series of events which led to it. Claiming to be unreasonably dropped from the channel's special projects team, Kothari said she is not the sole victim of the channel's harassment.
The sting operation on Udayakumar and other Koodankuulam activists were aired only a few days after the launch of Republic TV. The activist had denied the allegations as lies propagated or better ratings.
"As a result of Arnab Goswami’s slanderous campaign against me, my family and I fear for our safety and security. I hold Arnab Goswami, Shweta Kothari, Sanjeev and Hariharan (another employee of the channel) solely responsible for any untoward incident that may happen to me."- Udayakumar had posted on Facebook on 22 June.
Read Udayakumar's letter to Shweta Kothari below:
Date: October 13, 2017
From: S. P. Udayakumar
To: Ms. Shweta Kothari
Hope you remember me, Shweta. You visited my home on April 8, 2017, received my free books, enjoyed my family’s hospitality and backstabbed me and my family so mercilessly and cruelly. You lied to me that your name was Shweta Sharma and that you were a “research scholar” from the Cardiff University in the UK. You asked for my help with your “dissertation research.”
On April 9, 2017 you requested me to stop by your hotel room as you had a few more questions. There you told me “one of [your] British professors” was very keen on supporting our struggle against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant.
On both those occasions, you were secretly recording me and my conversation illegally, immorally and indelicately without any qualms about the journalistic ethos. It is interesting to note that you are upset that Arnab Goswami suspected you of “being a mole.” I am sure you have heard the saying “those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.” Your calm demeanor, gentle head shake, deceitful smile, ungrateful attitude, lying through your teeth and the sheer criminality all make you very capable of being a mole of not just an MP but a whole array of foreign agencies.
When your criminal boss called you a mole, the proposition was “ridiculous,” and even a “witch-hunt” for you. But when you accused thousands and thousands of hardworking and well-meaning ordinary citizens of India of being stooges of the Catholic Church, greedy for foreign money and all that abhorrent nonsense without a shred of any evidence, you thought it was high class journalism, right?
You are raving and ranting about your “Reporting Manager who diligently spent time going through my social network profiles and later proposed that I maybe a SPY and also took it up with Arnab Goswami.” How interesting! You walked into my home, spent hours with an unsuspecting host family (comprising my aged parents, trusting wife, friendly son), recorded all the conversations secretly exactly as a SPY would do and betrayed our love and trust.
Oh, so “[t]he humiliation continued for a few more days,” eh? Your “financial status was inquired (proposing that [you] may have been getting paid by Mr Tharoor),” ha? Your colleagues were questioned on whether “[you] try to extract information, right?
How many days did you, your stupid boss and other morons in your TV humiliated us, the noble people who have been struggling against an authoritarian government who was imposing dangerous nuclear projects on us? Didn’t you probe our financial status and try to extract information through SPY cameras and hidden equipment, Shweta?
They questioned your “loyalty” too? And you have a “famous poem that still continues to be [your] cover picture” on Twitter? And does it talk about loyalty, Shweta? Very funny! You know that word, ha? Do you know what it means to be “loyal”?
You are crying aloud now: “Nobody bothered to clarify. I was left in the lurch. My loyalty questioned, my vanity hurt.” It does hurt, doesn’t it, Shweta? Other human beings also have similar feelings, you know? You are hurt by the “scrutiny of character” that Arnab and his mad gang did on you? Weren’t you doing the same on us all, just a few months back and crying hoarse to the whole country on your TV without even asking yourself if it was all fair to do so.
And on 30th May, 2017, you “had done a sting operation on a sitting SHO for a story” and your Editor accused you of ‘flirting’ with the SHO? How sad! Your Editor “threatened to make the conversation public and destroy [your] career”? I wonder what you guys talked about. The conversation must have been that randy and rousing to destroy someone’s career.
When my teenage son came to know about your stinking “sting operation” on me, do you know what he said, Shweta: “This woman could have killed you ‘Pa!” If one keeps on doing this kind of “sting operation” for a living, one will not only flirt or fornicate, s/he would even murder!
I particularly like your statement: “The culture of fear, intimidation and harassment I have seen in the last few months is unparalleled.” You also say: “Never have I witnessed such vindictive and vicious conduct.” These are nice statements, Shweta! Do you realize now what you have been doing to unsuspecting people like me with your criminal bosses? Read these statements aloud in front of a mirror, Shweta! You may understand better!
It’s really funny that you are still “thankful to the organisation for giving [you] a great learning experience and abundant opportunities…” Opportunity to do what? To do what they have been doing to you, right? You have not regretted a bit about the wretched things you have been doing to other people. You only want Arnab and the gang to stop “this pattern of vilification of employees on the basis hearsay.” If they do, your Arnab, your nosy Editor and all others will continue to be good, noble and nationalistic leaders and you are quite fine with them. Right, Shweta?
You close your great manifesto with the simple question “what good am I as a journalist?” You may be anything, a spy, a mole, or an infiltrator as your bosses allege! But certainly not a good journalist! And you know what, what you sow, so shall you reap!