Of Param Bir, Sachin Vaze & a failed plot against Republic: Reflections from the Newsroom

At the time of writing this, exactly 365 days have elapsed since a nefarious and failed conspiracy had been floated against Republic Media Network. 

On that day, Param Bir Singh who was then the Commissioner of Police of Mumbai was to address a press conference. It was somewhat unusual for the Mumbai CP to address the media in such a fashion, some would say. Just as unusual, Republic's reporter was barred from entering the briefing room - India's biggest English and Hindi channels barred from attending a press conference by a public official at the headquarters of the Mumbai Police. 

Snippets of what Param Bir was saying nonetheless began to trickle in, via our beady-eyed input desk which was listening to the feed coming in from ANI. 'He's taking our name,' they said, and very soon, ludicrous claims began to pop up on our internal news feeds. Rather than answering on the specifics of his investigations, Param Bir Singh was attempting to claim that a TRP manipulation complaint had landed on his lap just two days earlier, and Republic TV and two Marathi channels had been named.

At Republic, nobody has ever been in any doubt over our viewership or how supportive and ardent our viewers are. Tremendous effort, pain, and attention to detail went into launching Republic TV, Republic Bharat, and the Republic World website, and keeping the news flowing is the labour of love of a vast team of dedicated professionals across the length and breadth of India.

If one were to visit Republic's Mumbai newsroom, the far side wall has an inscription in big black letters - 'Good stories have no frontiers'. And if one visits the Production Control Room (PCR), similar but smaller letters read 'Till it's done.' That is the credo here, it's the all-consuming belief that fuels the staff. And it is this single-minded focus that translates into viewership in people's living rooms and on their mobile phones. Unfortunately, Param Bir did not know this, but he would soon find out...

Republic fought back. Armed with a snippet of information, confirmed by our Executive Editor - Law and Governance, Rhythm Anand Bhardwaj, that stated that Republic hadn't been named in the complaint cited by Param Bir Singh, and the support and belief of millions of viewers and supporters at home, #RepublicFightsBack became the buzz word on-air and online. 

The response was unanimous and deafening. While Param Bir appeared on Lutyens channels to give interviews peddling his unsubstantiated claims, the scope of the conspiracy began to become apparent. It is for a reason that other channels had been prepared with lines and graphics well in advance, and had been staking out at our Editor-in-Chief's house even before the press conference had begun. They would meet their downfall too, and sooner than they'd imagined.

As Arnab Goswami's primetime debate approached, #RepublicFightsBack had slain all the other hashtags on social media, topping the trending charts. It was clear that the people of India knew who and what to believe - Republic and Arnab. And they did not disappoint.

As the clock struck 9 and Arnab went #LIVE, Republic's newsdesk accessed the complaint copy in the TRP case that Param Bir Singh, with little-known Sachin Vaze seated behind him, had so fiendishly hawked before the country. Quick but careful inspection revealed that Republic was not mentioned anywhere in the complaint! Instead, a channel on which Param Bir had appeared just hours earlier to speak ill of Republic was named along with two Marathi channels.

Arnab's picture holding the complaint copy in his hand went viral that night, being incorporated into memes of netizens who were both stunned & thrilled by the turn-of-events, just as we were in the newsroom. Param Bir & Vaze were nowhere to be seen, and the Lutyens channels backing them looked like they wished they were anywhere else.

The turnaround that day - October 8, 2020 - would be repeated in-principle many times in the subsequent days and weeks. A pattern would emerge, with Param Bir and Vaze floating taller and taller fake claims, resorting to more and more draconian remnants of Colonial Era laws, all while Republic quickly dashes their hopes each and every time, without fail. 

While they summoned our management, our top editors & our distribution team, and subjected them to over 500 combined hours of interrogation without making any headway, we systematically exposed their lies and fabrications. When they made outlandish demands for access to our systems, softwares, and even details of mundane things like how we purchased the microwaves in our pantry and the lighting fixtures in our washrooms, we exposed how they had allegedly been threatening witnesses in our case in an effort to falsely implicate us.

Finally, perhaps frustrated at having been beaten by the truth, their own incompetence, and our unwillingness to cave in the face of their witch-hunt, they turned desperate and assaulted & arrested our Editor-in-Chief, horrifying supporters all over the world with their violent brazenness. India stood with Arnab literally and figuratively that week like they always did, with people coming together in large numbers to protest. There were visuals I never thought I'd see before - the bone-chilling chase sequence to Taloja jail where our senior reporter Piyush managed to get a byte from Arnab while driving alongside his police transport at high speed. Armed forces veterans submitted a memorandum to the President seeking his release, Indian diaspora came together with placards half-way across the world, and diyas were lit and floated in the holy Ganga.

Ultimately, justice shone like a beacon in that case too, with the Honourable Supreme Court observing that "The doors of this Court cannot be closed to a citizen who is able to establish prima facie that the instrumentality of the State is being weaponized for using the force of criminal law" and granting bail to Arnab. That evening, as Republic teams drove to Taloja jail to receive him on his release, they had already been beaten to the spot by hundreds of supporters who stood across the road with candles, lights, and placards in their hands. 

Despite the Apex Court's strong observations, Param Bir and Sachin Vaze's rule of terror would continue for some time. I came face-to-face with Vaze and witnessed his high-handedness & sense of impunity first-hand when I confronted him on the day he and his lackeys arrested our CEO Vikas Khanchandani. 'Get out,' he shouted at me about a dozen times for having the temerity to ask him a question at the portal of the Mumbai CP's office. 

Their reign would eventually come to an end a couple of months later, however, in a manner that nobody could have anticipated - for the plotting of what is tantamount to an act of terrorism in the very heart of India's financial capital. 

When I think about their fall, I am reminded of the Greek myth of Icarus, who fell into the sea and drowned after having flown too close to the sun on wings made of wax and feathers despite having been warned not to. The same way as Param Bir and Vaze, drunk on power and a sense of impunity, cast propriety & their responsibility to the people of India aside and were burned when the truth inexorably caught up with them.