Barkha Dutt quits NDTV After 21 years, likely to start own venture
In Indian Express, January 15, 2017
(Note: Yes the buck – NDTV’S Barkha Dutt — has stopped! Quit? Sacked? Whatever, only for the time being, we hope, as we still need persons like her to carry on and complete the cleaning up of all corrupt and corrupting print (recall the ‘presstitute’ use under bjp rule) and visual media terrorists in this new year 2017 under Modij’s Bharath and Trump’s land of dwindling opportunities. Only yesterday we spoke of some other stalwarts disappearing from the Indian horizon – TV anchors like Arnab, Rajdeep, Sagareeka and company.
With the dawn of 2017, it looks that the glamorous young lady called globalization is suddenly in the grips of birth pangs to deliver the next generation babe and is at loss to give it the right name for the post-globalization times. Since information coming out from multiple sources are very sketchy we have to wait a day or two till we get a complete picture of the unfolding drama. Until then we have to rest satisfied with tit-bits coming from a plethora of social media trying to get a peep into her life but without giving too much credibility to what they say.
In times like this what we could do best is to remind ourselves of what Thomas Paine said: “The duty of a true patriot is to protect his country from its government,” because your worst enemies are in your own house hold as the bible says. That should keep us all busy and occupied 24×7, you call it NDTV or whatever name you like. For believers around the world, rejoice, you are all in this God made (not man-made) real Movie theatre watching the thrilling story (no history unfolding) of how God writes straight with crooked lines. What happened, what happens and what will happen is for good, for your GOOD! So be happy and rejoice! james kottoor, editor).
Senior journalist Barkha Dutt has resigned as Consulting Editor of NDTV. According to reports, she is likely to start her own venture. In an official statement issued, NDTV appreciated her long-time association with the channel and wished her all the best for her future.
Dutt rose to prominence in journalism for her fearless coverage of Kargil war in 1999. She later became the face of NDTV’s programme We The People. She has won many national and international awards, including the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour. However, her stint with NDTV was also marred by controversy as she figured in the controversial Radia tapes.
She was also criticised for her coverage of 26/11 attacks when she reported from Taj Mahal Hotel and Oberoi Trident. She was blamed for putting lives at risk and causing deaths by identifying on live television where the hotel guests might be located.
NDTV Statement
In 1995, Barkha Dutt joined NDTV straight out of college, and now, after 21 wonderful years together, Barkha has requested that she would like to explore some new opportunities, pursue other interests and work on her own ventures.
In all her years with NDTV, she has been hugely productive and has grown with the organisation, becoming an acclaimed, award-winning journalist of repute across India and many parts of the world. We are certain that Barkha will go from strength to strength and NDTV wishes her all the very best.
In her latest Facebook post, Barkha wrote that she is proud of her association with NDTV and is excited about her new venture:A new year means that new beginnings beckon. After a great two decades at NDTV I will be moving on to explore new opportunities, diversify my interests and build my own multi media content and events company as well as special projects. It's been an eventful and super ride at NDTV with an Emmy Nomination among the multiple awards capping a wonderful journey. I am especially proud of We The People the last episode of which I hosted today – at sixteen years it's the longest running show on Indian TV. But am hugely excited about the many adventures that await me. And I now count on everyone's best wishes for my next new and wonderful innings. Excited wish me luck !
Tit-bits from other social media sources
One bit that appeared in “National Views” is about “A Tale of Barkha Dutt and Her Two Muslim Husbands” with the introductory note: "Senior Journalist of NDTV, 43-year-old Ms. Barkha Dutt whose marital status is disputed, is known for her personal attacks on other people.”
On the contrary, she strongly opposes any step to encroach her privacy whenever her personal life is questioned. No wonder, she has denied timely about her marriage even once though she has married twice and that too to Kashmiri Muslims.
Interestingly, Barkha even tweeted about it a year back – Here’s more. For the record I am not married. But if I were, whether to a Hindu or Muslim should be irrelevant. Bigoted crap — barkha dutt (@BDUTT) June 4, 2014. Well, logically speaking that’s correct and totally fine. After all, we may have the right to interrogate about her professional life, but we definitely do not have any rights to question her personal life. However, this ‘very’ rule Barkha Dutt constantly fails to adapt in her professional life. And this is precisely the reason why we are interested in her ‘private life’ which we will share here as follows:
The First Husband of Barkha Dutt: The exact year of her marriage is unknown but it seems that she married and even divorced a Kashmiri Muslim who is known as ‘Mir’. Nothing is much known about him except the fact that he is a Kashmiri Muslim. So, her first husband mostly remains a ‘Mr. X’ to all of us. However, we have a pivotal information and that he was a certain ‘Kashmiri Muslim’. Also, we have heard that this marriage lasted for only 6 months.
Reminds me of the term ‘starter marriage’ where the marriage leads to early divorce and the couple forgets ‘it’ completely as this type of marriage is seen as a form of groundwork for a successive, more lasting marriage with different partners, of course. Perhaps this is the reason why she never came out in the open as ‘it’ was just a starter marriage, you see!
Barkha Dutt’s Second Husband Was Linked to Anti-India Organization. After divorcing Mir, it is said that Barkha started dating and even married the economist and Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Dr. Haseeb Drabu. Now since he was in the office from 2005 to 2010, it is most likely that she married him in these years.
He was sacked from his position in 2010 after an IB Report confirmed Mr. Drabu’s close relations with Hurriyat hardliners and PDP. The report mentioned that Mr. Drabu was sharing confidential information of the bank with the two organizations. Now since that act of providing critical information to anti-India organization was mainly to sabotage Indian interests, he was sacked by the Omar Abdullah Government. Reportedly, he also anticipated a separate currency for Jammu and Kashmir terming it as ‘Karra’. Next, he left Kashmir for Mumbai. (Source)
He is currently the Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister as he formally joined PDP last year and even won the 2015 election with a high margin. It is said that Drabu and Barkha Dutt were the people who negotiated with BJP from the PDP side. We now hear the couple is divorced, (This much is given just to satisfy the curiosity of readers about an Anchor, all admired. Please wait a few more days for a clearer picture to emerge. Editor).
