(Image source from: Was the leaked interview between Arvind Kejriwal and Punya Vajpayee fixed?})

A video leaked on the YouTube featuring off-the-record tete-e-tete between AAP honcho Arvind Kejriwal and Aaj Tak journalist Punya Prasun Vajpayee, shot during an interview last month after Kejriwal stepped down from the CM's post is drawing a buzz and why?

While some dub it as an 'exposé', others have shrugged it off saying 'big deal'. However, at the core of it, the video does expose a stark trend. Read on to know.

First, the screengrab from the YouTube video shows Kejriwal contemplating and discoursing about his interview with the journalist. No big deal really. Towards the end of it, the clip shows Kejriwal requesting the journalist to underscore some parts of the interview which he thinks would echo with the needs and wants of the masses. That is no big deal, isn't it?

Now, the journalist agrees to oblige, emphasizing that a particular portion of the interview was 'krantikaari' (revolutionary) and would spark 'reactions'. Whether he did it out of 'courtesy' or genuinely agreed with the politician's point of view isn't clear. But, the news was indeed played up again and again by the journalist and the channel. Maybe, M. Vajpayee truly deemed that bit 'important' enough to play it up over and again. No big deal yet.

Note that the leaked video has two parts, split by a jump cut. The first portion features 'off the record' chit-chat between Arvind Kejriwal and Punya Prasun Bajpai during a 'break' while second part shows Kejriwal asking Vajpayee to play up the interview.

In the first part, Kejriwal says that he is uncomfortable discussing privatization in the interview as it had nothing to do with middle class, his vote bank. So the interviewer says, "Fine, let’s drop this topic. And let’s talk about the 80 percent of the population, where the ‘vote bank’ lies.” To which Kejriwal says, “Absolutely. I had forgotten to talk about that!” And this is exactly the what the final version of the interview resonates.

In the beginning, Kejriwal kicks off by talking about private companies and their nexus with governments, and then the moves to the problems of the poor people. When a journalist is asked by a politician to drop a 'topic' since it might hurt his electoral politics, should he oblige and deviate? Does that make it a big deal? Was the interview between Kejriwal and Bajpai 'fixed' or 'planned'? Are all media interviews 'fixed' or 'planned'?

If that is the case, then why did Rahul Gandhi botch up his debut interview with Arnab Goswami? Why did Narendra Modi say no to an interview with Karan Thapar? And what about the hundreds of other interviews where politicians have walked out in between, including Kejriwal himself (on NewsX).Were those fixed too?

To tell the truth, it’s not a big deal, since media and politics fit like hand in glove. The media can’t afford to be always antagonistic to the powerful political class. That said, whether the interview was fixed or not is something we don't know yet. You are free to draw your own conclusions.

Watch the video here:

AW: Suchorita Choudhury