On 12 January 2024, India Today anchor and journalist Shiv Aroor shared a news report on how Israel had used an India Today report at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Hague during the Gaza deaths hearing.
Self-proclaimed “neutral” political commentator Sumanth Raman seemed to have come across the report only recently. He shared it on his X handle with the caption, “Isn’t this something that @IndiaToday should be ashamed of??? Unbelievable that it is being put out as a badge of honour!!!”
Journalist Shiv Aroor whose post was quoted by Sumanth Raman reposted it saying, “I thought I had seen everything in life. Then I saw Sumanth Raman talking about ‘shame’.”
An independent journalist Saikiran Kannan also questioned whether Sumanth Raman denied the mass murder carried out by Hamas terrorists on 7 October 2023. He wrote. “Now I know that Dr. Sumanth was no quiz master but just reading things out of a paper. What @ShivAroor and IT covered were the atrocities committed on Oct 7th. This report was used by Israel at the ICJ. Is Sumanth denying the atrocities committed by Hamas? Sheer pandering!!!”
Defending himself, Raman replied, “It is not a matter of pride to be quoted by Israel to defend a genocide. Hamas is a terrorist Group and is a legitimate target for Israel. Palestinian children are not. You don’t seem to understand the difference.”
The conversation continued with Saikiran Kannan pointing out that Israel’s intent with the report was to confirm the occurrence of a massacre on 7 October 2023, which had been denied by some. He emphasised that his focus was solely on the specific report and not on Israel’s subsequent justifications. Sumanth Raman while acknowledging that Hamas carried out a massacre expressed “concern” that, in the name of eliminating Hamas, Israel was engaging in a genocide of innocent Palestinian children. He also added that Israel was defending itself by showcasing the India Today clip. Raman questioned whether Israel’s self-defence involved violating the rules of war. It became quite apparent that Raman was shifting goalposts as usual and Saikiran was quick to point out that the report was used to highlight the barbarism of Hamas and that several such news reports were used by Israel to present their case at the ICJ.
This is not the first time Sumanth Raman has exposed his alleged neutral stand. Some of his antics from the past are listed below:
He trivialised the petrol bomb attack at TN Governor RN Ravi’s residence in October 2023. He had written on his X handle that a petrol bomb attack did not indicate a breakdown of law and order. When a user raised concerns about the ease of obtaining such bombs, Raman responded by simplifying a petrol bomb as “petrol set alight with some cloth in a bottle and thrown.”
In March 2023, he spread fake news about NPCI charging a fee for UPI transactions without verifying its accuracy. After the National Payments Corporation of India clarified that the charges applied only to Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) and not to UPI transactions, Sumanth deleted his tweet, acknowledging the misinformation and stating that the fee was only for transactions through wallets and credit cards, not bank debits.
In May 2021, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic (Delta variant second wave), he questioned the efficacy of the DRDO-developed 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) drug for COVID-19, labelling it as ‘unproven stuff.’
In April 2021, after actor Vivekh suffered a heart attack, Raman attempted to raise concerns about COVID-19 vaccination by suggesting a potential link between the vaccination and the actor’s illness, prompting backlash. He had also tried to raise “concerns” about the COVAXIN vaccine and question its efficacy, despite the vaccine receiving approval from regulatory authorities in India.
As recently as the 22 January 2024 Pran Prathishta event, Sumanth Raman made a post implying that if it had not been for the demolition of Babri Masjid, there wouldn’t be so much fanfare associated with the consecration today. He also said that the celebrations were nothing but, ‘stoking a community into feeling they have got retribution’.
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Neutral ‘All-In-All’ Commentator Sumanth Raman Has A Problem With ICJ Using India Today Report To Call Out Hamas Terrorists Attack
On 12 January 2024, India Today anchor and journalist Shiv Aroor shared a news report on how Israel had used an India Today report at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Hague during the Gaza deaths hearing.
Self-proclaimed “neutral” political commentator Sumanth Raman seemed to have come across the report only recently. He shared it on his X handle with the caption, “Isn’t this something that @IndiaToday should be ashamed of??? Unbelievable that it is being put out as a badge of honour!!!”
Journalist Shiv Aroor whose post was quoted by Sumanth Raman reposted it saying, “I thought I had seen everything in life. Then I saw Sumanth Raman talking about ‘shame’.”
An independent journalist Saikiran Kannan also questioned whether Sumanth Raman denied the mass murder carried out by Hamas terrorists on 7 October 2023. He wrote. “Now I know that Dr. Sumanth was no quiz master but just reading things out of a paper. What @ShivAroor and IT covered were the atrocities committed on Oct 7th. This report was used by Israel at the ICJ. Is Sumanth denying the atrocities committed by Hamas? Sheer pandering!!!”
Defending himself, Raman replied, “It is not a matter of pride to be quoted by Israel to defend a genocide. Hamas is a terrorist Group and is a legitimate target for Israel. Palestinian children are not. You don’t seem to understand the difference.”
The conversation continued with Saikiran Kannan pointing out that Israel’s intent with the report was to confirm the occurrence of a massacre on 7 October 2023, which had been denied by some. He emphasised that his focus was solely on the specific report and not on Israel’s subsequent justifications. Sumanth Raman while acknowledging that Hamas carried out a massacre expressed “concern” that, in the name of eliminating Hamas, Israel was engaging in a genocide of innocent Palestinian children. He also added that Israel was defending itself by showcasing the India Today clip. Raman questioned whether Israel’s self-defence involved violating the rules of war. It became quite apparent that Raman was shifting goalposts as usual and Saikiran was quick to point out that the report was used to highlight the barbarism of Hamas and that several such news reports were used by Israel to present their case at the ICJ.
This is not the first time Sumanth Raman has exposed his alleged neutral stand. Some of his antics from the past are listed below:
He trivialised the petrol bomb attack at TN Governor RN Ravi’s residence in October 2023. He had written on his X handle that a petrol bomb attack did not indicate a breakdown of law and order. When a user raised concerns about the ease of obtaining such bombs, Raman responded by simplifying a petrol bomb as “petrol set alight with some cloth in a bottle and thrown.”
In March 2023, he spread fake news about NPCI charging a fee for UPI transactions without verifying its accuracy. After the National Payments Corporation of India clarified that the charges applied only to Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) and not to UPI transactions, Sumanth deleted his tweet, acknowledging the misinformation and stating that the fee was only for transactions through wallets and credit cards, not bank debits.
In May 2021, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic (Delta variant second wave), he questioned the efficacy of the DRDO-developed 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) drug for COVID-19, labelling it as ‘unproven stuff.’
In April 2021, after actor Vivekh suffered a heart attack, Raman attempted to raise concerns about COVID-19 vaccination by suggesting a potential link between the vaccination and the actor’s illness, prompting backlash. He had also tried to raise “concerns” about the COVAXIN vaccine and question its efficacy, despite the vaccine receiving approval from regulatory authorities in India.
As recently as the 22 January 2024 Pran Prathishta event, Sumanth Raman made a post implying that if it had not been for the demolition of Babri Masjid, there wouldn’t be so much fanfare associated with the consecration today. He also said that the celebrations were nothing but, ‘stoking a community into feeling they have got retribution’.
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