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Rajdeep Sardesai

Rajdeep Sardesai is senior journalist, author and TV news presenter. His book 2014: The election that changed India is a national best seller that has been translated into half a dozen languages. He tweets as @sardesairajdeep

Articles by Rajdeep Sardesai

What went wrong on Republic Day?

Farm leaders overestimated their ability to control a large and diverse group, while Delhi Police underestimated the scale of the rally

The deeply troubling images of the protesters forcibly entering Red Fort, attacking the police at various places and threatening mediapersons have shaken the romantic illusion of the hardworking farmer as men and women of honour. By breaking the law, the tractor became a weapon of self-destruction. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

opinion

Updated on Jan 29, 2021 04:50 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

The anti-corporate texture of farm protests

It is symbolic of a wider discontent against emerging market monopolies and fears of this being replicated in the agricultural sector

At the heart of the conflict is an acute trust deficit, a deepening mistrust of the nexus between untrammelled State power and big business (Biplov Bhuyan/HT PHOTO)

opinion

Updated on Jan 15, 2021 08:38 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

A ‘new’ India can’t be built by abandoning the core values of our founding fathers

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high. Where an Indian identity is determined by citizenship, and not divided by the narrow domestic walls of caste, region or religion. Where true secularism demands that no state authority promote or discriminate against any religion, where equal respect for all faiths must be the basis of our constitutional secularism.

After a traumatic and turbulent 2020, it’s time to ring in a New Year with hope. And since Rabindranath Tagore is being rediscovered by our netas ahead of the Bengal elections, this is a prayer for India in 2021 that draws inspiration from the great poet-laureate.(Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

columns

Updated on Jan 01, 2021 06:01 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

The Anna and kisan movements, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

The Anna movement had the support of the media and middle-class and a clear enemy. The farm protests lack all three elements

A mass populist upsurge needs an identifiable enemy. The Anna movement had it in the imagery of Union ministers accused of corruption. The farmers protests are far more diffused(Hindustan Times)

columns

Published on Dec 17, 2020 09:34 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

The limits of the Centre’s unilateralism

The protests symbolise citizen response to executive overreach. Farmers are politically too important to be brushed aside

It is the recognition that any kind of farmer revolt can spiral out of control that has forced the government to the dialogue table(PTI)

columns

Published on Dec 03, 2020 09:37 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

On liberty, the lack of judicial consistency

Decisions appear to be influenced by the status of the individual and the partisan political climate

This is a country where more than 70% of prisoners are undertrials. At the end of 2019, more than 100,000 people were lodged as undertrials for more than a year. As cases pile up, jails are overcrowded and increasingly unmanageable. Why should those queuing up for bail in petty crime cases have to wait for months for a court listing while high-ranking individuals get an urgent hearing even when courts are in recess?(SHUTTERSTOCK)

columns

Updated on Nov 20, 2020 06:36 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Why pollsters got the US wrong, again

An echo chamber bias ignored Donald Trump’s appeal in a divided states of America

As the great polariser, Donald Trump was seen as unfit to heal a nation bruisingly separated by race and class. But while this viewpoint was widely shared by people like us, it was frowned upon by ‘people like them’(REUTERS)

columns

Updated on Nov 05, 2020 10:59 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

The BJP’s high-risk strategy in Bihar

It wants the LJP to chip away at Nitish Kumar’s image while keeping him dependent on the BJP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar during an election rally, Bhagalpur, Bihar, April 11, 2019.(Santosh Kumar / Hindustan Times)

columns

Updated on Oct 23, 2020 11:41 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

How Hathras can hurt the BJP in UP

In its recent electoral supremacy, Dalit support has been a key factor, especially in the state

Being accused of Thakurvaad, a key charge Yogi Adityanath is now confronting, is suicidal in UP’s complex caste matrix(ANI)

columns

Updated on Oct 09, 2020 05:58 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Communalism: The other virus in India | Opinion

Hate is an infection that is contagious when it is normalised as has happened in recent years

Under the guise of being open-source platforms, the social media universe has created its own code of conduct where the lines between free speech and hate speech are often blurred(Shutterstock)

columns

Updated on Sep 25, 2020 05:43 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

On India’s stage, the theatre of the absurd, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

Key actors — political parties, media, viewers, investigative agencies — have failed in their duty

The viewers who lampoon TV news have much to answer for, for they are taking voyeristic delight in salacious gossip(Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

columns

Updated on Sep 11, 2020 08:23 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

The myth of inner party democracy

The Congress controversy is a reminder that Indian parties are family fiefdoms or autocracies

The truth is that where the Congress is undoubtedly more dynastic and plagued by an ad-hoc nomination culture, it is also ironically perhaps more democratic than the BJP today.(PTI)

columns

Updated on Aug 27, 2020 08:13 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

From Ayodhya to Mumbai and back | Opinion

In 2020, go back to the riots and violence of 1992-93. There has been no closure, no justice

The law has failed to take its course. A majority of the 2000-odd cases related to the riots have been closed(Getty Images)

columns

Updated on Aug 13, 2020 06:49 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

In the quest for power, the ethical decline of the BJP | Opinion

The party is willing to use all instruments for absolute dominance, becoming another Congress in the process

A growing number of the BJP “conquests” are actually of former Congresspersons who have gone with the saffron wind.(AFP)

columns

Updated on Jul 30, 2020 07:29 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

The tale of Rajesh and Sachin Pilot, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

In the divergent stories of the father and the son, the common theme is ambition and rebellion

Sachin was, in a sense, the last survivor, and now, he too is gone — further evidence that the old guard has reasserted itself(PTI)

columns

Updated on Jul 17, 2020 06:14 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

The return of Amit Shah to the national stage, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

While his return marks the return of politics, as HM, Shah must provide a healing touch to the citizenry

The return of Amit Shah Shah marks the unlocking of politics. For almost three months during the lockdown, it wasn’t just the country’s economy that was in a lockdown, it was also its politics(ANI)

columns

Updated on Jul 02, 2020 08:12 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

On China, the error of judgement

There has been a military lapse, or a political-diplomatic failure. Acknowledge it, course correct

Recognise that Chinese ambitions in the neighbourhood pose a threat and restore status quo ante along the LAC(AP)

columns

Updated on Jun 18, 2020 06:58 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Covid-19: Where a new India is born, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

Invest in health care, address inequity, stop communal politics, and let compassion prevail

Don’t treat those who suffer economic and physical dislocation as invisible labour, but give them their rights as citizen(ANI)

columns

Updated on Jun 04, 2020 06:47 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Covid-19: The unmaking of the Gujarat model

Its limited investment in public health has come back to haunt the state. Focus on the social sector now

A doctor takes a swab from a police officer to test for coronavirus, Ahmedabad, May 21, 2020(ANI)

columns

Updated on May 21, 2020 07:12 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

The ascent of a bureaucratic State, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

Covid-19 has seen the rise of an inhuman, arbitrary, babu raj. It is time for another avatar of the State

Enforcing a lockdown to save lives is one thing, but creating the conditions to protect livelihoods is another(REUTERS)

columns

Updated on May 07, 2020 08:04 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

2010-19: The lost decade of Indian television news

Covid-19 presented an opportunity to make TV news credible again. But it succumbed to Islamophobia

The coronavirus is the great unknown, and understanding its spread requires a relentless focus on hard information, and not on divisive agendas. Doctors and scientists are men and women of healing and research; they are not politicians who thrive on divide and rule. Which is why the coronavirus story must be told without the cacophony of communal politics, but by recapturing the spirit of news as a public service.(Deepak Sansta / Hindustan Times)

columns

Updated on Apr 23, 2020 05:37 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Team India must fight Covid-19 together, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

The PM should set up a task force with experts, CMs, and Opposition leaders to fight Covid-19

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with floor leaders of the Opposition parties on Covid-19, April 8, 2020(PTI)

columns

Updated on Apr 09, 2020 08:12 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Implement deshbandi, with care and compassion, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

It requires leadership with a human touch, new State-citizen engagement, and effective last-mile delivery

While notebandi could be justifiably criticised for chaotically disrupting the economic cycle, no one can quarrel with the intent or need for a three-week deshbandi to mitigate the impact of Covid-19(Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times)

columns

Updated on Mar 27, 2020 06:31 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

The Congress is imploding from within

Jyotiraditya Scindia’s exit reveals that the party structure is disconnected from its own leaders and workers

The Gandhis held the Congress together in gentler times but they no longer wield the political and moral authority to ensure the party works as a cohesive unit(ANI)

columns

Updated on Mar 12, 2020 07:01 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Delhi riots were waiting to happen

The real worry is that the ongoing violence may be a trailer, and it may soon spread elsewhere

Stray cows feed on oranges lying outside a vandalised shop, Delhi, February 27, 2020(AP)

columns

Updated on Feb 27, 2020 08:16 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Can Arvind Kejriwal go national, asks Rajdeep Sardesai

There is a vacuum in the Opposition leadership space. But the Delhi CM has his own limitations

The idealism of the anti-corruption movement has been compromised by the harsh realities of electoral politics(Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO)

columns

Updated on Feb 12, 2020 08:05 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

BJP is getting its messaging wrong, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

A core voter may be enthused by the incendiary rhetoric but the less ideologically aligned may not

Union minister and BJP MP Anurag Thakur in New Delhi, January 27, 2020(PTI)

columns

Updated on Jan 31, 2020 09:57 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

The Gujarat model comes to Delhi, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

The state has been stifling dissent in campuses and appointing partisan VCs. JNU fits the pattern

The system of controlling universities through State power has been seen before(Amal KS / Hindustan Times)

columns

Updated on Jan 17, 2020 11:46 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

The fury of Shaheen Bagh’s women, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

Their voices reveal both the fragility of communal relations and trust deficit with the government

‘Next time, please call us to the studio instead of the maulvis that you always do,’ say the women of Shaheen Bagh(Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

columns

Updated on Jan 03, 2020 05:50 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

BJP using CAA-NRC to reach out to Bengali-speaking Hindu voters in Assam, Bengal

Assam and West Bengal have elections in April-May 2021. The fires in the rest of the country, in a sense, are only the fallout of a cynical political game that looks at Bengal 2021 as the next big battle to be won. Just as it was about winning an election in Sarkhej in Gujarat was all those years ago.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee leads a protests rally of her party workers through Howrah Bridge, against the NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Act, in Kolkata, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019.(PTI photo)

columns

Updated on Dec 19, 2019 08:08 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

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Rajdeep Sardesai

Rajdeep Sardesai is senior journalist, author and TV news presenter. His book 2014: The election that changed India is a national best seller that has been translated into half a dozen languages. He tweets as @sardesairajdeep

Farm leaders overestimated their ability to control a large and diverse group, while Delhi Police underestimated the scale of the rally

It is symbolic of a wider discontent against emerging market monopolies and fears of this being replicated in the agricultural sector

The Anna movement had the support of the media and middle-class and a clear enemy. The farm protests lack all three elements

The protests symbolise citizen response to executive overreach. Farmers are politically too important to be brushed aside

Decisions appear to be influenced by the status of the individual and the partisan political climate

An echo chamber bias ignored Donald Trump’s appeal in a divided states of America

It wants the LJP to chip away at Nitish Kumar’s image while keeping him dependent on the BJP

In its recent electoral supremacy, Dalit support has been a key factor, especially in the state

Hate is an infection that is contagious when it is normalised as has happened in recent years

Key actors — political parties, media, viewers, investigative agencies — have failed in their duty

The Congress controversy is a reminder that Indian parties are family fiefdoms or autocracies

In 2020, go back to the riots and violence of 1992-93. There has been no closure, no justice

The party is willing to use all instruments for absolute dominance, becoming another Congress in the process

In the divergent stories of the father and the son, the common theme is ambition and rebellion

While his return marks the return of politics, as HM, Shah must provide a healing touch to the citizenry

There has been a military lapse, or a political-diplomatic failure. Acknowledge it, course correct

Invest in health care, address inequity, stop communal politics, and let compassion prevail

Its limited investment in public health has come back to haunt the state. Focus on the social sector now

Covid-19 has seen the rise of an inhuman, arbitrary, babu raj. It is time for another avatar of the State

Covid-19 presented an opportunity to make TV news credible again. But it succumbed to Islamophobia

The PM should set up a task force with experts, CMs, and Opposition leaders to fight Covid-19

It requires leadership with a human touch, new State-citizen engagement, and effective last-mile delivery

Jyotiraditya Scindia’s exit reveals that the party structure is disconnected from its own leaders and workers

The real worry is that the ongoing violence may be a trailer, and it may soon spread elsewhere

There is a vacuum in the Opposition leadership space. But the Delhi CM has his own limitations

A core voter may be enthused by the incendiary rhetoric but the less ideologically aligned may not

The state has been stifling dissent in campuses and appointing partisan VCs. JNU fits the pattern

Their voices reveal both the fragility of communal relations and trust deficit with the government

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