News / Columns / Rajdeep Sardesai

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

The BJP should accept greater scrutiny

It is almost as if the BJP feels compelled to engage in the Rafale dogfight rather than focus on the core challenge of daily governance, especially on the economic front.

It has been increasingly obvious as the Congress ratchets up the clamour on the Rafale deal that the Modi government is slowly beginning to feel the heat(AFP)

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Updated on Sep 27, 2018 07:30 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

By targeting Rahul, the BJP is deviating voters’ attention from real issues

A falling rupee and rising petrol prices have led to a spate of WhatsApp jokes, many of them directed at the ruling party which when in Opposition had sung an entirely different tune.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi during the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, 2018(Photos by special arrangement)

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Updated on Sep 14, 2018 12:02 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Rajdeep Sardesai column: Will Rafale become the Bofors of our times?

That question lies at the core of Rahul Gandhi’s 2019 challenge

Both Rajiv Gandhi and Narendra Modi have headed majority governments that ensured there was no immediate threat to their rule(HT Photo)

columns

Updated on Aug 30, 2018 08:28 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Vajpayee was the torchbearer of a gentler political era

Atal Bihari Vajpayee recognised that governing India meant moving away from all extremities.

AB Vajpayee provided the BJP a tolerant and accommodating spirit that could win over a range of parties who had been discomfited by Hindutva politics(Rajiv Gupta /HT Archives)

columns

Updated on Aug 22, 2018 06:16 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Opinion | ‘Kaptan Khan’ is a man of many parts who is willing to reinvent himself

In his turbulent journey towards this ‘naya’ Pakistan, he has made troubling compromises but never quite lost his combative spirit.

Pakistan's cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan speaks to the media after casting his vote at a polling station during the general election in Islamabad on July 25.(AFP)

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Updated on Aug 03, 2018 02:12 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

2019 polls likely to be fought on smartphones, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

To fight an election through WhatsApp forwards or Facebook likes or Twitter trends is to manufacture a digital reality that can be both toxic and intoxicating

The dangers of WhatsApp being used to create a digitally orchestrated fury have been revealed in recent weeks by a spate of lynchings over child lifting rumours spread through the messaging site(REUTERS)

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Updated on Jul 19, 2018 10:08 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Why the Congress must change its strategy

This strategy of short-term strategic alliances is so very different to the original goal which Rahul Gandhi had set for the Congress’s resurgence just a few years ago

The Congress, under a reminted and more accommodating Rahul Gandhi, appears to be slowly accepting that it cannot dictate terms to any party in the country, and that for its very survival, it must now be ready to compromise and cede political space to potential adversaries.(AFP)

columns

Updated on Jul 05, 2018 06:25 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

BJP-PDP relationship was doomed from the beginning, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

Neither the Valley-based PDP nor the Jammu-based BJP could offer a solution for peace and reconciliation that went beyond their well-defined, mutually antagonistic political constituencies

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed(Nitin Kanotra/HT)

columns

Updated on Jun 22, 2018 08:17 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

For NDA and Opposition, Ekla chalo re is no longer a stirring song

As Karnataka and now Kairana have shown, the notion of political invincibility is also part of a myth-making factory. Modi and his lieutenant Amit Shah have built a larger than life image for themselves by convincing the Opposition that they are indestructible. But even seemingly unbeatable rivals can be outplayed provided there is sufficient self-belief

(L to R): Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, BJP president Amit Shah and Uddhav’s son Aditya Thackeray, Bandra, Mumbai, June 6, 2018(Pravin Waradkar /HT)

columns

Updated on Jun 08, 2018 12:20 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

The BJP’s halo seems to have dissipated after Karnataka elections, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

The BJP’s moral high ground has slipped under the quicksand of individual ambitions and the arrogance of electoral invincibility

In the aftermath of Karnataka’s 58-hour BJP chief minister BS Yeddyurappa’s resignation, there have been attempts to liken his ‘sacrifice’ to that of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1996(PTI)

columns

Updated on May 24, 2018 06:25 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Karnataka could well throw up a fractured verdict, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

It is a measure of Karnataka’s political outlook that men of religion carry greater credibility than the state’s politicians

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures to supporters during an election rally in Bangalore, May 3(AFP)

columns

Updated on May 11, 2018 11:23 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

In a land of a million mutinies, Modi is only touching upon a billion aspirations | Rajdeep Sardesai

In 2014, Narendra Modi could relentlessly focus on being an energetic agent of change because he was, after all, the challenger, the political ‘outsider’...But in 2018, Modi cannot switch quite as easily to the avatar of the humble ‘chai-wallah’ or detached ‘fakir’ because he now enjoys the trappings of power and authority

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with the members of the Indian community, at ‘Bharat Ki Baat, Sabke Saath’ an interactive programme, Westminster, London, April 18(PTI)

columns

Updated on Apr 26, 2018 07:22 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

To check fake news, journalists must tell the truth without fear

The best way to regulate the menace of fake news is not through executive orders but by encouraging true journalistic values of credibility, integrity and independence within newsrooms across India

It isn’t as if ‘fake news’ isn’t a major editorial, technological and ethical challenge or that Irani shouldn’t kick-start a meaningful dialogue on the issue. The key question is: does the government come into the debate with clean hands?(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

columns

Published on Apr 13, 2018 11:26 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Ball-tampering scandal: it was hubris that devoured the Australian ‘leadership group’

There has been collective outrage, especially in Australia, of feeling ‘betrayed’ by our modern day heroes, much like we Indians felt when the match-fixing scandal first broke. And yet, some of the responses are typically hypocritical and exaggerated in a socio-political milieu where those who shortchange the system are often suitably rewarded

This video grab taken from a footage released by AFP TV shows Australia's captain Steve Smith speaking during a press conference in Cape Town, on March 24. He admitted to ball-tampering during the third Test against South Africa(AFP)

columns

Updated on Mar 29, 2018 05:26 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Will 2019 see an anti-Narendra Modi coalition? By Rajdeep Sardesai

The successful alliance between the SP and the BSP in the recent UP by-elections is seen as a pointer to the future.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other leaders during a dinner hosted by Sonia Gandhi, March 13(Hindustan Times)

columns

Updated on Mar 15, 2018 10:56 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Is the moral advantage slipping away for the BJP? By Rajdeep Sardesai

The prime minister needs to reclaim the political narrative on corruption before it is too late

Congress president Rahul Gandhi at Parliament House, New Delhi, February 1(Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO)

columns

Updated on Mar 02, 2018 08:17 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Why 2019 isn’t quite a done deal for the BJP | By Rajdeep Sardesai

The party’s defeat in the Rajasthan by-polls suggests that the saffron surge of 2014 may be beginning to slow down

The BJP’s mascot in the twin Rajasthan elections was not Narendra Modi but the state chief minister Vasundhara Raje.(Himanshu Vyas)

columns

Updated on Feb 16, 2018 08:58 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Bollywood should stand up and be counted against vigilantes stifling free expression | By Rajdeep Sardesai

If Hindi film stars can line up to be brand ambassadors for government-sponsored programmes, what stops them from using their clout to speak up when their basic right of free expression is being stifled.

File photo of Karni Sena members protest against the release of film 'Padmaavat' in Rajasthan.(PTI Photo)

columns

Updated on Feb 02, 2018 08:06 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Judiciary has functioned like a cosy, opaque club for too long | By Rajdeep Sardesai

How does an institution retain its moral and legal sanctity if it is split wide open on issues of conscience?

Four senior Supreme Court judges, by their unprecedented action of holding a press conference, have firmly put the spotlight on judicial accountability, writes Rajdeep Sardesai.(PTI Photo)

columns

Updated on Jan 19, 2018 10:14 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

India’s polity suffers from a strong caste bias, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

The OBC representation in Parliament has declined in the past decade to pre-Mandal levels of around 20% even as upper caste numbers have sharply risen to 44%.

The Congress too, is attempting to build a rival ‘rainbow’ coalition by aligning with a new generation of aggressive and articulate Dalit-Bahujan leaders like Jignesh Mevani while also embracing a Hardik Patel.(HT Photo)

columns

Updated on Jan 05, 2018 03:27 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Were Modi-Shah the ‘Sikandars’ of Gujarat and Rahul Gandhi the ‘Baazigar’?

If the Congress wants to position itself as a national alternative to the BJP, it will have to convince enough Indians that the party under Rahul has little to do with a discredited ancient regime of sloth and corruption and that it has a better economic agenda for jobs and growth than the BJP

The BJP could well claim that it has scored a remarkable sixth consecutive victory in Gujarat while the Congress could argue that it has reduced the BJP tally to double digits.

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Updated on Dec 21, 2017 07:29 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Gujarat election results 2017: Why Congress’ appeal for change didn’t work in urban Gujarat | Rajdeep Sardesai

Almost all of Gujarat’s cities have a large aspirational middle class that seeks affluence and rapid growth: For this class, the Modi persona symbolises hope of ‘achche din’, as represented in physical terms by the gleaming flyovers and new townships across these cities.

A supporter holds up a cut-out of a lotus, the election symbol of India's ruling BJP, with an image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad.(Reuters file photo)

analysis

Updated on Dec 19, 2017 12:00 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

BJP can’t take Gujarat for granted, writes Rajdeep Sardesai | Opinion

The large crowds, which leaders like Hardik Patel are attracting, is proof that the younger Gujarati voter will no longer be taken for granted. Henceforth, the politics of religious hatred may be subject to diminishing returns.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an election campaign rally, Dhandhuka village, Ahmedabad, December 6, 2017(PTI)

opinion

Updated on Dec 07, 2017 06:34 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Parliament is being delegitimised in the popular imagination, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

With the winter session of Parliament pushed back till the Gujarat elections are over, the message is clear: A single state election matters more now than a ‘national’ Parliament

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a public meeting in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Modi’s unmatched status as the star campaigner for the BJP means that almost every election has become a mini-referendum on the prime minister’s appeal(PTI)

columns

Updated on Nov 23, 2017 01:44 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Is the BJP still the party with a difference? By Rajdeep Sardesai

In its growing ‘Congress-ification’, the BJP runs a risk of sacrificing its ideological core for instant political gratification

Former Trinamool leader Mukul Roy in New Delhi after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party(PTI)

columns

Updated on Nov 09, 2017 10:02 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Meet the real Virat Kohli: India’s best-loved cricketer who wants to be ‘a monk in a civil world’

Is the Indian captain the perfect sportsman or a brash young star? Senior journalist and author Rajdeep Sardesai offers his take…

lifestyle

Updated on Oct 29, 2017 10:19 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByRajdeep Sardesai

Politics in the age of Modi is a 24X7 exercise. Is Rahul really up to the challenge?

The Congress needs a major surgery overhauling its local units, and needs a fresh narrative rather than simply expect Narendra Modi to self-destruct

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi (centre) at an election rally, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, October 23. OBC leader Alpesh Thakor (left) joined the party in Gandhi’s presence(Siddharaj Solanki/HT)

columns

Updated on Oct 26, 2017 07:03 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

A hardline Hindutva line will not work for the BJP in Kerala, they need a Narayana Guru: Rajdeep Sardesai

In a state which celebrates its universal literacy programme, the divisive propaganda against ‘forced’ inter-religious marriages will invite a backlash from those who see it as a deliberate attempt to divide society.

BJP president Amit Shah goes through a photo exhibition of pictures of party workers killed in political violence in north Kerala’s Kannur district.(HTPhoto)

columns

Updated on Oct 13, 2017 11:35 AM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

In spite of all the criticism, the BJP faces no great threat in Gujarat and Himachal: Rajdeep Sardesai | Opinion

If the BJP still remains in pole position to sweep the final election battles of the year in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, it reflects the nature of the political contestation at the moment and the disjunction between economic realities and electoral fortunes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with BJP President Amit Shah and Union Ministers Niti Gadkari and Rajnath Singh at BJP's national executive meeting in New Delhi on Monday(PTI)

columns

Updated on Sep 28, 2017 07:15 PM IST

ByRajdeep Sardesai

Stand by Gauri Lankesh: This isn’t the time for journalists to remain silent, divided, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

There is a media elitism which has left journalists in regional dailies/channels more exposed to threat, and attacks on them rarely making headline news. Gauri Lankesh’s death should be a turning point

A protester holds a placard at a candle light vigil organised for Gauri Lankesh at India Gate, New Delhi, on September 6.(Burhaan Kinu/ HT)

columns

Updated on Sep 15, 2017 09:01 AM 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

It is almost as if the BJP feels compelled to engage in the Rafale dogfight rather than focus on the core challenge of daily governance, especially on the economic front.

A falling rupee and rising petrol prices have led to a spate of WhatsApp jokes, many of them directed at the ruling party which when in Opposition had sung an entirely different tune.

That question lies at the core of Rahul Gandhi’s 2019 challenge

Atal Bihari Vajpayee recognised that governing India meant moving away from all extremities.

In his turbulent journey towards this ‘naya’ Pakistan, he has made troubling compromises but never quite lost his combative spirit.

To fight an election through WhatsApp forwards or Facebook likes or Twitter trends is to manufacture a digital reality that can be both toxic and intoxicating

This strategy of short-term strategic alliances is so very different to the original goal which Rahul Gandhi had set for the Congress’s resurgence just a few years ago

Neither the Valley-based PDP nor the Jammu-based BJP could offer a solution for peace and reconciliation that went beyond their well-defined, mutually antagonistic political constituencies

The BJP’s moral high ground has slipped under the quicksand of individual ambitions and the arrogance of electoral invincibility

It is a measure of Karnataka’s political outlook that men of religion carry greater credibility than the state’s politicians

The best way to regulate the menace of fake news is not through executive orders but by encouraging true journalistic values of credibility, integrity and independence within newsrooms across India

The successful alliance between the SP and the BSP in the recent UP by-elections is seen as a pointer to the future.

The prime minister needs to reclaim the political narrative on corruption before it is too late

The party’s defeat in the Rajasthan by-polls suggests that the saffron surge of 2014 may be beginning to slow down

If Hindi film stars can line up to be brand ambassadors for government-sponsored programmes, what stops them from using their clout to speak up when their basic right of free expression is being stifled.

How does an institution retain its moral and legal sanctity if it is split wide open on issues of conscience?

The OBC representation in Parliament has declined in the past decade to pre-Mandal levels of around 20% even as upper caste numbers have sharply risen to 44%.

If the Congress wants to position itself as a national alternative to the BJP, it will have to convince enough Indians that the party under Rahul has little to do with a discredited ancient regime of sloth and corruption and that it has a better economic agenda for jobs and growth than the BJP

Almost all of Gujarat’s cities have a large aspirational middle class that seeks affluence and rapid growth: For this class, the Modi persona symbolises hope of ‘achche din’, as represented in physical terms by the gleaming flyovers and new townships across these cities.

The large crowds, which leaders like Hardik Patel are attracting, is proof that the younger Gujarati voter will no longer be taken for granted. Henceforth, the politics of religious hatred may be subject to diminishing returns.

With the winter session of Parliament pushed back till the Gujarat elections are over, the message is clear: A single state election matters more now than a ‘national’ Parliament

In its growing ‘Congress-ification’, the BJP runs a risk of sacrificing its ideological core for instant political gratification

Is the Indian captain the perfect sportsman or a brash young star? Senior journalist and author Rajdeep Sardesai offers his take…

The Congress needs a major surgery overhauling its local units, and needs a fresh narrative rather than simply expect Narendra Modi to self-destruct

In a state which celebrates its universal literacy programme, the divisive propaganda against ‘forced’ inter-religious marriages will invite a backlash from those who see it as a deliberate attempt to divide society.

If the BJP still remains in pole position to sweep the final election battles of the year in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, it reflects the nature of the political contestation at the moment and the disjunction between economic realities and electoral fortunes.

There is a media elitism which has left journalists in regional dailies/channels more exposed to threat, and attacks on them rarely making headline news. Gauri Lankesh’s death should be a turning point

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