
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’s ruthless expansion drive
UPDATED ON FEB 26, 2021 06:30 AM IST
Puducherry is only the latest instance of the Modi-Shah playbook of expanding political power. In a sense, Puducherry is now part of a pattern of Machiavellian intrigue that has been repeated from Arunachal and Manipur to Goa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh where a ruthlessly expansionist BJP seeks to consolidate its ascendancy by wangling either wholesale or retail defections.

Why Indian celebrities bend to State power
UPDATED ON FEB 12, 2021 06:41 AM IST
The fear of retribution by State and non-State actors, even as commercial stakes are high, tilts the balance

What went wrong on Republic Day?
UPDATED ON JAN 29, 2021 04:50 AM IST
Farm leaders overestimated their ability to control a large and diverse group, while Delhi Police underestimated the scale of the rally

The anti-corporate texture of farm protests
UPDATED ON JAN 15, 2021 08:38 AM IST
It is symbolic of a wider discontent against emerging market monopolies and fears of this being replicated in the agricultural sector

A ‘new’ India can’t be built by abandoning the core values of our founding fathers
UPDATED ON JAN 01, 2021 06:01 AM IST
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.

The Anna and kisan movements, writes Rajdeep Sardesai
PUBLISHED ON DEC 17, 2020 09:34 PM IST
The Anna movement had the support of the media and middle-class and a clear enemy. The farm protests lack all three elements

The limits of the Centre’s unilateralism
PUBLISHED ON DEC 03, 2020 09:37 PM IST
The protests symbolise citizen response to executive overreach. Farmers are politically too important to be brushed aside

On liberty, the lack of judicial consistency
UPDATED ON NOV 20, 2020 06:36 AM IST
Decisions appear to be influenced by the status of the individual and the partisan political climate

Why pollsters got the US wrong, again
UPDATED ON NOV 05, 2020 10:59 PM IST
An echo chamber bias ignored Donald Trump’s appeal in a divided states of America

The BJP’s high-risk strategy in Bihar
UPDATED ON OCT 23, 2020 11:41 PM IST
It wants the LJP to chip away at Nitish Kumar’s image while keeping him dependent on the BJP

How Hathras can hurt the BJP in UP
UPDATED ON OCT 09, 2020 05:58 AM IST
In its recent electoral supremacy, Dalit support has been a key factor, especially in the state

Communalism: The other virus in India | Opinion
UPDATED ON SEP 25, 2020 05:43 AM IST
Hate is an infection that is contagious when it is normalised as has happened in recent years

On India’s stage, the theatre of the absurd, writes Rajdeep Sardesai
UPDATED ON SEP 11, 2020 08:23 AM IST
Key actors — political parties, media, viewers, investigative agencies — have failed in their duty

The myth of inner party democracy
UPDATED ON AUG 27, 2020 08:13 PM IST
The Congress controversy is a reminder that Indian parties are family fiefdoms or autocracies

From Ayodhya to Mumbai and back | Opinion
UPDATED ON AUG 13, 2020 06:49 PM IST
In 2020, go back to the riots and violence of 1992-93. There has been no closure, no justice

In the quest for power, the ethical decline of the BJP | Opinion
UPDATED ON JUL 30, 2020 07:29 PM IST
The party is willing to use all instruments for absolute dominance, becoming another Congress in the process

The tale of Rajesh and Sachin Pilot, writes Rajdeep Sardesai
UPDATED ON JUL 17, 2020 06:14 AM IST
In the divergent stories of the father and the son, the common theme is ambition and rebellion

The return of Amit Shah to the national stage, writes Rajdeep Sardesai
UPDATED ON JUL 02, 2020 08:12 PM IST
While his return marks the return of politics, as HM, Shah must provide a healing touch to the citizenry

On China, the error of judgement
UPDATED ON JUN 18, 2020 06:58 PM IST
There has been a military lapse, or a political-diplomatic failure. Acknowledge it, course correct

Covid-19: Where a new India is born, writes Rajdeep Sardesai
UPDATED ON JUN 04, 2020 06:47 PM IST
Invest in health care, address inequity, stop communal politics, and let compassion prevail

Covid-19: The unmaking of the Gujarat model
UPDATED ON MAY 21, 2020 07:12 PM IST
Its limited investment in public health has come back to haunt the state. Focus on the social sector now

The ascent of a bureaucratic State, writes Rajdeep Sardesai
UPDATED ON MAY 07, 2020 08:04 PM IST
Covid-19 has seen the rise of an inhuman, arbitrary, babu raj. It is time for another avatar of the State

2010-19: The lost decade of Indian television news
UPDATED ON APR 23, 2020 05:37 PM IST
Covid-19 presented an opportunity to make TV news credible again. But it succumbed to Islamophobia

Team India must fight Covid-19 together, writes Rajdeep Sardesai
UPDATED ON APR 09, 2020 08:12 PM IST
The PM should set up a task force with experts, CMs, and Opposition leaders to fight Covid-19

Implement deshbandi, with care and compassion, writes Rajdeep Sardesai
UPDATED ON MAR 27, 2020 06:31 AM IST
It requires leadership with a human touch, new State-citizen engagement, and effective last-mile delivery

The Congress is imploding from within
By Rajdeep Sardesai
UPDATED ON MAR 12, 2020 07:01 PM IST
Jyotiraditya Scindia’s exit reveals that the party structure is disconnected from its own leaders and workers

Delhi riots were waiting to happen
UPDATED ON FEB 27, 2020 08:16 PM IST
The real worry is that the ongoing violence may be a trailer, and it may soon spread elsewhere

Can Arvind Kejriwal go national, asks Rajdeep Sardesai
UPDATED ON FEB 12, 2020 08:05 PM IST
There is a vacuum in the Opposition leadership space. But the Delhi CM has his own limitations

BJP is getting its messaging wrong, writes Rajdeep Sardesai
UPDATED ON JAN 31, 2020 09:57 AM IST
A core voter may be enthused by the incendiary rhetoric but the less ideologically aligned may not

The Gujarat model comes to Delhi, writes Rajdeep Sardesai
UPDATED ON JAN 17, 2020 11:46 AM IST
The state has been stifling dissent in campuses and appointing partisan VCs. JNU fits the pattern