#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep #priyankagandhi

Today, as the title suggests I am going to comment on the much talked about politics of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra but first with a clarification and an apology. Seven years ago in November 2014, at a lit fest event around by book 2014: The Election that changed India, I was in conversation with Shobha De. One of the questions that Ms De asked me then was how I viewed the politics of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Remember this was 2014 when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had campaigned almost solely in the Gandhi family bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli. My response to Shobha De was” ‘Politics is now ruthlessly competitive 24×7. There is no place for guest appearances or item numbers.’ Next day, in an article on the event, the headline of the newspaper DNA was: ‘Priyanka Gandhi does politics like an item girl.’

#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep #lakhimpurkheri

This week has been dominated by two stories: one from rural UP, the other from Mumbai. The Mumbai story has all the elements of a Bollywood potboiler when the son of one of Hindi cinema’s biggest superstars is arrested in a drug bust. It’s easy to outrage over a story involving a VVIP brat: then when the VVIP brat’s father’s surname is Khan, it’s even easier to spend even more time outraging.

#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep #AssamKilling

Lets start with a quiz question: how many of you know of Bijoy Shankar Bonia? My guess is that most of you don’t until I show you this photo. That right my friend, Bijoy Shankar Bonia is the photographer whose photo has gone viral, the photo of Bonia jumping, stomping and dancing over the dead body of a man who had just been shot dead by the Assam police during an eviction drive in Sipajhar in Assam’s Darrang district.

#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep #india@75

As India enters its 75th year of independence, it’s a fitting time to unveil a dream of a ‘better’ India. An India where harmony prevails over hate; where those who target any citizen for their religion, caste, community, region, are prosecuted and convicted for hate speech. Hate cannot be ‘normalised’ in any manner or the culture of impunity promoted under the guise of tedious what-aboutery of competing religious identities.