Blog

April 15, 2017
Rajdeep Sardesai
Blog

Kashmir: putting Indians first

The reality in Kashmir has always been crazily complex: this isn’t some good guys versus bad guys spaghetti western where the guys with the guns are good, those with...

March 28, 2017
Rajdeep Sardesai
Blog

Thank god for cricket

There must be a world beyond Yogi Adityanath I keep telling myself. For the last week, television has been in a trance with a politician who we once consciously...

March 19, 2017
Rajdeep Sardesai
Blog

The Rise of the Yogi: the Mask is Off

The first time I met Yogi Adityanath was in his bastion of Gorakhpur ahead of the 1999 general elections. It was only the youthful Yogi’s second parliament election and...

March 13, 2017
Rajdeep Sardesai
Blog

Goa Gone with ‘Money-pur’

So, the BJP is set to form the government in Manipur and Goa, adding two more states to its kitty. In both states the pattern is disturbingly similar: a...

February 28, 2017
Rajdeep Sardesai
Blog

Oh, to be 21 again

A young woman spoke out against the politics of hate, on friendship with Pakistan, on seeking peace not war. Within minutes she was attacked by the soldiers of nationalism....

February 24, 2017
Rajdeep Sardesai
Blog

Today Narendra, tomorrow Devendra?

One of the first press conferences I covered as a rookie reporter was of Bal Thackeray and Pramod Mahajan in the late 1980s announcing their decision to contest elections...

February 19, 2017
Rajdeep Sardesai
Blog

UP: ten takeaways

It’s the half way mark in the crucial election battle in UP. It is impossible to accurately predict a 20 crore state’s voting preferences after a few visits, but...

December 31, 2016
Rajdeep Sardesai
Blog

Happy New Year!

A few days ago, while on vacation, I got a throat viral. Illness on holiday can be a real bummer: you can’t really enjoy the good times when your...

November 25, 2016
Rajdeep Sardesai
Blog

Farewell Dileep

If there is one thing Dileep Padgaonkar probably enjoyed even more than a finely written book or article, it was crab curry rice and tisrya (clams) at Anant Ashram,...

October 23, 2016
Rajdeep Sardesai
Blog

Sarkar Raj

So Raj Thackeray has proven yet again that he is a true heir to his uncle’s legacy. Remember all those film stars, industrialists, cricketers who used to literally prostrate...