Columns

March 28, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Narendra Modi and Limits of Self-Marketing

In the age of 24 x 7 news, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the master of political theatre, his every move designed to maximize eyeballs. Which is why a...

March 11, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Ten Reasons why Mr Modi is in Pole Position to win 2019

The battle has well and truly begun, the election commission has sounded the bugle for elections 2019. Elections are both a marathon cum steeplechase with many crazy jumps and...

February 28, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

War games in election season

War is not a cricket match and an air strike should not be reduced to a political spectacle. But we are in election season which might explain the well-choreographed...

February 14, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

The importance of being Nitin Gadkari in a big election year

In February 1994, as I was preparing to leave Mumbai for Delhi, a senior professional colleague had a word of caution: “Remember, Delhi is very different to our city....

January 31, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Behenji Needed More than Behen

This is the season for opinion polls with hyper-ventilating TV anchors throwing a volley of numbers at dazed viewers with an authority that at times belies the spotty track...

January 31, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Remembering George Fernandes, the original political rebel

We were on a flight to Patna in early 2005 and I was sitting next to George Fernandes. He was off to campaign in the Bihar elections: as Samata...

January 17, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Mayawati for PM is a Clever Ploy

‘One day, she will fulfill Babasaheb Ambedkar’s dream!” claimed Bahujan Samaj Party founder, Kanshi Ram, with a hint of pride, pointing to the woman who had just served us...

January 2, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Kaun Banega Pradhan Mantri? Game on!

As the temperatures sharply dip in the national capital, the political heat is rising. The BJP’s defeat in three Hindi heartland states means that we enter a big general...

December 20, 2018
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Why BJP should worry, not be in denial

In 2004, a few weeks before the general elections and a day after the Lucknow stampede in which 21 poor women were killed while collecting free saris, then prime...

December 12, 2018
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

The Five State Election: Ten Takeaways..

1) In electoral politics, no one is invincible, not even self styled Bahubalis and political Chanakyas. And yet, such has been the aura around the Modi-Shah duo that a...