RAJDEEP  SARDESAI

Newsman: Tracking India in the Modi Era by Rajdeep Sardesai ; Published by Rupa ; Pages  234 ; Price Rs.500/-

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Rajdeep Sardesai is an award-winning journalist and consulting editor with India Today television. He has excellent books to his credit---- 2014: The Election that Changed India and Democracy’s XI: The Great Indian Cricket Story.

Sardesai has won the prestigious Padma Shri for Journalism in 2008, the International Broadcasters Award for coverage of the 2002 Gujarat riots, and the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award for 2007. He has also won the Asian Television Awards 2014 for Best News Presenter in Asia for the coverage of the 2014 general elections.

  The book under review is a  collection of essays  that portrays  the Modi years ‘objectively’. One cannot be indifferent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi .You either love him or you hate him.

 Rajdeep struggles  to walk the tightrope of “objectivity” and “autonomy. He seeks to present both sides of the story of Modi’s first four years as Prime Minister.

In his earlier book, the author candidly remarked: “My coverage of the (2002) riots (in Gujarat) ruptured my relationship with Modi.”

 Rajdeep  has appended a short note after the postscript in each essay. These notes seek to update and contextualise what Sardesai had felt at different points in time over the last four-and-a-half years. The essays are quite  reflective and do stand the test of time.

Two years ago, in October 2016, he wrote what has become more relevant today: “In the cacophony of 24x7 media, there has been a conscious strategy on the part of the government to drown out alternative voices, dub them as ‘Pakistani-ISI’ agents, or virtually force news organizations to engage in self-censorship in the guise of a ‘nation first’ storyline.”

 He is at his critical best when he holds forth on his own journalistic fraternity and examines the current state of the electronic media. In an article titled ‘Divided media cannot provide justice to Gauri Lankesh’, he writes perceptively: “Sadly, the media is being driven by an ominous ‘them’ versus ‘us’ binary pushed by a morally bankrupt political class: It’s a systematic campaign of bilious hate that reflects in a growing intolerance of contrarian opinion and a constant manufacturing of ‘enemies’ who must be targeted, if not in a TV studio, then on the social media, and finally, on the street. In this bitterly polarized atmosphere, the space for an independent interrogation of facts is shrinking rapidly.”

The articles in the book have been segregated on the basis of five broad categories accounting the rise of Narendra Modi, analysis of Indian political alliances and opposition strategies, interpretation of being anti-nationals or nationals, challenges in making of New India and state of media in our democracy. The author has extensively written his opinion on the challenges which lay ahead in making of New India, Rahul Gandhi’s less productive role in active politics, strong views on anti-nationalism and questioning adequacy of reforms implemented.

 Rajdeep covers several subjects  — from Jawaharlal Nehru to Babasaheb Ambedkar, the unrest in Kashmir to the floods in Tamil Nadu, cricket tournaments to water shortages, the “marketing” of “surgical strikes”, Lalit Modi, the Vyapam scandal in Madhya Pradesh and the “revolt” by senior judges in the Supreme Court.

Rajdeep Sardesai’s incisive analysis of contemporary events decodes the key questions of our times. From the day he was sworn in as prime minister in May 2014, Mr. Modi has dominated the news cycle, attracting admirers and critics in equal measure.

The articles cover some major decisions, their implications and the events that have affected India and every Indian. The language is lucid and simple. With the perspective of a journalist who has faced a lot for speaking against the government at times – Rajdeep, in very subtle ways has expressed his concerns.

  “Modi has never had an open press conference till date. He had one after the 2002 Gujarat riots, but he avoided any open, and free press conferences while he was the Chief Minister. Institutionally, there is a lack of access to information from our leaders, and we don’t seem to complain about it,” he has written.

Comparing Modi to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said that Modi is tech savvy and he communicates with the country through social media, while the latter showed much less regard for the abilities of technology but gave full freedom to the press during his term.

The rise of Narendra Modi has heralded one of the most exciting and contentious periods in Indian politics. Modi is a faster communicator with an instinct for artful messaging.The first swearing-in ceremony was well crafted and not held in the conventional Durbar Hall but in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan.From the day he was sworn in as prime minister in May 2014, Mr Modi has dominated the news cycle, attracting admirers and critics in equal measure. Rahul Gandhi and the Opposition too have slowly begun to find their voice even as the country is conflicted between a billion aspirations and rising mutinies.

The book offers sharp pen portraits of several politicians. One sample will suffice.

“Stepping into the political vacuum has been an Owaisi-like figure, someone with new claims to be a flag-bearer of his community’s identity in politics. With his oratorical skills—he is a Bar-at-law from London—Owaisi is seen to represent muslim identity with his aspirations being firmly rooted in religious beliefs. Dressed in a long sherwani  and an Islamic cap and with a clipped beard,Owaisi seeks to conform to the stereotype trapped by orthodoxy and the image of a fervent Islamist”

The book is compulsory reading for all students of Indian politics

P.P.Ramachandran.

27/10/2019.