Blog – Page 156 – Breaking Views

March 5, 2014
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

In Indira’s image: How Narendra Modi is similar to a Gandhi

Narendra Modi today claims to derive inspiration from Sardar Patel and Swami Vivekananda even if his original icon was the long-serving RSS chief Guru Golwalkar. Patel and Vivekananda are...

February 20, 2014
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

AAP’s long-term future will not be decided by TV

The phrase ‘tyranny of distance’ was first used by writer Robert Hughes in his epic book Fatal Shore on the history of Australia, a country seemingly burdened by its...

February 5, 2014
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

1984 riots vs 2002 riots: all that matters is accountability

Where were you during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots? It’s a question I have been often asked by some twitter followers who wrongly accuse me of having only focused on...

January 22, 2014
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Modi, Rahul, Kejriwal competing to ‘shake up’ the system

In the 1970s, there was the anti-establishment hero; in 2014, there is the anti-establishment neta. I once asked Javed Akhtar whether he and Salim Khan had created the ‘angry...

January 8, 2014
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

If Kejriwal fails to deliver he may end up victim of his own success

The ubiquitous Rotary Clubs are a decent indicator of the urban upper middle class mood. Rotarians are often professionals with a conscience: from blood donation drives to charity runs,...

December 25, 2013
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

There’s reason for cheer: 2014 may be better than 2013

A year can be almost an eternity in a country like India: last December, there was a sense of doom and gloom around us. Angry citizens had taken to...

December 11, 2013
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Six degrees of separation: why it’s tough for Rahul to learn from AAP

Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi are both youthful public figures in their 40s. Sadly, that’s where the comparisons end. One is now a political rockstar, the other is in...

November 27, 2013
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Kejriwal and Modi – bringing politics back to the common man

On the face of it, Arvind Kejriwal and Narendra Modi are literally chalk and cheese. One is an IITian and former IRS officer who is surrounded by a mix...

November 13, 2013
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Banning of opinion polls is not a way forward

In the land of astrologers and soothsayers, it is faintly amusing to see our politicians in a lather over opinion polls. The very netas who plan their lives according...

October 31, 2013
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Confront these painful truths about communalism

Why does an underworld don who offered the Indian cricket team Toyota cars if they beat Pakistan in Sharjah in 1986 become a resident of Karachi and India’s most...