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#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep

As a difficult and turbulent year draws to a close, here is a prayer for a ‘better’ India in 2022.

An India where our political leadership will walk the talk on issues of critical public importance. Where you can’t ask people to mask up, maintain physical distancing and strict discipline and yet choose to be personally reckless in not observing Covid protocols during election campaigns.

#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep #anticonversions

It’s xmas weekend and so first off, a merry xmas and happy new year to all. And yet, this is in some way, a not so merry xmas., not just because of the return of COVID in the guise of Omicron but also because in this wonderful land of ours, it’s not just Muslims who are being ‘othered’ but Christians too. That’s right, in this very week where we should be celebrating Santa and the spirit of Christmas, we have a not so nice narrative in our midst: that of Christianity being seen through the lens of conversion. This week, a bill was tabled in the Karnataka assembly that polices and criminalises conversions with draconian punishments.

#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep #BCCI #ViratKohli

Kaun Banega Captain in Indian cricket is often almost as dramatic a story as Kaun banega Pradhan mantra.. which is why I thought that this is a good week to talk about whats become a major talking point in Indian cricket; is there an ongoing battle between Indian test captain Virat Kohli and the BCCI leadership led by Sourav Ganguly and BCCI secretary Jay Shah.

#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep #prashantkishore #pk

As per this theory, Mamata Banerjee has struck a ‘deal’ with the Modi government to ensure that her nephew Abhishek Banerjee is let off by the Enforcement Directorate investigating money laundering charges and that is why the Bengal chief minister is suddenly taking on the Congress. Facilitating this deal we are told is Prashant Kishore, the election strategist.

#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep #INC #congressparty

I revive a question that’s been asked repeatedly in the last seven years: is the Congress dead or alive? On a tv programme, soon after the 2019 elections, pollster turned politician Yogendra Yadav told me with unusual bluntness: “I think the Congress should die..” Predictably, Yogendra’s remarks drew much controversy.. Congress leaders were unsurprisingly angry at an obituary being proposed for their party. This week, the debate has been revived by TMC leader and WB chief minister Mamta Banerjee remarking: ‘There is no UPA now..’ an indication that a Congress-led opposition alliance was non-existent in contemporary politics.

#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep #mamataofficial #prashantkishor

This week, we are going to talk about khela hobe politics part 2 and try and understand the master plan of TMC leader Mamta Banerjee as she looks to expand her national footprint and emerge as a challenger to PM Modi in 2024. In the last few weeks in particular, and in the last few days in fact, Mamta Banerjee has been on what is best described as an acquisition spree. Her latest acquisition is in Meghalaya where 12 of 17 Cong MLAs led by former CM Mukul Sangma have written to speaker asking to be recognised as the TMC. This comes at a time when Mamta herself was in Delhi, didn’t meet Sonia Gandhi but met a range of other politicians including BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Dr Subramaniam Swamy, and got former test cricketer turned BJP MP turned Congman Kirti AZad, the former JDU MP Pawan Verma and former Haryana Cong chief Ashok Tanwar to join her.

#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep #amravativiolence #tripuraviolence

Trouble started in Amravati last Friday when the Raza academy, a Sunni Muslim group headquartered out of south-central Mumbai’s congested Mohammed Ali Road area, led processions across many towns like Nanded, Malegaon and Amravati in Maharashtra protesting against the violence in Tripura against Muslims. Now, the Raza Academy claims to be a literary and charitable organization: apart from publishing books on religion, it worked amongst Covid victims last year and also during the Kerala floods. But it also has led street protests as a devout ‘Islamic’ organization.

#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep #NaMo #DeMo

This week, marked five years since arguably the most important decision taken by the Modi government and yet, the fifth anniversary of the decision to demonetize 500 and 1000 rupee notes was not accompanied by the usual ‘band baja baarat’ high pitched propaganda. Remember this is a government that never misses an opportunity for astute event management: clearly it would seem that the Narendra Modi government has realized that there is nothing to ‘celebrate’ over demonetization and a large number of people do not wish to be reminded about the day when cash was suddenly criminalized, a day that only led to chaos and disruption in the financial system of a near unprecedented scale, a move that destroyed thousands and thousands of small businesses, especially in the vast informal sector.

#rajdeepsardesai #straightbatwithrajdeep #Crime-Politics #Mumbai #WankhedevsMalik

‘Tamasha’ is a great Maharashtra folk dance tradition that literally means ‘fun’ and ‘entertainment’. In the last few months, a political ‘tamasha’ is playing out in Maharashtra which would be almost farcical if it were not so disgustingly immoral. Allegations are flying thick and fast: from drugs to underworld links and from extortion rackets to benami transactions, its open season in Maharashtra’s tryst with crime and politics. A Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer who arrests the son of one of Hindi cinema’s biggest ever stars is now himself being investigated for fraud and extortion.

#IndVsPak #StraightBatWithRajdeep #War
‘War Minus the Shooting’ to reflect upon how an India-Pakistan cricket match has literally become, well, war minus the shooting. For years, I have been a great proponent of Indo-Pak cricket: as an unabashed cricket romantic, I have always believed that sport can build bridges beyond the boundary, can provide some hope and sanity in an increasingly hyper-polarised world. Now, after watching the events unfold over the last week since India played Pakistan in the T 20 world cup, I am beginning to have my serious doubts.