India Today journalist Rajdeep Sardesai suffered another instance of humiliation when he tried to outsmart Smriti Irani after the Congress party decided to field a Gandhi loyalist, KL Sharma, from Amethi, and Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli. The video of his interaction with Smriti Irani and locals from Amethi has since gone viral on social media.
In the video, locals interrupt Rajdeep Sardesai as he asks Smriti Irani about the Congress party’s decision to field family loyalist KL Sharma against her. What follows later is the stuff of legend, akin to the boxing saga that Sardesai featured in while reporting from Madison Square Garden. While there was no physical scuffle this time around, the metaphorical assault delivered by the people of Amethi and their leader, Smriti Irani, was a sight to behold as the husband of the TMC Rajya Sabha MP appeared squirming and fidgeting when acquainted with the ground reality in Amethi and adjoining regions.
Asking Irani about why the social indicators of her constituency, Amethi, remain lower than the national average, a poised Smriti Irani reminded the India Today journalist that it was the Gandhi family that should be answering the question as they had ruled over the constituency for over 50 years as compared to her, who got elected as MP only 5 years back.
“They had 50 years and I had 5 years….When we are talking about social indicators, it is important to recognise that the Gandhi family ruled over Amethi for 50 years. They need to answer why despite ruling over Amethi for 50 years, the social indicators of the region are lower than the national average,” Irani shot back.
“Doesn’t that speak about their exemplary and disappointing leadership aptitude?” Irani rhetorically asked, to which Rajdeep Sardesai had to grudgingly respond in the affirmative.
The India Today journalist then spoke about the Congress party’s candidate from Amethi, KL Sharma, stating that the Congress leader had said he knows Amethi like the back of his hand and has worked for 30 to 40 years in the region.
By this time, the locals have had enough of what could be described as prejudiced journalistic practice by Rajdeep Sardesai. The locals surrounding Smriti Irani interrupted the interview. They informed Rajdeep Sardesai that KL Sharma and Congress hadn’t done anything for the region, and it was only after Smriti Irani that the district witnessed unprecedented development.
“I was there in Congress for 25 years, I know everything about them. Nothing has happened in this village when they were in power. When Smriti ji came to power 5 years back, the road you took to come here was 7 meters wide, today it is 14 meters wide. Every gram sabha in the region have received Rs 20-25 crores for development projects like Ayushmaan cards worth Rs 10 crores were distributed in our village, Rs 2 crores were spent on the construction of the water tank, and Rs 2 crore spent on constructing colonies,” the local tells Rajdeep Sardesai.
‘Rs 20 crores have been spent in one gram sabha, there are 1200 villages, do the math,” he further adds.
Ms Irani then made a pithy observation about why the Gandhis abandoned the Amethi constituency. “Mr Sardesai, if the Gandhi family had thought there was an iota of a chance of their victory, don’t you think they’d be fighting?”