Play all audios:
Voice 2: Ye nikalo..BJPkokharabdikharahey ho…deshkokharabdikharaheyho,,
Modi supporter in muffler: Congress ka chamchahai, Sonia kachamchahai…until now he has done like this…since last 10 years…
There are many other versions doing the rounds on social media, but most are third-party claims. However, there were a few who claimed first-hand information like Achint Sharma, Deputy News
Editor, Dainik Bhaskar who posted this on facebook.
Meanwhile the usual suspects on Twitter outdid themselves. There were those at this end of the spectrum.
Indian journalism of courage: Call someone an asshole & attack them physically.You can spin it @sardesairajdeep but technology doesn’t lie.
While PM was making India proud through his elevating address, his detractor journalist was embarrassing India through his street fight.
Seen the video frame by frame. Man in yellow kurta started fight by grabbing @SardesaiRajdeep‘s shirt. Belongs in a prison cell.
saw d unedited video…any guy with self respect will stand up to such hooligans..these bhakts r maniacs #IStandWithRajdeep #RajdeepSlapped
Mob of people attacking an Indian journalist for being critical of Modi on the past. Accused if being a traitor pic.twitter.com/6xOJTWAxaO
Achint spoke to Newslaundry about the entire episode and told us that he in fact witnessed Rajdeep get into a scuffle with Modi supporters twice in the day. One, before the event at around
9:30 in the morning and, another, after the event got over at about 1:00 pm. “I did not really see the first time Rajdeep got into a brawl with Modi bhakts because I was standing away from
where all the commotion was happening. But I saw one guy show him the middle finger and it seemed that Rajdeep was being provoked,” he says. This was the incident where Rajdeep is seen to be
accosting a man in the crowd.
Achint was present when Rajdeep got into another altercation after the show. “He was standing outside the Madison Garden venue, and a crowd of 50 people gheraoed him and started chanting
slogans like RajdeepHaiHai and RajdeepMurdabad as he was jostled by the crowd.
Achint says Rajdeep was trying to get out of the situation, and he and Bhupendra Chaubey came to his aid to get him out of the crowd. He says Rajdeep at that time was mostly avoiding
confrontation and was trying to stay calm. “Most of these people seemed to be overseas friends of BJP and were donning saffron scarves. It seemed to have all started with Rajdeep enquiring
about the tickets to the MSG event. BJP supporters got jittery because apparently the event was pegged as a charity event and the tickets were not charged but distributed to people. At
least, this is what BJP guys claimed.”
Newslaundry also spoke with Bhupendra Chaubey who was doing his live stand-up report right next to where Rajdeep was doing his when the first altercation broke out. Bhupendra said he could
hear the sloganeering and anti-Rajdeep curses flying around, but was live on air at the time, so he didn’t go into the crowd. This was when the scuffle started. Bhupendra wound up his report
and rushed into the crowd to diffuse the situation. But Bhupendra was unable to clarify who hit who first, since that part was over when he got into the crowd. When we asked if it were
Rajdeep’s questions that provoked Modi supporters, Bhupendra said that even he had asked Modi supporters questions like “Is this myth-making at its peak?” and other questions about Modi’s
bombast. Bhupendra got straight answers and no one got abusive or violent with him. But that there was pushing and jostling happening next to him in the crowd around Rajdeep was fairly
obvious to him. This was before Modi made his speech at Madison Square Garden.
So did Rajdeep unwisely and unnecessarily over-react to a frenzied crowd who were at their excited and aggressive best? Or did he try and confront who he thought was an aggressor? Well, we
also have this.
Above is the screenshot of a facebook page that was widely shared on Twitter and facebook. A certain Yogesh Tibrewal boasts to his facebook buddies about how he hit Rajdeep as part of a
jostling crowd without Rajdeep even knowing who hit him. He gets many pats on the back for this daring act by his facebook friends.
However, when we went to this facebook page again, the name of the user is now Vicks Jhujhnu, even though the url shows the username as Yogesh Tibrewal. We have asked Yogesh (or Vicks) why
he changed his name on his facebook profile and deleted the above image. We are yet to hear from him. We will update this article as soon as we do.
We will wait for the US festivities to end and the entire media troupe to return home and get first-hand accounts from those who really witnessed the entire episode. Also, it gives us time
to contact and get versions from some of those shown in the footage around Rajdeep. Until then, or maybe even after that we can all retreat into the safety of our wells of biased positions
based on prejudice and not evidence.
Meanwhile Zee News ran an in-depth discussion on the Rajdeep episode last night, accusing him of bringing shame to journalism and the country. Yes, Zee News. Here, I will not comment on the
quality of the broadcaster or the specific debate, but the fact that a journalist’s conduct is being discussed by all and especially peers (no matter what their antecedents) is a welcome
change from the days of thou-shalt-not-discuss-fellow journalists. This in my view will be more effective than any self or governmental regulation, because we will all have to watch our
conduct with the knowledge that it will be scrutinised as closely as politicians are, which is a good thing. But, Zee News? Yes, it is a good thing.
(Disclosure: The writer of this piece belongs to the #IStandWithRajdeep category)
Achint Sharma interview conducted by Manisha Pande & social media inputs by Kartik Nijhawan.