Controversial journalist Rajdeep Sardesai who is known to be an adversary of the Right Wing and its generally accepted beliefs, seems to have first hand experienced the abuse many right-wingers have to put up with for their views.
With Monday being 28 May, Sardesai like many others wished freedom fighter Veer Savarkar on his 135th birth anniversary:
135th birth anniv of Savarkar: freedom fighter, patriot, writer, Hindutva nationalist.. divisive but heroic.. do pay a visit to his cell in Port Blair to realise how our freedom fighters were tortured.. #Savarkar
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) May 28, 2018
In his tweet, Sardesai was seen heaping praises on Savarkar by calling him a patriot and a heroic figure despite being supposedly divisive. He also elucidated the treacherous conditions which Savarkar had to put up with when he was lodged at the infamous “Cellular Jail” in Andaman & Nicobar islands.
The leftist establishment which is known to be very hateful towards Savarkar (so much so that they spread blatant lies to discredit him), didn’t appreciate Sardesai’s views which supposedly resulted in him getting trolled.
A few hours after he posted his tweet, Sardesai in a sombre tone claimed how slurs like “bigot”, “chadiwallah” (which are usually reserved for the Right Wing) were hurled at him for his pro-Savarkar view. After expressing his disappointment, he also “promised” to more careful in the future:
Sorry folks: just realised that on twitter you have to project people only as black and white post card images. Say a single nice word about Savarkar and risk being called a chaddiwallah, bigot, ‘sell-out’ and much more.. learnt lesson, will be more careful next time!?
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) May 28, 2018
It though remains to be seen as to what Sardesai meant by “learnt lesson, will be more careful next time”, and whether henceforth he would totally avoid expressing views which run afoul of the “leftist doctrine”.
Further, this episode might emerge as a classic example of leftist bigotry and intolerance, when individuals supposedly associated with its ideology won’t even spare the “torchbearers” of its cause, when they deviate off the ideological script.
