After saying that there should be a debate with Australia-based American sociologist Salvatore Babones over his criticism of India’s left-liberal intellectuals, journalist Rajdeep Sardesai has now declined an invitation for such a debate from Babones. Salvatore Babones, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Sydney, had invited him for a debate after Rajdeep Sardesai refuted his views on Indian intellectuals and their role in negative perception of India at international forums, but Rajdeep Sardesai declined the invitation, saying he does not want to be the news, and that he is not an intellectual.
While Mr @sbabones I am tempted to accept the invite BUT as an old school journalist, (pre social media) I don’t wish to be the story! Plus I am NOT an intellectual but only an observer/reporter. Your offer is for India’s intellectuals to accept! I will play ‘neutral’ anchor!😊 https://t.co/km4nMDDAEk
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) November 13, 2022
Salvatore Babones has created quite a storm in Indian social media by showing the mirror to Indian left-liberal intellectuals. He is in India to attend India Today Conclave in Mumbai, and at that event, he made comments that have earned him the anger of the left and praise of the right.
At the India Today Conclave, Salvatore Babones said that India under Narendra Modi is wrongly portrayed as a fascist state, and said that Indian intellectuals were fuelling this false narrative about the country. He said that the organizations and the so-called ‘liberal’ intellectuals who build their opinions against the government are ‘anti-India’. “India’s intellectual class is anti-India. There is also a class of society who is anti-Modi and anti-BJP, as a class, not as an individual,” he said.
Salvatore Babones also slammed various global rankings of democracy, press freedom, hunger etc, where India is often ranked way below without any justification. He gave several examples, like how India is ranked below Hong Kong on press freedom. He said that these rankings are negatively influenced by Indian intellectuals who provide anti-India inputs to these studies.
Videos of comments by Salvatore Babones had gone viral, earning him the admiration of social media users. People particularly praised him for giving ‘befitting replies’ to Rajdeep Sardesai. Following this, the controversial journalist decided to confront him in a video blog later, instead of confronting him on the stage of the India Today conclave itself.
In a video posted by Sardesai on YouTube yesterday, he pointed out that Salvatore Babones is writing and commenting authoritatively on Indian Democracy when this is his first visit to India. While Babones has stated that he has expertise on competitive democracy in Asia-Pacific region, and has studied Indian political system extensively, Sardesai suggested that he should not be writing on India without visiting it first.
Responding to Salvatore Babones pointing out how Hong Kong ranking ahead of India in terms of freedom of press shows these rankings are not reliable, Sardesai just said it is an interesting argument.
Talking about how the professor was loved by common people but hated by left-liberals, Sardesai said that he has polarised Indians. Saying that the professor’s comments need to be countered, Rajdeep Sardesai then went on to do what Salvatore Babones had already accused Indian left-liberals of doing, cherry picking specific incidents to claim that freedom is under attack in India instead of using broad data.
He mentioned the case of the arrest of Siddique Kappan, the confinement of Jammu and Kashmir politicians after the abrogation of Article 370, the alleged lynching of minorities, the arrest of Disha Ravi, some cases of arrest of politicians on corruption charges etc. It seemed that Rajdeep Sardesai sought to justify the low ranking of in democracy and freedom rankings, despite the fact that they are only some specific incidents and the rankings should reflect overall data.
Listing such few incidents, Rajdeep Sardesai said that these are the issues that need a fact-based debate. ‘These are the issues that need a fact-based debate, these are the issues that need a debate not on rhetoric but on arguments based on hard data’, he said. He said that if such a debate is held between professor Barbones and his critics, they may be able to shed more light than heat about the state of Indian democracy.
Salvatore Babones replied to Rajdeep Sardesai by commenting on the video, accepting the invitation for a debate. “Thanks Rajdeep for the rebuttal! I’m happy to have finally visited India, but as a social scientist, I deal in data and documents, not personal experiences. I’d be thrilled to talk about it, if you’d like to take the time. Let’s have a chat!” he replied.
Interacting with people on YouTube who replied to his comment, Babones said that he has nothing against Sardesai, he in fact praised Sardesai for setting him up to look good, and added that he is looking forward to another conversion.
However, as there was no response from Rajdeep Sardesai after calling for a debate, yesterday Salvatore Babones ran a vote on Twitter to seek opinion on whether he should invite Rajdeep Sardesai for an informal video discussion about the status of Indian democracy. The poll received an overwhelmingly positive response, with 81.3% of voters saying yes.
Should I invite Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai to an informal video discussion about the status of Indian democracy?
— Salvatore Babones (@sbabones) November 12, 2022
Following this, Salvatore Babones posted a video on Twitter today morning, where he invited Sardesai for a debate that Sardesai proposed. Showing the results of the poll where 4/5th of people voted in favour of the debate, he said, ‘Rajdeep, I hope you will take this as an invitation. Let’s sit down for a talk’. He then added that he has already set up a chair for him, showing a chair with the book 2019: How Modi Won India by Rajdeep Sardesai seated on the chair.
By popular demand … @sardesairajdeep, please come talk to me about the health of Indian democracy! pic.twitter.com/7WWzmLCuuT
— Salvatore Babones (@sbabones) November 13, 2022
He added that Rajdeep Sardesai need not come personally for the talk and it can happen online through video conferencing. Babones said that he hopes that Sardesai will agree to a real-time show where they will answer live questions from viewers. He said that it is important for people to understand that social scientists and journalists have different perspectives on things.
However, Rajdeep Sardesai declined the invitation, saying that being an old-school journalist, he does not wish to be the story. He also said that he is not an intellectual but only an observer/reporter, and it is upto the Indian intellectuals to accept the offer of the debate. He added that he will play ‘neutral’ anchor of this debate.
