Rajdeep Sardesai ‘changes’ remarks on middle class after backlash

On Sunday, 6th August 2023, Rajdeep Sardesai distanced himself from his own remarks against the middle class in the country that he made in a program on Saturday 5th August 2023. Rajdeep Sardesai said in his clarification tweet that he was calling only a section of the middle class communal and not the whole middle class.

Shameless @SardesaiRajdeep now says he was saying a section of middle class is communal.

Listen to his full statement.

Do you think he was calling a section of middle-class or called whole middle class Communal? https://t.co/xDbPoT2Y83 pic.twitter.com/vmmuvO25b5

— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) August 6, 2023

Rajdeep Sardesai tweeted, “I wish people see the entire 200th episode of Neta Nagri on The Lallantop before making comments on short clips. India’s middle class is wonderfully aspirational, hard-working, resourceful and will drive India forward in the next century. It is our growth engine. However, a section of it has also got tied up in communal poison (I was not seeking to generalise if it appeared that way I apologise ). Great nations are built on bridge builders and not divisiveness. We (Hindus, Muslims, all communities) need to reflect and move forward TOGETHER as one INDIA.”

I wish people see the entire 200th episode of Neta Nagri on @TheLallantop before making comments on short clips. India’s middle class is wonderfully aspirational, hard working, resourceful and will drive India forward in the next century. It is our growth engine. However, a…

— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) August 6, 2023

On 5th August 2023, India Today journalist Rajdeep Sardesai ranted against the Indian middle class and scientific community, labelling them the most communal sections of society. 

Sardesai spewed venom against the middle-class society in the 200th episode of The Lallantop’s show “Neta Nagari Mahotsav”. A student in the audience of the show asked about what could be a solution for curbing the transition from being religious to becoming communal. While anchor Saurabh Dwivedi opined that “rationality” can be the solution, Rajdeep Sardesai intervened to speak a ‘bitter truth’.

Rajdeep calls middle class Selfish and Most Communal people.

Rajdeep even calls Scientists communal. Says people who’re reading science are communal.

Does @IndiaToday support such Hate on its platforms by @SardesaiRajdeep? pic.twitter.com/k0jeb82OvT

— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) August 5, 2023

While spelling out his “bitter truth”, Rajdeep launched an attack against the middle class, blaming them for the weakening of the political left as they have become highly communal and selfish in the past 30 years.

“The truth is that in the middle class of our country, in the past 30 years, someone was asking about the political left, and why it got weakened, it is because the middle class only takes its self-interest into consideration while moving ahead. This middle class has become the most communal in this country. The poor are never communal in this country. The poor Hindu-Muslim need each other more,” Rajdeep harangued. 

Sardesai further asserted that it is when the poor gain financial stability and become middle class that start turning their religious identity into the communal one. The ‘journalist’ also claimed that a section of scientists are the most communal minds in the country.

“The communalism is highest among those who make such statements made on social media. They are the school-college-attending middle class. Some of the most communal minds in this country are the scientists,” Sardesai said. It is notable that Rajdeep Sardesai did not mention about any section of the middle class in his original statement. However, in the clarification tweet he posted after facing a backlash, he said that he was referring to a section of the middle class in the country.