The price of surprise
THE WEEK India|November 24, 2024
Rajdeep Sardesai’s new book is a gripping election post-mortem that offers candid glimpses of Indian politics
NAVIN J. ANTONY
The price of surprise

IN EARLY 2023, journalist Rajdeep Sardesai began work on a book analysing the anticipated results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Convinced of a predictable outcome, he tentatively titled the book Hattrick. “Like so many others,” he writes in the introduction to the now-published book, “I, too, was swayed by the ‘Modi ki guarantee’ drumbeat and the event-driven ‘spectacle’ of his politics, convinced that the resource-rich BJP’s election machine would overwhelm all else.”

The actual results, Sardesai says, served as a wake-up call. Though it retained power, the BJP won only 240 seats, falling far below predictions and at least 40 fewer than Sardesai’s conservative estimate. “We journalists don’t put enough statutory warnings when we throw numbers at our readers,” Sardesai tells THE WEEK. “We say, ‘[This candidate] is winning, and this is the margin,’ and the viewer or reader is expected to believe that we know everything, when the truth of the matter is that we, too, at times, are struggling to unravel what’s really happening.”

The results, he says, was also humbling. “It’s time for a mea culpa,” he says, “so that we (journalists) can reboot… and refocus on what we do best, which is reporting.”

Retitled 2024: The Election That Surprised India, Sardesai’s new book offers a gripping account of the intense lead-up to this hard-fought election. Organised into fourteen chapters and an epilogue, the book boldly explores Indian politics, blending frontline despatches from election battlegrounds with candid glimpses of behind-the-scenes manoeuvring and a touch of light-footed punditry.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November 24, 2024 من THE WEEK India.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November 24, 2024 من THE WEEK India.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من THE WEEK INDIA مشاهدة الكل
The female act
THE WEEK India

The female act

The 19th edition of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival was of the women and by the women

time-read
4 mins  |
November 24, 2024
A SHOT OF ARCHER
THE WEEK India

A SHOT OF ARCHER

An excerpt from the prologue of An Eye for an Eye

time-read
2 mins  |
November 24, 2024
MASTER OF MAKE-BELIEVE
THE WEEK India

MASTER OF MAKE-BELIEVE

50 years. after his first book, Jeffrey*Archer refuses to put down his'felt-tip Pilot pen

time-read
4 mins  |
November 24, 2024
Smart and sassy Passi
THE WEEK India

Smart and sassy Passi

Pop culture works according to its own unpredictable, crazy logic. An unlikely, overnight celebrity has become the talk of India. Everyone, especially on social media, is discussing, dissing, hissing and mimicking just one person—Shalini Passi.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 24, 2024
Energy transition and AI are reshaping shipping
THE WEEK India

Energy transition and AI are reshaping shipping

PORTS AND ALLIED infrastructure development are at the heart of India's ambitions to become a maritime heavyweight.

time-read
5 mins  |
November 24, 2024
MADE FOR EACH OTHER
THE WEEK India

MADE FOR EACH OTHER

Trump’s preferred transactional approach to foreign policy meshes well with Modi’s bent towards strategic autonomy

time-read
4 mins  |
November 24, 2024
DOOM AND GLOOM
THE WEEK India

DOOM AND GLOOM

Democrats’ message came across as vague, preachy and hopelessly removed from reality. And voters believed Trump’s depiction of illegal immigrants as a source of their economic woes

time-read
4 mins  |
November 24, 2024
WOES TO WOWS
THE WEEK India

WOES TO WOWS

The fundamental reason behind Trump’s success was his ability to convert average Americans’ feelings of grievance into votes for him

time-read
3 mins  |
November 24, 2024
POWER HOUSE
THE WEEK India

POWER HOUSE

Trump International Hotel was the only place outside the White House where Trump ever dined during his four years as president

time-read
2 mins  |
November 24, 2024
DON 2.0
THE WEEK India

DON 2.0

Trump returns to presidency stronger than before, but just as unpredictable

time-read
5 mins  |
November 24, 2024