In another version of the incident as seen by American journalist James FontanellaKhan, Sardesai hit back at the people because "the group acted like a mob". FontanellaKhan, a journalist with Financial Times, New York, was one of the first to tweet about the incident on Sunday.

He has explained the episode through his conversation on Twitter, as seen here.

@aditi_ca (2) what I can repeat is that a small group of people started shouting against the reporter. Things got heated. He claimed that

— James FontanellaKhan (@JFK_America) September 30, 2014

@aditi_ca (3) he was kicked. I didn't see that. But he was certainly verbally attacked and their presence was intimidating. Then — James FontanellaKhan (@JFK_America) September 30, 2014

@aditi_ca (4) the reporter got confrontational. removed his jacket. there was an exchange of words. it was hard for me to capture everything

— James FontanellaKhan (@JFK_America) September 30, 2014

@aditi_ca (5) i did hear him say asshole. then he walked away. one of the guys in the crowd shouted something. i couldn't hear what exactly — James FontanellaKhan (@JFK_America

"A small group of people then started abusing him and reportedly told him that he should migrate to Pakistan along with his wife, journalist Sagarika Ghose and his children.

"Sardesai objected strongly to this, especially when his children were abused.

"He took on the guy threatening him."

As per multiple reports, a mob of Modi supporters were irked by Sardesai, after he took up "touchy issues" about the Indian PM, while interviewing several members of the Indian community in the run-up to Modi's speech.

And it has now come out that software professional Tibrewal might have been the first to 'assault' the journalist.

Tibrewal bragged about the incident on Facebook and also posted a picture of him standing right behind Sardesai.

In his post, translated from Hindi, Tibrewal stated that he was the one who hit Sardesai. He told his Facebook 'friends' that he was the "danger" standing right next to Sardesai, who did not even get to know what hit him.

confuzzled dude wrote:

As per multiple reports, a mob of Modi supporters were irked by Sardesai, after he took up "touchy issues" about the Indian PM, while interviewing several members of the Indian community in the run-up to Modi's speech.

And it has now come out that software professional Tibrewal might have been the first to 'assault' the journalist.

Tibrewal bragged about the incident on Facebook and also posted a picture of him standing right behind Sardesai.

In his post, translated from Hindi, Tibrewal stated that he was the one who hit Sardesai. He told his Facebook 'friends' that he was the "danger" standing right next to Sardesai, who did not even get to know what hit him.

http://www.ibtimes.co.in/it-professional-brags-facebook-he-hit-rajdeep-sardesai-deletes-account-later-video-610337

Vakavaka Pakapaka wrote:What is new in this video?  They are repeatedly showing the same 5 sec clip. Is there any evidence that the guy in the episode is a BJP worker or is close to Modi? What if he is a disgruntled CON vote-bank voter who is fed up with Rajdeep's CON arslicking all these years? I see Vinod (a very close friend of Rajdeep)  as a member on the panel. Hopefully, he will stop licking Sonia's behind after she eats garlicky linguini. 

May be, Sikular Sagarika paid the guy some money and doctored the whole thing. She is an expert at this.

Kinnera wrote:This is old news, Rashmun, before the 'ass hole' video is released. Rajdeep had his time for one day, sep 28, until the other video was released the next day.

PS: isn't it this Sardesai guy who said that he's going buy the first flight ticket to Siberia (he'd rather live in Siberia than India) if Modi became the PM?

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:This is old news, Rashmun, before the 'ass hole' video is released. Rajdeep had his time for one day, sep 28, until the other video was released the next day.

PS: isn't it this Sardesai guy who said that he's going buy the first flight ticket to Siberia (he'd rather live in Siberia than India) if Modi became the PM?

shows your poor knowledge of indian media. Rajdeep actually has good equations with Modi. Just the day after the Lok Sabha polling Rajdeep had said on CNN-IBN channel that he had had a telephonic conversation with Modi in which Modi had expressed confidence of BJP coming to power with a clear majority in the Lok Sabha.
Rajdeep is fiercely independent. He is no Congress chamcha as you seem to imagine. This is also evident when you consider that Rahul Gandhi did not do an interview with Rajdeep (and instead chose Arnab Goswami).

Kinnera wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:This is old news, Rashmun, before the 'ass hole' video is released. Rajdeep had his time for one day, sep 28, until the other video was released the next day.

PS: isn't it this Sardesai guy who said that he's going buy the first flight ticket to Siberia (he'd rather live in Siberia than India) if Modi became the PM?

shows your poor knowledge of indian media. Rajdeep actually has good equations with Modi. Just the day after the Lok Sabha polling Rajdeep had said on CNN-IBN channel that he had had a telephonic conversation with Modi in which Modi had expressed confidence of BJP coming to power with a clear majority in the Lok Sabha.
Rajdeep is fiercely independent. He is no Congress chamcha as you seem to imagine. This is also evident when you consider that Rahul Gandhi did not do an interview with Rajdeep (and instead chose Arnab Goswami).

a bit: https://twitter.com/sardesairajdeep/status/465894991684857856

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:This is old news, Rashmun, before the 'ass hole' video is released. Rajdeep had his time for one day, sep 28, until the other video was released the next day.

PS: isn't it this Sardesai guy who said that he's going buy the first flight ticket to Siberia (he'd rather live in Siberia than India) if Modi became the PM?

shows your poor knowledge of indian media. Rajdeep actually has good equations with Modi. Just the day after the Lok Sabha polling Rajdeep had said on CNN-IBN channel that he had had a telephonic conversation with Modi in which Modi had expressed confidence of BJP coming to power with a clear majority in the Lok Sabha.
Rajdeep is fiercely independent. He is no Congress chamcha as you seem to imagine. This is also evident when you consider that Rahul Gandhi did not do an interview with Rajdeep (and instead chose Arnab Goswami).

a bit: https://twitter.com/sardesairajdeep/status/465894991684857856

please use your brain for a change. His TV channel CNN-IBN had made a poll projection of BJP+ (NDA) winning the majority of Lok Sabha seats. Someone is asking him what he will do if his poll projection is wrong and UPA returns to power. His reply, obvious in jest, is that he will move to Siberia if his poll projection is wrong.

Kinnera wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:This is old news, Rashmun, before the 'ass hole' video is released. Rajdeep had his time for one day, sep 28, until the other video was released the next day.

PS: isn't it this Sardesai guy who said that he's going buy the first flight ticket to Siberia (he'd rather live in Siberia than India) if Modi became the PM?

shows your poor knowledge of indian media. Rajdeep actually has good equations with Modi. Just the day after the Lok Sabha polling Rajdeep had said on CNN-IBN channel that he had had a telephonic conversation with Modi in which Modi had expressed confidence of BJP coming to power with a clear majority in the Lok Sabha.
Rajdeep is fiercely independent. He is no Congress chamcha as you seem to imagine. This is also evident when you consider that Rahul Gandhi did not do an interview with Rajdeep (and instead chose Arnab Goswami).

a bit: https://twitter.com/sardesairajdeep/status/465894991684857856

please use your brain for a change. His TV channel CNN-IBN had made a poll projection of BJP+ (NDA) winning the majority of Lok Sabha seats. Someone is asking him what he will do if his poll projection is wrong and UPA returns to power. His reply, obvious in jest, is that he will move to Siberia if his poll projection is wrong.

 I read abt ppl jeering at a journalist (i didn't register the name then) if he was going to go to siberia as claimed coz modi won. Ppl are again talking abt the same now with reference to Sardesai. Check Swamy's FB page.

Did you check my post abt his wife? No comment on that?

PS: With regard to telling you to use your brain, i can't even say that coz you got none.

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

Kinnera wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

shows your poor knowledge of indian media. Rajdeep actually has good equations with Modi. Just the day after the Lok Sabha polling Rajdeep had said on CNN-IBN channel that he had had a telephonic conversation with Modi in which Modi had expressed confidence of BJP coming to power with a clear majority in the Lok Sabha.
Rajdeep is fiercely independent. He is no Congress chamcha as you seem to imagine. This is also evident when you consider that Rahul Gandhi did not do an interview with Rajdeep (and instead chose Arnab Goswami).

a bit: https://twitter.com/sardesairajdeep/status/465894991684857856

please use your brain for a change. His TV channel CNN-IBN had made a poll projection of BJP+ (NDA) winning the majority of Lok Sabha seats. Someone is asking him what he will do if his poll projection is wrong and UPA returns to power. His reply, obvious in jest, is that he will move to Siberia if his poll projection is wrong.

 I read abt ppl jeering at a journalist (i didn't register the name then) if he was going to go to siberia as claimed coz modi won. Ppl are again talking abt the same now with reference to Sardesai. Check Swamy's FB page.

Did you check my post abt his wife? No comment on that?

PS: With regard to telling you to use your brain, i can't even say that coz you got none.

Idiot kinnera, he was joking that he will move to siberia if congress returns to power because that would have proven his poll projection (of BJP winning) wrong. Now buzz off from this thread.

Kinnera wrote:It's all out there in the videos. Rajdeep guy and the india today ppl can't fake even when they edit out the scuffle part (where Rajdeep was clearly the rougue). Ppl are not fools. The facts are before them. Rajdeep was clearly on a provocative note right from the beginning. Look at the kind of questions he posed to the indian americans and then to the white guy too, trying to degrade Modi as much as he can and when the white dude was talking favorably abt Modi, he couldn't take it anymore and tries to cut off the guy. Modi is the PM of India, not some electoral candidate. Pls give some respect to your own PM, esp when on a foreign land, talking to foreign nationals. Will any american journalist do the same in a foreign land?  Here's one of the comments to the FB post that you gave here, Rashmun.

"The real story:
Amongst a crowd of Indian Americans outside Madison Square Gardens who had come to watch Narendra Modi speak, Rajdeep started his coverage with comments like these:

"Narendra Modi has proven himself to be the pied piper of India ...or at least of Indian Americans"
(implying the hordes of Modi supporters in India and the American Indians are rats who are following him blindly)
Then he asks the crowd, virtually all of whom are Modi supporters, questions like:
"Do you think one man can change India?"
One of them replies: "If one woman can LOOT India, then one man can also CHANGE India"
Rajdeep turns away and goes to another section of the crowd and asks:
"Will you go back to India?" (multiple times to multiple people..in tone that implied "hey you're living a comfortable life in US. Why are you showing so much interest in the affairs of India. Will you even return to India?")
It seemed to me that Rajdeep was deliberately provoking the crowd. The next question was totally absurd:
"Did you pay for your ticket?" "Did you pay for your ticket?" "Did you pay for your ticket?" He asked this to many people who replied in the negative. Here's why. Madison Square Gardens has a seating capacity of 20,000...out of which 18,000 seats were given out free to anyone who wanted to view the event and registered for the same on time. The rest of the seats were donor seats with high price tags. So obviously a majority of the people wouldn't have paid for their ticket. What was the relevance of this question?
Section of crowd gets irritated with his line of questioning and starts chanting "Modi, Modi..."
Rajdeep turns around and asks some of the others in the crowd: "Many people say Indian Americans talk a lot but don't do anything..why doesn't the Indian American community do more for India?"


Almost all media outlets have covered this event in favour of Rajdeep and against the crowd, saying the crowd had no right to turn violent, whatever the provocation.
But thanks to cellphone camera and ever vigilant citizen journalists, we now have the complete video of the scuffle, where Rajdeep calls someone in the crowd an asshole, gets called asshole in return. Then that someone says something to Rajdeep which provokes him enough to physically hit that person. Its then that the other person retaliates by pushing him...Yup, it was Rajdeep who initiated the violence too. See the real video, and decide for yourselves:

 https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=477128325760154"

Rashmun wrote:The pro Modi crowd consisted largely of Chaddis. It is suggested that they were angry about some tweets of Rajdeep.  Perhaps their Chaddi superiors had asked them to misbehave with and provoke Rajdeep by abusing his wife and children and shouting that he and his family should move to Pakistan. These Chaddis have brought shame and disgrace upon India.

pravalika nanda wrote:

Rashmun wrote:The pro Modi crowd consisted largely of Chaddis. It is suggested that they were angry about some tweets of Rajdeep.  Perhaps their Chaddi superiors had asked them to misbehave with and provoke Rajdeep by abusing his wife and children and shouting that he and his family should move to Pakistan. These Chaddis have brought shame and disgrace upon India.

** I doubt anyone was thinking of some random tweets by some random guy. These guys were in a Modi-fog and Modi was in NY already. They were probably waiting for Modi to speak and had nothing else on their mind.

** this guy is not a capable journalist but is perfect for jerry springer. I have no more to say about it.

pravalika nanda wrote:
Do you see Matt Lauer or Katie Couric or John McLaughlin or Charlie Rose or anyone behave so crudely with everyone?

Rashmun wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:

Rashmun wrote:The pro Modi crowd consisted largely of Chaddis. It is suggested that they were angry about some tweets of Rajdeep.  Perhaps their Chaddi superiors had asked them to misbehave with and provoke Rajdeep by abusing his wife and children and shouting that he and his family should move to Pakistan. These Chaddis have brought shame and disgrace upon India.

** I doubt anyone was thinking of some random tweets by some random guy. These guys were in a Modi-fog and Modi was in NY already. They were probably waiting for Modi to speak and had nothing else on their mind.

** this guy is not a capable journalist but is perfect for jerry springer. I have no more to say about it.

rajdeep had tweeted asking his readers to guess the name of the indian industrialist who was staying in the same hotel as Modi in NY. next morning he had tweeted again giving the name of this industrialist. it is believed that these two tweets had provoked the chaddiwalahs and that is why they started misbehaving with Rajdeep.
had you been in Rajdeep's place and if a mob of unruly hooligans had started abusing your children what would you have done? how would you have reacted?

pravalika nanda wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:

Rashmun wrote:The pro Modi crowd consisted largely of Chaddis. It is suggested that they were angry about some tweets of Rajdeep.  Perhaps their Chaddi superiors had asked them to misbehave with and provoke Rajdeep by abusing his wife and children and shouting that he and his family should move to Pakistan. These Chaddis have brought shame and disgrace upon India.

** I doubt anyone was thinking of some random tweets by some random guy. These guys were in a Modi-fog and Modi was in NY already. They were probably waiting for Modi to speak and had nothing else on their mind.

** this guy is not a capable journalist but is perfect for jerry springer. I have no more to say about it.

rajdeep had tweeted asking his readers to guess the name of the indian industrialist who was staying in the same hotel as Modi in NY. next morning he had tweeted again giving the name of this industrialist. it is believed that these two tweets had provoked the chaddiwalahs and that is why they started misbehaving with Rajdeep.
had you been in Rajdeep's place and if a mob of unruly hooligans had started abusing your children what would you have done? how would you have reacted?

** it's very hard to distract me from my work or my day. particularly by random people in the street. i don't fight with people and it's because i want to get things done and move on. maybe you're asking the wrong person this question.

** anyhow as a journalist you'll meet people from all walks of like so you need to know how to deal with each and everyone of them. for instance zakaria would never let a situation get out of hand like this.

Rashmun wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:

Rashmun wrote:The pro Modi crowd consisted largely of Chaddis. It is suggested that they were angry about some tweets of Rajdeep.  Perhaps their Chaddi superiors had asked them to misbehave with and provoke Rajdeep by abusing his wife and children and shouting that he and his family should move to Pakistan. These Chaddis have brought shame and disgrace upon India.

** I doubt anyone was thinking of some random tweets by some random guy. These guys were in a Modi-fog and Modi was in NY already. They were probably waiting for Modi to speak and had nothing else on their mind.

** this guy is not a capable journalist but is perfect for jerry springer. I have no more to say about it.

rajdeep had tweeted asking his readers to guess the name of the indian industrialist who was staying in the same hotel as Modi in NY. next morning he had tweeted again giving the name of this industrialist. it is believed that these two tweets had provoked the chaddiwalahs and that is why they started misbehaving with Rajdeep.
had you been in Rajdeep's place and if a mob of unruly hooligans had started abusing your children what would you have done? how would you have reacted?

** it's very hard to distract me from my work or my day. particularly by random people in the street. i don't fight with people and it's because i want to get things done and move on. maybe you're asking the wrong person this question.

** anyhow as a journalist you'll meet people from all walks of like so you need to know how to deal with each and everyone of them. for instance zakaria would never let a situation get out of hand like this.

This is a clip of the famous bbc journalist John Sweeny losing his temper at the then Scientology spokesperson Tommy Davis:



it later came to light that Tommy Davis was under specific instructions by his superiors to provoke and instigate and harass Sweeny so that he loses his temper and reacts angrily since Scientology had anticipated that the documentary on Scientology that Sweeny was filming would be critical of their religion and they wanted to undermine Sweeny's credibility.

pravalika nanda wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:

** I doubt anyone was thinking of some random tweets by some random guy. These guys were in a Modi-fog and Modi was in NY already. They were probably waiting for Modi to speak and had nothing else on their mind.

** this guy is not a capable journalist but is perfect for jerry springer. I have no more to say about it.

rajdeep had tweeted asking his readers to guess the name of the indian industrialist who was staying in the same hotel as Modi in NY. next morning he had tweeted again giving the name of this industrialist. it is believed that these two tweets had provoked the chaddiwalahs and that is why they started misbehaving with Rajdeep.
had you been in Rajdeep's place and if a mob of unruly hooligans had started abusing your children what would you have done? how would you have reacted?

** it's very hard to distract me from my work or my day. particularly by random people in the street. i don't fight with people and it's because i want to get things done and move on. maybe you're asking the wrong person this question.

** anyhow as a journalist you'll meet people from all walks of like so you need to know how to deal with each and everyone of them. for instance zakaria would never let a situation get out of hand like this.

This is a clip of the famous bbc journalist John Sweeny losing his temper at the then Scientology spokesperson Tommy Davis:



it later came to light that Tommy Davis was under specific instructions by his superiors to provoke and instigate and harass Sweeny so that he loses his temper and reacts angrily since Scientology had anticipated that the documentary on Scientology that Sweeny was filming would be critical of their religion and they wanted to undermine Sweeny's credibility.

i don't understand.

pravalika nanda wrote:i still don't understand.

my point is that a good journalist will do his job and have control over the situation. this has nothing to do with indian vs western media. charlie rose jim Lehrer and  bill moyers etc are the guys we know here and i feel that having watched them over the years they have been consistently reliable and respectable. i don't watch indian channels so i don't know their journalists's names.

if rajdeep lost his temper or engaged with the crowd that he was intervieweing in that unseemly way, then he's just not done a good job. this is the first i've heard of this guy and I'm not impressed.

if you're a serious journalist, you will find yourself interviewing arms dealers, and drug dealers, hardened criminals, oligarchs, terrorists. if you don't know how to talk to some indian guys who moved from india to the us at most 20 yrs ago, you've got a problem: you don't know how to do your job.

Rashmun wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:i still don't understand.

my point is that a good journalist will do his job and have control over the situation. this has nothing to do with indian vs western media. charlie rose jim Lehrer and  bill moyers etc are the guys we know here and i feel that having watched them over the years they have been consistently reliable and respectable. i don't watch indian channels so i don't know their journalists's names.

if rajdeep lost his temper or engaged with the crowd that he was intervieweing in that unseemly way, then he's just not done a good job. this is the first i've heard of this guy and I'm not impressed.

if you're a serious journalist, you will find yourself interviewing arms dealers, and drug dealers, hardened criminals, oligarchs, terrorists. if you don't know how to talk to some indian guys who moved from india to the us at most 20 yrs ago, you've got a problem: you don't know how to do your job.

have charlie rose and jim lehrer ever done any reporting from outside the TV studio? have these two ever been abused, and heckled by a mob of unruly people who were presumably hired to do a political hit job on them on live camera? Rajdeep claims he was kicked, pushed, and shoved by the Modi Bhaktas. Did Lehrer and Rose ever have this experience. I have only watched Lehrer and Rose doing their journalism while sitting safely in the cocoon of a tv studio.

pravalika nanda wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:i still don't understand.

my point is that a good journalist will do his job and have control over the situation. this has nothing to do with indian vs western media. charlie rose jim Lehrer and  bill moyers etc are the guys we know here and i feel that having watched them over the years they have been consistently reliable and respectable. i don't watch indian channels so i don't know their journalists's names.

if rajdeep lost his temper or engaged with the crowd that he was intervieweing in that unseemly way, then he's just not done a good job. this is the first i've heard of this guy and I'm not impressed.

if you're a serious journalist, you will find yourself interviewing arms dealers, and drug dealers, hardened criminals, oligarchs, terrorists. if you don't know how to talk to some indian guys who moved from india to the us at most 20 yrs ago, you've got a problem: you don't know how to do your job.

have charlie rose and jim lehrer ever done any reporting from outside the TV studio? have these two ever been abused, and heckled by a mob of unruly people who were presumably hired to do a political hit job on them on live camera? Rajdeep claims he was kicked, pushed, and shoved by the Modi Bhaktas. Did Lehrer and Rose ever have this experience. I have only watched Lehrer and Rose doing their journalism while sitting safely in the cocoon of a tv studio.

okay, then, let's take everything else out of the picture. it still remains that mr sardesai does not know how to talk to bunch of recent indian immigrants waiting to see modi at madison square garden. he provokes but is not prepared to handle the consequences intelligently or with wit. he's gone home crying and the entire indian media and their secular elite patrons are crying with him. this guy cannot handle a simple situation. 

my recommendation is that if he does not know how to speak to those people, then he not be given more challenging assignments such as inteviewing world leaders, terrorists etc.  he is also clearly not a good candidate for overseas assignments in dangerous areas like the middle east. 

and i really have nothing more to say on this topic.

pravalika nanda wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:i still don't understand.

my point is that a good journalist will do his job and have control over the situation. this has nothing to do with indian vs western media. charlie rose jim Lehrer and  bill moyers etc are the guys we know here and i feel that having watched them over the years they have been consistently reliable and respectable. i don't watch indian channels so i don't know their journalists's names.

if rajdeep lost his temper or engaged with the crowd that he was intervieweing in that unseemly way, then he's just not done a good job. this is the first i've heard of this guy and I'm not impressed.

if you're a serious journalist, you will find yourself interviewing arms dealers, and drug dealers, hardened criminals, oligarchs, terrorists. if you don't know how to talk to some indian guys who moved from india to the us at most 20 yrs ago, you've got a problem: you don't know how to do your job.

have charlie rose and jim lehrer ever done any reporting from outside the TV studio? have these two ever been abused, and heckled by a mob of unruly people who were presumably hired to do a political hit job on them on live camera? Rajdeep claims he was kicked, pushed, and shoved by the Modi Bhaktas. Did Lehrer and Rose ever have this experience. I have only watched Lehrer and Rose doing their journalism while sitting safely in the cocoon of a tv studio.

okay, then, let's take everything else out of the picture. it still remains that mr sardesai does not know how to talk to bunch of recent indian immigrants waiting to see modi at madison square garden. he provokes but is not prepared to handle the consequences intelligently or with wit. he's gone home crying and the entire indian media and their secular elite patrons are crying with him. this guy cannot handle a simple situation. 

my recommendation is that if he does not know how to speak to those people, then he not be given more challenging assignments such as inteviewing world leaders, terrorists etc.  he is also clearly not a good candidate for overseas assignments in dangerous areas like the middle east. 

and i really have nothing more to say on this topic.

pravalika nanda wrote:i don't even know who that guy is.

pravalika nanda wrote:look this thing is just going in circles, man. im tired of it. i have said everything i possibly could about this topic. so talk to someone else.

Rashmun wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

pravalika nanda wrote:i don't even know who that guy is.

The interviewer here is the famous Karan Thapar:

southindian wrote:Rajdeep Sardesai... What an asshole. The guy wanted to provoke... He did... Through his stupidity he wanted to agitate people and capture all that. He brought a camera for that.

Since he had the intent to prvoke... then why did he get angry when people responded the way he expected. Proves...he's a sadist too. Well... In addition to being an asshole.

Rashmun wrote:

Rashmun wrote:http://www.newslaundry.com/2014/09/30/reverberating-rajdeep-slap-the-rashomon-effect/