Attack on Rajdeep Sardesai: Editors Guild condemns assault

New Delhi: The Editors Guild on Monday strongly condemned the attack on senior journalist and its former President Rajdeep Sardesai by a group claiming to be supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York on Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_1735911” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rajdeep Sardesai. Image courtesy: IBNlive[/caption] Sardesai, who according to eyewitness accounts, kept trying to pacify a crowd of around 50 people was “abused in the vilest language”, and manhandled at the Madison Square Garden in New York. “This mob mentality to silence those with divergent views is not acceptable,” the Guild said and urged the Prime Minister and the government to condemn the incident, and ensure that action is taken against the guilty. Meanwhile, Congress also condemned the “attack” on Sardesai. Underlining that there can always be difference of opinions on issues, Congress spokesperson Raj Babbar rued that the “situation is deteriorating”. “Some supporters are getting physical. What has happened to senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai is condemnable and Congress party condemns it strongly,” Babbar told reporters. He stressed that just because he was condemning the incident from the Congress podium, it does not mean that Sardesai is a worker of any party. “He is a veteran journalist. And till now no kind of regret has been expressed by the party whose supporters attacked him. A lot of senior leaders from the party are there (US), but no one has given any comment on this,” Babbar said. PTI