Abhinandan Sekhri and Newslaundry (from the time AS took over the reins from Madhu) are, for all intents and purposes, a B-TEAM of sorts for the Wire. They rarely succeed in scoring interviews with people on the other end of the ideological fence as them - because of a long-standing policy of berating such guests (remember how he misbehaved with Dr. Salvatore Babones - with those gotcha questions?)

Newslaundry has just published this teaser for an interview that'll be published later on in the day -

https://youtu.be/2chSltrdPaI?si=3DkheeLyYx5x-PjM

Across the table is every Indians friendly/ bearable bhakt or nationalist, Shashi Tharoor. I am willing to bet a million imaginary dollars, that Shashi will get softballs through the duration of what can only be a friendly, snooze fest. What's your bet!!? Make this interesting and add detail to your forecast!

Honestly, Singhvi has never been very open or sincere with his opposition and stuff - if people remember a sex CD of his was leaked more than a decade ago which had a lot of repercussions, and this was at the time of UPA. Pretty sure the guy stays very tame to avoid the wrath of NDA which has been very powerful for a while now. Everyone knows what happens to vocal NDA critics.

Mr. Sekhri, the journalistic jester of our times, appears to have taken his cue from the Rubika Liyaquats of the media world, those illustrious paragons of the press who've mastered the art of flattering those in power while mercilessly mocking the voices that cry out for justice. It's a circus act that seems to amuse the yuppies fresh out of law schools, who flock to Newslaundry, believing it to be the temple of reason.

This suave-talking, fab India kurta-clad, Doon-educated individual, yearning for a taste of middle-class relatability, delights in preaching his Western brand of righteousness to the masses of India. With a smug countenance that could rival the Sphinx, he dishes out alecky comments to his guests, devoid of even a modicum of empathy for those daring to voice their opinions. In essence, he's the budget version of NOIDA's media, operating with scant funds and an even smaller audience.

His favorite pastime? Talking down to people. He revels in making them feel like intellectual midgets because their thoughts, whether right or wrong in the grand scheme of things (a matter of subjectivity, really), fail to align with his holier-than-thou narrative of political correctness.

In a world that's seen its fair share of such characters, from the Roman jesters who entertained emperors to the jesters of yore who tickled the fancy of kings, Mr. Sekhri stands as a modern-day reminder that, indeed, some things never change.