The Trinamool Congress has nominated journalist Sagarika Ghose, wife of noted news anchor Rajdeep Sardesai, as its nominee for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. If she gets the required votes, this would be Ghose’s political debut.

Interestingly, her husband, Rajdeep Sardesai has earlier spoken out against journalists entering politics. In 2018, when veteran journalist Kumar Ketkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha on a Congress ticket, he had written that journalists should refrain from entering politics, especially through the Rajya Sabha route.

“Should journalists enter Rajya Sabha on a political party ticket? That’s a question that gnaws at me after Kumar Ketkar, a friend and early mentor, became the Congress candidate from Maharashtra and the latest journalist to bite into the tempting political apple,” Sardesai wrote in his blog post The Journalist as Neta.

“Upper House membership is afflicted by cronyism and deal-making: quid pro quos for favours, past and present, are the order of the day,” he said.

Networking, influence peddling, and the allure of power and money often take precedence over a genuine desire to contribute to raising the bar in public life, he wrote.

“Moreover, there is probably nothing like a neutral journalist, so wearing his political beliefs on his sleeve is his right as a private citizen. But when any individual joins a party he ceases to be an independent voice and a journalist without independence who cannot tell truth to power is a non sequitur. Net net: journalists do not enjoy the luxury of lawyers who can afford to wear two hats without compromising their professional integrity at some level. Once a journalist enters the political domain, he or she sheds any pretence at independent journalism,” Rajdeep wrote in the column.

He even questioned how a backbencher Rajya Sabha MP can contribute meaningfully to public life, considering that many of them scarcely get the opportunity to speak.

“It is my unshaken belief that a professional independent journalist must ideally remain just that: an observer and chronicler with strong views but not a player or participant in the tricky game of politics. If you want to join politics, please do so, but quit journalism first,” he wrote.