"India is by far the world's greatest democratic success story" --- Salvatore Babones. Thank you.

Rajdeep face for every response by the guest can be a meme of it’s own!! 😂😂😂

"India's Intellectual class is Anti India" well said Professor ..someone had to show them mirror ..Thank you Professor

I would like to thank this man from the deepest of my heart. I have never felt India to be a fascist state...India is a corrupt country i agree..but not fascist....And i feel Indian intellectuals are somehow left leaning . I feel the BJP is more pro India and far less corrupt but still the intellectuals favour the left. This man has shown the mirror to many and i am particularly happy that he gave rajdeep what he deserved

Very good roasting of rajdeep sirdesai by Mr professor.. Respect to Australian professor.

The professor has hit the nail, when he said that the Indian intellectual class are anti India. And a very interesting nugget of information he provided was, how the opinions are polled. The opinions are collected from the people who are Indians living abroad, as students or professionals, and some more from India. The sample slice is evident, and more so if the NGOs in question are of the Left leaning types. The Bias can be enormous. Another opinion which appears valid is that the opposition of the intellectuals for a party has morphed into opposition of the country. So true.

Sir, I am amazed by the clarity you brought on the issue. Your responses are brilliant

Rajdeep is stumped, hit wicket, bold and run out in the same ball and without going to the crease. What an irony and a new record in cricketing history.

This guy destroyed the agenda of leftist Rajdeep

I totally detest Rajdeep Sardesai & his kind of journalism. Its honestly feels good to see Salvatore Babones beating Rajdeep at his own game.

"There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics." We really are living in the Post-Truth era. Great clarity, Professor. Thank you for putting in the work that our Ministries/Think Tanks/Media should actually be doing to counter constant hit-jobs on the Republic.

Mr professor exposed Rajdeep Sardesai very badly 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

American is doing what Indian Journalists are supposed to🤦🏻‍♂️ This is our Karma.

`rajeep doesn't get insult a day, day wasted'. Today is lucky day

Salvator spitting facts....Rajdeep clearly uncomfortable with anyone who praises India.

Am I the only one thinking that this Professor should be offered Indian citizenship? This guy is more on India's corner than the urban Naxal interviewing the guy.

India deserves better. You will understand that only when you live abroad. Westerners are so negative about India.

India's intellectual class is Anti India line has exposed not only bollytards, left liberals, pro terrorists gang but also likes of MSG boxer journalists Rajdeep.. Bdutt Co.. Respect Sir..

Prof was superb and Rajdeep didnt have a place to hide his face.

Great work ... He is more Indian than many Indians living in India ...

I will share it with all those people who hates on me for loving my very own country… Thank you professor 👍

Rajdeep Sardesai has a record of getting insulted on his own shows.

I just cleared JRF to pursue doctorate in sociology... And certainly look upto professor Salvatore as my ideal.

Mr. Salvatore Babones is the kind of intellectuals India & the world needs. He is remarkable. He is full of facts and a pleasure to listen to.

Amazing to listen to Prof Babones. Thank you !

This is the real story behind the renowned international academic institutions' and rating agencies' report on countries like india. The sad part is that we need a foreigner itself to convincingly debunk them with data

"India's Intellectual class is Anti India" - well said, Sir

This interview is going to go down well into our Indian history as one of the best rebuttals for biases against India by Indian intellectuals which was under veil all this while it's exposed now.

hatts off to this gem of a guy

I am not amazed to see the result after i googled "Is India Fascist country ?". The first article was on the list by every western media's fav Rana Ayub and then The Wire ,Al jaljeera(😝) and others but not many Popular indian Media houses.This shows that how western media or think tank works if they wanted articles on india to write report on India. kudos to Indian government it is not easy to govern 1.4 billion people in democratic nation where there are all sort of problem like kashmir issue,khalistani issue, naxal issue, terrorism, naga-bodo issue(or north east issue), north vs south issue, communal issue(i believe this are always politically motivated by both sides) and still India manage to become top 5th Economy in the world. No other democratic country can achieve this kind of success if they have this much problem.

This brilliant professor is unusually clear headed.

Salute to the respected speaker for clarity of thought!🙏🏻

Thank you sir. U had to come frm Australia to educate our media n modi haters.

Salvatore Babones is right and hopefully he will teach rajdeep Sardesai a lesson in facts not biases . ☺️!!

"India Intellectual Class are anti India" that's right statement given by Mr. Babones

India's intellectual class is anti-india " byfar the best conclusion from a outsider i could never think of it.

The second professor who has been celebrated so intensely in India. Thank you for wonderful and eye-opening arguments.

Prof. Salvatore Babones deserves all praise. To my mind Indian democracy should also be evaluated on comparison of the Rights available to Majority and Minority communities.

When you have Rana Ayub, as your columnist. Good luck with this as newspaper

Each time he got bashed by Aussie professor that face of RDS made was fun to watch

Thank you so much Professor Salvatore Babones 🙏🙏. We Indians have been highly disturbed by this extreme India bashing everywhere by some academicians.

I really trust Prof. Salvatore Babones in his research. He seems to be a very unbiased professional who has just done his research well. His deductions seem to be based on a proper research than a particular notion. Surely he is more informed about Indian sociological set up than most Indian themselves. Thank you India Today for bringing up such hardcore discussions to us.I am happy the host could ask questions in the most intimidating way. It's very important in true journalism. It covered the questions we all have in our minds.

On every question reply Sardesai feel ashamed😅

I think we should give some credit to Rajdeep also for asking anti India questions and special thanks to Salvatore for countering all these Anti India biased on every level. He gave us some data which is totally correct i point out these data from time to time but no one listens to me....

I am surprised that Prof Salvatore Babones is able to analyze data so well when Indian intellectuals are not unable to do the same.

It's disgusting to see the glee in Rajdeep's voice when talking about such rankings. Journalists like him are the ones hurting India.

It was good to hear your arguments, Professor!

The interviewer is tying so hard to get his way, but is failing miserably. 🙂

The best part was when the good Professor pointed out that on a per capita basis journalists are the safest in India. The bluster of Rajdeep to come out of this was priceless.

Rajdeep's voice is bit loud, the Prof's voice is pleasant and relaxed.

Every pro Indian is thankful to professor, must express on his tweeter 🙏

Professor really hit at right place....he knows better than most of so called intelectual of India

Brilliant sir we need such more foreigner professor to describe india

The professor has put tough questions purely based on the numbers, and Mr. Rajdeep was not able to answer any of his points. Which means he has always tried to put his personal agenda ahead. Thank you Professor Salvatore for supporting India's story and putting the point that Indian Intellectuals are predijuced.

I think india needs BJP party for next 25 years, i.e upto 2049 ofcourse on few conditions: 1st. Improve our economy to 25 times fold...Each year we need to raise tempundous percentage. 2nd. Stick to 1 national language policy, get rid of hindi(it's not gonna work out) they have to bring in sanskrit so every party will have no objection to it. 3rd: Given importance to the sanskrit language..afterall why would any one like to learn new lang besides there is any application for it. 4th: show the real truth of father of our nation (am not talking about gandhi) 5th: get hold of karnataka, Tamil nadu, kerala somehow telangana ( These states are already lost to western mindset partially due to politicians in those states and imposition of hindi language. If we don't, Trust Me india will divide into 2 countries as north nd south just like Korea and it will happen indefinitely if we don't concentrate more...I'm sure they're doing somehow but needs more effort. 6th: get that semiconductor chip started as soon as possible...we need to develop O.S, programs, applications in our language...one of the main argument of young ppl in South india is why we should learn any new language when there is no use of it, bcoz we are already communicating In ENGLISH anyways to the world and within india? Our applications, OS AND PROGRAMS will give them the answer. 7th Our views are not shown in the western world mainly due to social media and Google..we have to setup tremendous social media channels in USA. I am actually thinking about this(If any one would like to sponsor for this I would like to put up India perspective in the western social media world) I would be honor to do this job...

"Are you saying..", "Are you suggesting.." Rajdeep Sardesai trying to put words in the mouth of Salvatore Babones, to interpret or turn Salvatore's words as he wants it, it reminds me of the famous Jordan Peterson interview on Channel4News where Cathy Newman did the same thing to Jordan Peterson, but Jordan Peterson was too smart to fall in trap of Cathy Newman.

Everyone should follow him on every social media. He’s an ally. Never underestimate the power of allies.

Every question and observation of Rajdeep shows how debased his character is , reaching its crescendo towards end when he asks if the host is on payroll of govt. Such tight slaps he got in the course of interview, that if he has even an iota of shame he will quit journalism letting the average standard of Indian journalism go up a few notches. Look at his examples , all of UP. Why not TN or Rajasthan or Bengal?

How come abolition of article 370 comes under discrimination !

Such an important conversation and kudos to India Today to bring it to the fore. Which ever side of the political divide we may fall as Indians , the dangers of demonizing the country while assuming we are doing it to embarrass the govt of the day or the party in power is a self flagellating strategy with unintended long term consequences not just for the image of the country but will also come with economic costs and will only hurt out growth prospects or our efforts in alleviating poverty or decreasing economic inequalities ! Left liberal 'intellectual' lobby should introspect.

Hindu majority makes us democracy and secular 💕💕🕉️🇮🇳

Now Mr. Professor be ready for Sanghi tag...😂

Rajdeep having an egg on his face, the satisfaction, awesome

A day not being self-insulted is a day wasted - RajDeep Sardesai

PROFESSOR SHOULD TAKE TRAINING SEMINARS FOR INDIAN INTELECTUALS AND JOIRNALISTS.

I hate this channel and rajdeep but I am here for professor babones

Not indian democracy exposed , but rajdeep exposed .

This is a great eye opener for me. I no longer want to blindly believe these rankings without doubt.

Kya dhoya hai,Mann bhar gaya 😂😂😂

For me when he said that there will be change in govt in India and BJP will not be there forever - that says a lot about his confidence in democracy of India- yes India has had a relatively peaceful transition of power as compared to neighboring countries. Data never lies, but you need to look at the right ones. An honest smart clear thinking academician is rare and glad he came!

Excellent discussion with Salvatore Babones! I believe these democracy indexes can be useful but it's better if western academics come visit India to actually see what's happening at the ground level instead of just reading reports.

Absolutely brilliant.

Brilliant . Great insights from prof @Salvatore Babones.

Absolutely agree with Salvatore. Quite surprised by India Today hosting him for his opinions, which have a lot of Merit

Hats off to you professor, you know better about India than these fellows

Let's start a Kickstarter campaign and give this guy $5 million

Mr. Professor has done a good research

A tight slap on the face of silly intellectuals in India.

Prof Babones is solid in his arguments. Sardesai is as usual straight as a corkscrew!

Truth is divine and unbeatable 💪 Ek Ong Kar Sat Nam Siri Wha (He) Guru Means There is one Creator whose name is Truth. Great is the ecstasy of that Supreme Wisdom!

@Salvatore Babonose thanks for your deep insights into surveys and data. My wife is a American lawyer who follows world politics closely and always questions me about state of democracy in India and I try to defend with facts and data but she emphasize need for counter articles with correct facts against maligning articles, which unfortunately I can’t do myself due to being tied to my engineering job. I hope perspectives changes because of unbiased, honest & deep analysis of academics like you come out on forums.

Thanks Mr.Babones for told the truth.

Interesting and credit to India today for inviting the professor.

Thanks professor sir for exposing these psudo intellectual..jai hind

Mr Sardesai should keep his questions short to add more questions and give more time to the guest.

Truly we All Patriotic Indians need to be appreciate , admire & adore This Australian professor for his objective technical analysis & robust defense of economic success of our beloved Nation which incidentally happens to be largest democracy And a power house of human talent & technology !And taking care of more of than 130 billon population ! It’s already World’s 4th largest economy in GDP terms Now is the time our intelligentsia and intellectual class of India to develop patriotic pride & support their mother land at global platforms & in press we Indians need to be less critical &to more patriotic about our Nation Any Hats off to Professor Salvatore Babones for enlightening us why we all need to be proud of our India ❤

Thanks to the Professor for not falling prey to the wily and messy anchor

India doesn't worry about these rankings as our FM Jaishankar has often pointed out to foreign nations.

Raj deep was about to 😢 cry, poor him. The professor was so good and answering all questions with in-depth knowledge. When right wins elections the left always complains that democracy is in danger.

"India deserves better": Really, to hell with this defensive posture.

Rajdeep is one of those journos who is anti India. The Prof. Babanos has unequivocally rebutted each and every point mooted by Rajdeep. Hats off to the Prof

There is reason why we hate Rajdeep.

Professor observation abulutely correct about India.

Rajdeep was fighting Mr. Professor with data from the beginning (with those indexes)! The moment he was cornered he took a u turn "don't always consider data" at 14:43!

WORTH WATCHING.

HATS OFF to this gentleman! I'm floored witnessing his thorough knowledge about India PURE AMAZING!!!!

Appreciate Rajdeep for conducting the interview in this manner, I hope he does more such events in the future and invites a wider range of intellectuals.

What a brilliant professer....... salute

Freedom of speech does not mean you can abuse anyone Freedom of practicing religion does not mean you can disrespect other person religion Freedom of journalism does not mean you can protect criminals and anti nations for your biased approach against any govt whether it's rightwing or leftwing .

Dr. Salvatore Babones, you correctly encountered Rajdeep Sardesai, India, the largest democracy, has got a raw deal from the world, unrepresented, discriminated, ignored and pushed around always. Great insights, based on statistics sir, not on hearsay. Continue your great work on India.