Introduction
Rohit Sardana (22 September 1979 – 30 April 2021) was an Indian anchor and media personality. He had hosted Taal Thok Ke, a debate programme which discusses contemporary issues in India on Zee News. He left Zee News to join Aaj Tak in 2017, and hosted the debate show Dangal. He received 2018 Ganesh Vidyarthi Puraskar Award.
Early life and education
Sardana had a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. From 2000 to 2002, Sardana completed his academic work to earn a post-graduate degree in mass communication from Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology.
Career
From March 2002 to July 2003, Sardana worked as a copy-editor. As a trainee copy-editor, Sardana was exposed to the technicalities of anchoring, copywriting, editing, production, and post-production work. Along with learning these skills, Sardana studied the functioning of a 24-hour news channel. Sardana worked as an assistant producer at Sahara Samay from 2003 to 2004.
Since 2004, Sardana worked at Zee News in the capacity of an executive editor, anchor, news presenter and host for the network's Hindi language programmes. He was a senior anchor at Aaj Tak. Sardana formerly worked with the ETV Network and Akashvani. Sardana also produced Karmakshetra, where MPs were assessed and "report card" was created by Sardana on the work of the MPs for their respective constituency in advance of the 2014 Indian general elections.
He hosted a show called Dangal (translation: Arena) on Aaj Tak which featured debate panels. The show has been compared to Radio Rwanda and he was criticised for demonizing Muslims, encouraging jingoism and strengthening the Hindu-Muslim dichotomy through his show. Sardana was considered to be a part of the pro-government Godi media establishment in India and has also been criticised for subservience towards Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2018, he was awarded with the Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Puraskar by the Government of India.
Death
He died of a heart attack after testing positive for COVID-19. President Ram Nath Kovind, PM Narendra Modi, Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Rajasthan's Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh among many expressed their deepest condolences on his untimely demise.