Chapter 8

THE OFFER OF EDITORSHIP

It was during the Emergency period (25 June 1975 to 21 March 1977) that my independence and objectivity as a journalist faced a serious challenge. (My predicament was similar to that of the rest of my fraternity.)

During that period, Sanjay Gandhi had wanted to control the media through dubious measures like cutting off electricity supply to some newspapers and magazines, stopping government advertisements to them (which would seriously affect their revenues) and starving them of funds from banks and other financial institutions. He also wanted the media to toe his line and, to achieve this objective, he tried to get persons of his own choice appointed as editors of leading newspapers and magazines. It should be borne in mind, especially by the younger generation, that Doordarshan (the national TV channel: the only one then existent) and All India Radio (AIR) were already under government control. Many people tuned in to BBC radio for impartial reporting and broadcasting of news.

During my visit to Delhi in March 1976, I was told that Sanjay Gandhi wanted the National Herald to bring out an independent edition of the newspaper from Chandigarh although the information and broadcasting minister V. C. Shukla¹ wanted the Hindustan Times (also based in Delhi) to do the same.

On 14 March 1976 I was asked by my journalistic contacts (in the government and elsewhere) to take full responsibility for running the National Herald’s proposed Chandigarh edition. But I pointed out that I could not bypass my editor and veteran journalist M. Chalapathi Rau (popularly known as MC) and would seek his direction in the matter. After some time, I told my contacts that I had discussed the issue with MC (though I never mentioned about the proposal to MC as I did not want to be labelled as a favourite of the Sanjay Gandhi caucus by appearing to be its appointee as editor of the National Herald’s Chandigarh edition) and that I would consider the offer on two conditions. One: they should talk to MC about the proposal to entrust me with the responsibility of the proposed Chandigarh edition. Two: MC should be the chief editor of the edition and I would accept whatever responsibility he would give me.

I was aware that nobody – even among those at the highest levels in the Congress hierarchy – could muster courage to talk to MC about the National Herald’s editorial or organizational matters. Indira Gandhi like her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, had great respect for MC. I was told that Sanjay Gandhi may not like the suggestion to take up the issue of an independent Chandigarh edition, given MC’s pre-eminent status.

I was not sure whether the Congress leaders were aware of the fact that MC did not hold a high opinion about Sanjay Gandhi.

After the lifting of the Emergency, when L. K. Advani famously commented that many journalists chose to ‘crawl when asked to bend’, he obviously did not know the views of the fiercely independent editor of the Nehru family’s own newspaper about Sanjay Gandhi.

***

In August or September 1976, I was informed that the proposal to bring out the Chandigarh edition of the National Herald had been shelved. But V. C. Shukla was apparently still trying to persuade the Hindustan Times to bring out its edition from Chandigarh.

In November 1976, I was informed by my contacts that when they had been asked to suggest somebody for appointment as the editor of the leading Chandigarh-based English daily, the Tribune, they had suggested my name. Aware of my conditions for accepting the post of editor of the National Herald’s proposed Chandigarh edition, they told the sponsors of the Tribune offer that ‘Chum will accept the offer only after getting MC’s consent’.

The following note in my personal diary (written at 2 a.m. on 14 November 1976) reflected the state of my mind:

It is a moment of crisis and test for me. I will have to wriggle out of the situation and not accept the offer, if made, of Tribune’s editorship for three reasons: (1) I do not want to become a puppet in the hands of politicians, particularly, the Sanjay caucus, which would be unavoidable for the person whom they get appointed as Tribune’s editor. (2) I could never dream of replacing my benefactor Madhavan Nair, the paper’s editor who had recommended my name to MC for appointment as National Herald’s staff correspondent at Chandigarh. (3) Administration is my weakest point. As an editor has to be a good administrator also, I do not want my success, whatever it is, as a reporter and a columnist to be turned into a failure.

What to do then? I must adopt an attitude [so] that I do not lose my contacts who are privy to the happenings in the highest corridors of power in Delhi and are also my useful news sources and at the same time I [must] keep myself out of the ‘chakravyuh’2 of the perpetrators of the Emergency excesses.

***

After returning from the All India Congress Committee’s Gauhati (now spelt Guwahati) session, held in late November 1976, Bansi Lal told me that he was aware of the offer made to me to take up the Tribune’s editorship. In response, I told him I had conveyed my reaction to those who had made the offer to me. Bansi Lal then tried to tempt me to take up the offer: ‘Do not hesitate in taking the big leap. There can be better days ahead. Editorship will bring status. Tomorrow you can be nominated as member of the Rajya Sabha and there could be further openings.’ I, however, stuck to my guns. I repeated my condition of first obtaining permission from MC for accepting the offer. I knew well that the condition would never be acceptable to those who had made the offer.

A couple of days later after Bansi Lal asked me to accept the offer of the Tribune’s editorship, I got a telephone call from Hans Raj Sharma, Punjab’s finance minister, inviting me for breakfast. At the breakfast table, Sharma congratulated me, saying that I was going to be appointed as the Tribune’s editor. He added that S. V. Bedi, the Tribune’s special correspondent, was also trying very hard to get the job and had even asked him (Sharma) for help.

I tactfully evaded the issue by telling Sharma ‘let us see what happens’. My principled stand on the proposal for appointment as the Tribune’s editor perhaps discouraged its sponsors from pursuing the matter further. (Incidentally, the other contender, Bedi, died in February 1977.)

My diary entry of 30 November 1976 explained my inner turmoil:

I can no longer bear the mental torture about the controversy over the offer of the Tribune’s editorship. I tonight rang up my contacts in Delhi asking them to drop the move about my appointment as Tribune editor. If they still pursued it, it would create an embarrassing situation for me and also for them as I would refuse to accept the offer. It was an unusually brief talk.

I was later informed by my contacts that the sponsors of the Tribune offer had been told that ‘Chum is not interested in the offer and that they should find some other person for the post’.

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¹ Shukla was critically injured in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh in late May 2013 and died in a Delhi hospital on 11 June 2013.

² In the Mahabharat epic, chakravyuh refers to a complex multitier defensive formation used during wars. One can enter a chakravyuh but it is very difficult or nearly impossible to get out of it, as exemplified by Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu.