The Commissioner For Lost Causes by Arun Shourie

Author:Arun Shourie [Shourie, Arun]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2022-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

15

‘Guptaji dee soti’

I had been proven right as far as the Kuo Oil article was concerned. But the consequences were round the corner.

Ramnathji was under immense pressure. Mrs Gandhi’s emissaries had made it clear to him that unless he reined in the paper, the might of the State would descend on him again. The attempt to seize the extension to the Express building in Delhi had already started. Financially, the paper was, as it always was, at the brink. Government advertisements were an important source of its meagre revenues. These could be stopped on any pretext; in fact, they could stop arriving without any pretext. One call, and the life-saving advances from the banks would stop. Newsprint had been held up at the Bombay and Madras ports earlier; it could be held up at a moment’s notice again. In any case, there were enough cases in government departments to hobble Ramnathji and to cripple the paper.

Ramnathji was a great, and a very resourceful fighter. But from his long experience in battling odds, he had concluded that the occasional compromise, lying low till the opportunity to strike back arose, even a retreat, were stratagem. They were a part of fighting. ‘Tum paristithee se lado gey kyaa?’—‘Will you fight circumstances?’ he would ask me. ‘Jab toofaan aataa hai, to jo pedh usey akad kar yon dekhtaa hai’—he would turn, becoming rigid with his head and chin raised as if he were confronting a storm—‘usey toofaan ukhaad detaa hai. Jo chhotaa saa ghaas hotaa hai, voh jhuk jaataa hai. Toofaan gayaa, aur voh ghaas fauran phir yon-kaa-tyon khadaa ho jaataa hai’1—he would open his curled hand.

The immense pressure was one element. But there were other factors too. Ramnathji used to tire of his editors and correspondents, as one might of a favourite dish or, as he would have put it, of a mistress! He was extremely possessive about the paper. It was his life. And so, the very success of the journalist—the success which he enabled, of which he felt proud—would kindle a sort of jealousy, almost a resentment. And there were enough persons to fan this jealousy. Once, Ramnathji himself told me—it was his way of telling me to let off a bit!—of a senior editor in the paper telling him, ‘Aaj kal to log kehney lagein hain ki Express Ramnath kaa naheen, Shourie kaa akhbaar hai.’2

For one reason or another, Ramnathji had opened a line to the government. Mrs Gandhi had asked Giani Zail Singh, then Home Minister, to handle the matter. Ramnathji used to visit Gianiji’s house for the purpose. A person associated with the paper was close to Gianiji, and would tell me what was going on—how Ramnathji had met the Giani, and what had transpired. One day he told me that Ramnathji would be going to Gianiji’s house at 4 p.m. To tease Ramnathji and to let him know that I knew what he was up to, I mentioned this to the editors of India Today, and requested

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.