The experiences bestowed by Kanchi-Mahaswami — Part 46 : Arun Shourie’s dismissal
https://www.thuglak.com/thuglak/main.php?x=curissue/ninaithu_paarkiraen_15_09_2021.php
Author : Sri S.Gurumurthy
Translator : C.Rangarajan
Between 1980–82, in a span of 33 months, IE (Indian Express) made Shourie a world-famous journalist. Goenka showered him with limitless motivation, respect, and support and molded him; in that process, a new dimension of press freedom had emerged out. Goenka did not care much about Government’s protests, threats & pressure tactics. Because of that, a Shourie was formed. There were able to shake the government in the period they were together. Their separation was not an ordinary one and it ended up with a nasty fight. There was no one particular reason to pinpoint.
They were alike in political thoughts but diverse in their ideology & temperament. Each one has its own identity. If one does not understand the other person’s temperament, then the relationship will fail. If there is an alignment on the ideology, then it will work as a gluing factor. They lacked that too and at one point, the faith in each other had eroded completely. Finally, it led to their separation.
I learned a lot from that episode — how the relationships are formed among humans, how they get close with each other, how skirmishes are formed, how it explodes & what to do to avoid such things. It helped me in the later stages, when I was acting as a bridge to connect many like political parties, leaders, news editors, BJP & RSS leaders. Later in the analysis, I concluded that they got estranged because of their differences in their ideology.
Hathovaa Praapsyasi Swargam
The whole nation was afraid of Indira after she returned to power in 1980. But she did not have the support of the middle class, intelligentsia, and few others. In particular, people who were following English media hated her the most. Suddenly, the whole media made a volte-face and became her mouthpiece. Goenka did not agree to that. Despite knowing her return to power, Goenka did not hesitate to publish the essays in his name. It helps us to understand his stubbornness.
Through the act of announcing the express building demolition, she made her intentions clear to the government officials, government departments & private players who were releasing advertisements to IE. Then, Goenka narrated the ideology of the newspaper, “ Guru, We need to oppose Devi (Indira) totally for our survival. Neutrality will not lead us anywhere and may force us to fall between the chairs. Neutrality in journalism is a façade. To me, neutrality means running the newspaper boldly and asserting our opinion independently. If we do not dare to oppose the threatening government they will swallow us. Gaining people’s support by opposing the government will give us strength. Guru, do you know why these scoundrels are afraid of me? They very well know that I will chop off their tail. We should keep them in that state”.
Like the upadesa given to Arjuna by the Lord, Goenka was sharing his experiences & private thoughts. Though I was called his advisor, nevertheless, I too got advice from him, since 1977. I use to cross-check with him, “Ramnath Ji, in this battle we may get slaughtered and our financial position is very weak. Can we survive this”?. All these were happening in 1980–82. He would reply with two slokas from Srimad Bhagavad Geetha.
हतो वा प्राप्स्यसि स्वर्गं जित्वा वा भोक्ष्यसे महीम्।
तस्मादुत्तिष्ठ कौन्तेय युद्धाय कृतनिश्चयः।।2.37।।
Either by being killed you will attain heaven, or by winning you will enjoy the earth. Therefore, O Arjuna, rise up with determination for fighting.
सुखदुःखे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ।
ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि।।2.38।।
Treating happiness and sorrow, gain and loss, and conest and defeat with eanimity, then engage in battle. Thus you will not incur sin.
Whenever he gets drained mentally, he would quote these two slokas and I too would chat. Like a realized soul, he would say, “Guru, what did we bring to take it back while going? It came to me in the middle. No problem, I am ready to lose them”. Geetha gave the necessary motivation to him. People who were closer to him knew that his fallback option was God. He derived his strength from spirituality. He was a regular visitor to Kapali temple in Chennai and Hanuman mandir in Delhi & Mumbai. He was a great devotee of Kanchi Paramacharya.
Gandhi & Sivaji — Goenka’s guides
On the one hand, he was a big believer in God, and on the other hand, he was thinking like a Chanakya. His words on Mahatma Gandhi gave hints. He was appointed as the chairman of Dakshin Bharatha Hindi Prachar Sabha. They were very close. He said, “Guru, everyone called him Mahatma, Spiritual, etc. But it was difficult to understand him. Though he was an ardent devotee of Lord Rama, he was following Lord Krishna on the strategy. His strategies were appropriate for the moment and were unselfish in the decision-making. This is the essence of Gandhi. I have learned many things from him.
Goenka was following the dharma shown by Sivaji Maharaj on the battlefront. Maharana Pratap Singh was fighting Akbar and Sivaji Maharaj was fighting Aurangazeb. But there was a difference. Maharana was a worshipper of valor, whereas, Sivaji was focusing on victory. Hence, Sivaji knew when to attack and when to backtrack and established Hindu Samrajya. Being an admirer of Gandhi & Sivaji, he was battling Indira on one front and sent Kuldip Nayyar as an emissary to Pranab Mukherjee for peaceful negotiations. People were confused by that and thought that Goenka was unreliable. In that situation, the seeds of the split were sown between Goenka & Shourie.
Goenka, who moulded Shourie
Goenka was a believer of God and Shourie was in a state of confusion. They aligned on their opposition to Indira. Their ideologies were different. Before becoming a journalist, Shourie was an educationalist and an Intellectual. He did not have any prior experience in journalism. Therefore, he was not accepted by the senior journalists. Goenka forced them to accept Shourie. Without Goenka’s encouragement and support, Shourie would not have reached the top position.
Like the 1st movie hit hero, Shourie with his 1st investigative writing on Anthulay became a hero. It was not an easy job. He collected irrefutable evidence and published them on the day when the parliament was in session. The government was in a bind. He had worked on multiple strategies to confront the government:
- If the government cover it up then publish an appropriate response
- Accuse the government of lying in the parliament and request the parliamentarians to take up that cause
- Arm the opposition leaders with the full information and expose the government in public
He was continuously investing strategies based on the need of the moment. It needs quick thinking and is not an easy task. IE was continuously writing about the scam throughout that period until Anthulay had resigned. It added a new dimension to investigative journalism. Needless to say that Goenka was in the background to provide all the required support to him. Many times, he has said, “Goenka is the essence of Press freedom. There was no one before or after him”. Goenka had the natural trait to nurture talented, honest, and brave people. Hence, Shourie the journalist was born.
Shourie is a winning horse and will give two blows
Their proximity ruffled many feathers among the senior journalists. They were angry with Goenka for propping up Shourie and pressurized Goenka all the time. Shourie did not have a good relationship with Goenka’s family. It affected me too. Since I was working closely with Shourie, I too had problems with the senior journalists and Goenka’s family. There were rumors that Goenka was in our stranglehold.
In general, journals have become popular than journalists. But, Shourie upstaged the Indian Express. More than the field, the main fielder in the field became important. This had created more pressure on Goenka. It embarrassed Goenka. He had discussed with me about the one-upmanship. Around that time, Nihal Singh, an editor had resigned citing that Goenka was giving more preference to Shourie. On the other hand, Goenka said, “Guru, because of Shourie we have many problems. But, he is a winning horse and we need to take his blows too”.
Goenka needed him not to earn money but to run the paper boldly. Since I had more respect and love for Shourie, I could not share my lessons with him. Goenka was a short-tempered man and I would embrace him to cool down. Once, I locked him in a room. Whereas, I did not have the proximity with Shourie. Hence, I was very careful. Though he liked me a lot, I did not take my position for granted.
Shourie was also very adamant. Many were trying to drive a wedge between him and Goenka. I did tell him indirectly that the tide was turning against him. George Varghese, the successor of Nihal Singh addressed Goenka, a saint. His relationship with Shourie was not good. Slowly, Goenka was changing his tone. Once he said, “Guru, every day because of Shourie, I am having fights with the other people. He is not cooperating with the editor. He is a lone horse and not getting along with people. This is not going to sustain for a longer period”.
Punjab separatism & Nation’s interest
In between, two main events created a huge impact on Goenka — the death of Sanjay in 1980 and the emergence of terrorism in Punjab in 1982. On the land grab issue, he was waging a war against Indira. Shourie & I were with him. After Sanjay’s death, he wrote an essay — “Explosive situation”. In that he had mentioned, “these are tougher times. Without Indira, it cannot be solved. Hence, the opposition should extend the cooperation to her”. He was in touch with Indira through her family friend, Mohammed Yunus. Goenka was a past master in such dual engagements.
When Punjab terrorism was rocking the country, he wanted to soften his approach towards the government. I too concurred with him. Shourie wrote about an oil company scam where the government was involved. An objection was raised by the editor. Shourie mistook it and accused Goenka of preventing him. He exploded, “Goenka who is old & tired wanted to mend fences with Indira”. I was sure of their separation but did not expect that it would become an enmity.
