The experiences bestowed by Kanchi-Mahaswami — Part 47
Guru, how long the diwali cracker will burn — Removal of Arun Shourie Part 2
https://www.thuglak.com/thuglak/main.php?x=curissue/ninaithu_paarkiraen_22_09_2021.php
Author : Sri S.Gurumurthy
Translator : C.Rangarajan
Indian Express editor-in-chief was a power centre. The quality of the editor determined the press freedom. The unwritten rule at that time the publisher would not intervene in the day-2-day running of the paper, once an editor is appointed. This was the thumb rule that drove the relationship between Goenka & Shourie.
The art of managing the journalists
In 1980, when Shourie joined as an executive editor, IE’s editor was the legendary Mulgaonkar. His deputy editors Kuldip Nayyar & Ajit Bhattacharjee were next in line. Shourie’s appointment sidelined them. There was a strong rumour that Shourie, Goenka’s favourite would succeed Mulgaonkar and S.Gurumurthy would support the move too. Both Nayyar & Bhattacharjee were frustrated. Both Mulgaonkar & Goenka did not like them. Through me, Goenka would convey his displeasure occasionally. Goenka would deny the disapproval when they confront him. They started suspecting me. Goenka would put me in trouble, “ Guru, without earning a bad name, no good can be done. You need this experience”.
I would remember his saying, “Guru, one can neither get too close nor stay too far away from fire, water, king, sannyasi, woman & rich”. I slowly started understanding the dharma-sankata involved in staying close with influential people. Since Goenka trusted me completely, I did not have any trouble from his end. I learned from him about the art of managing journalists. Goenka was a master of that art. He would allow them to team up against him. He would nominate them and gave me the task of managing them. He would ask me to come up with plans to transfer or dismiss them.
At the end of 1980, Mulgaonkar had resigned from the editorship due to poor health. Based on his recommendation, Goenka had appointed Nihal Singh as the editor. Both the deputy editors resigned from their posts. Kuldeep, who was close to me stopped talking with me for 2–3 years. Nihal Singh was a good man but he paled in comparison with his predecessor. His writing lacked the punch. From the beginning, both Nihal & Shourie were not on good terms.
Shourie’s essays & Nihal’s resignation
In 1981, Karnataka congress president Gundu Rao met Shouri in IE guest house at Bengaluru. He boasted that Indira would execute his commands. Shourie wrote an essay and wanted to be published on the first page of the newspaper and was refused by Nihal. This angered Shourie and he made it publish it from the popular magazine, “The Sunday” that was published in Kolkatta. Gundu Rao was shaken. This essay became a talking point in the journalistic world. It embarrassed IE too since Shourie was their staff. Again, Shourie wrote another essay based on the rants of another Congress leader, C.M.Ibrahim. Again, he had sent it to Nihal. Again, Nihal refused to publish since it violates confidentiality. Shourie tricked the Sunday magazine section editor of IE and got it published. It embarrassed Nihal Singh. He complained to Goenka. My opinion was sought on this matter and I requested Goenka to ignore it. Singh was not happy with the decision.
Goenka enjoyed the cold war between the journalists. Then only they would approach Goenka for mediation. We did not approve of Shourie’s methods. If any other person had done such a thing, Goenka would have removed them immediately. Nihal was under the impression that I was supporting Shourie. He refused to publish an editorial on Meenakshipuram conversion and boasted it in an interview citing a different reason. Nihal Singh understood the situation and resigned in May 1982. He was succeeded by George Verghese, a Gandhian from Gandhi peace foundation.
Verghese had many good qualities. He was a straightforward one and his patience was limitless. We had mutual respect. After Goenka’s death, he wrote a biography in 1985 and had mentioned my role, how I became popular, and slowly became Goenka’s trusted lieutenant in all areas. Once Goenka said, “George, Shourie is a wild horse and we need to tame him gently”. Then the war started between them.
Old & Tired Goenka
Citing the report of the public accounts committee, Shourie wrote about a 9 crores scam in the oil import transaction that was executed through a Hongkong-based company. Since it involved Parliamentary privilege, Verghese had asked his team to confirm whether it was a draft or the final report. Shourie exploded and wanted to withdraw his article. Shourie wrote to Verghese, “Goenka who fought valiantly during an emergency has become tired. He seeks peace with Indira. You and I should protect our journal’s freedom. Verghese was taken aback and was not feeling good about the letter. He conveyed his feelings to Shouri. It reached the ears of Goenka. He telephoned me and said, “See the response from Shourie, whom I considered as my son. We need to dismiss him immediately”. I could not refuse it. But, Verghese, the epitome of patience wanted to give another opportunity to Shourie. Goenka agreed to it, reluctantly.
No one could control Shourie. He had sent the essay in the form of a letter to 50 parliamentarians. Goenka’s disagreement was also leaked. The reporters’ team confirmed that the PAC report was a final one and it was published in the newspaper, eventually. The Parliament came to a standstill. The war between Goenka & Shourie became the talk of the town. Other papers started reporting about their war.
Kill two birds with one stone
Sanjay had launched a magazine called ‘Surya’ during an emergency. After his death, it was managed by Indira and Maneka, Sanjay’s wife. In 1982, it was bought by J.K.Jain & Sardar Angre, members of BJP. This embarrassed Indira and she had sent out Maneka from her house. J.K.Jain was close to Goenka, since the emergency period and a friend of mine too. His magazine published the letter written by Shourie. It created a huge commotion. To put an end to this, Goenka worked out a scheme to dismiss Shourie and decided to give an interview to ‘Celebrity’ magazine. Both of us rehearsed together.
In the interview, he had mentioned, “Shourie is an honest person. But, he is not a news gatherer. I gave him the details about the Anthulay scam and many journalists had contributed in other matters. Shourie was promoting himself and boasting about the growth in the last 3 years. Let me remind you that IE has been on the growth path for the last 50 years. Without Shourie, it will continue to grow. A newspaper cannot depend on one person alone. He is a very emotional person and not a team player too. IE that follows the part of Truth & Justice knows when to fight and when to backtrack. We don’t want Indira’s resignation at this crucial time. It will lead to anarchy”. It went as per our plan. Shourie gave an emotional rebuttal and it was leveraged to dismiss him. Also, it helped to send the truce signal to Indira.
Diwali crackers will last for 10 days, that’s all
Shourie replied, “ Goenka defames his editors in a subtle manner. Essay about Anthulay scam brought glory to him but the interview about me showed him in a poor light”. He was dismissed after two weeks. Goenka released a note,” Goenka was a huge source of strength. But that alone is not sufficient to run a newspaper. It cannot be one man’s show”. The whole press world supported Shourie. The same press that kept quiet during Shourie’s fight against Indira has started abusing Goenka.
Magazines like India today went overboard and beyond the acceptable limit. I could not tolerate it. Goenka quietly said, “ Guru, how long the Diwali crackers will burst? 10 or 15 days? That’s all. Where were these useless magazines, intellectuals during the emergency period”?. It happened exactly in the same way. I asked him about losing our journalistic freedom. Again, he replied patiently, “ Guru, We are taking this stance since Punjab is on a boil. We have to swallow the bad name in the interest of our Nation. I don’t give up the freedom. You wait and watch”.
Later, he waged a war against Ambani and Rajeev. I had a role to play in that. Despite the previous showdown, Goenka had agreed to re-appoint Shourie in 1987.
Postscript: Press Freedom, Then & Now
Then, the Supreme court ruled in favor of the publishers’ right to express. The publishers ran the magazines with the help of honest editors and it helped the press freedom to flourish. No one would know the name of the publisher. The editor was the most famous person. Now, no one knew the name of the editors of the leading dailies like Times of India, Hindustan Times. Jaideep Bose/Jojo was the editor of TOI between 2004 & 2021. We came to know about him only when the paper shared the retirement news.
Till the 1990s, it was a different press world. The editors & the magazine were synonymous and became a household name, together. IE had a long list with the likes of Shourie, myself. In the last 20 years, only one journalist, J.Gopikrishnan (who exposed the 2G scam) became famous. After globalization, the revenue through advertisement became the most important and pushed down the press freedom. TOI publisher Vineet Jain shamelessly said, “ We need news to fill the gap between the advertisements. We are not in the news business but the advertisement business (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/08/citizens-jain)”. The social network added its might to this anarchy.
https://indianjournalismreview.com/2011/10/03/arun-shourie-a-pamphleteer-who-used-journalism/
