The experiences bestowed by Kanchi-Mahaswami — Part 54 : The CM who burnt the printing press
https://www.thuglak.com/thuglak/main.php?x=curissue/ninaithu_paarkiraen_10_11_2021.php
Author : Sri S.Gurumurthy
Translator : C.Rangarajan
Here is a hypothetical question. In TN, let us say the CM sends the police force to burn a printing press of a popular Tamil media then what will happen (footnotes 1)? It will become worldwide news and will be discussed widely in our country; The opposition will wage a war against the CM and the government; Courts will intervene; The press will continue with their protests; The whole world will blame the state & the country for stifling the journalistic freedom and will accuse them. In 1985, the then Gujarat CM, Madhav Singh Solanki (who won 149 seats out of 182 in the assembly) burnt the office & the printing press of the popular journal, “Gujarat Samachar”. It took several months for the journal to run on its legs. There was no noteworthy opposition in Gujarat as well as in the centre too (since Rajiv Gandhi won a majority of 414/525 seats in the Lok Sabha).
How the Gujarat politics was changed?
Gujarat Samachar’s owner Santhibhai Shah was also its editor. He was a courageous journalist. The magazine was an anti-congress one on the lines of the Indian Express newspaper. In the 1980s, there was a big turmoil in Gujarat. Solanki wanted to bring reservations for the backward communities. This was opposed tooth & nail by the students’ community. Until then, caste politics was not a major trump card in Gujarat politics. Solanki created a super caste group called “KHAM” by clubbing the Kshatriyas, SC, ST & Muslims (Indian Express, 10-Jan-2021). In the 1985 government, Solanki inducted 14 members from the KHAM as ministers (http://en.wikipediea.org/wiki/1985_Gujarat_riots). It triggered more trouble as the students resumed their agitations. It evolved into a communal conflict between Feb-Aug, for 7 months. Solanki was accused of favouring the muslims. Gujarat Samachar published truth and fabricated lies about the riots and it created problems for the Solanki’s government (Footnotes 2).
Brutally burnt by the Police
On 12th April, Gujarat Samachar’s office and the printing press were burnt by a mob and led by the police. Due to this, it may take months for the newspaper to get revived, wrote India Today (31-May-1985). Luckily, they were able to manage the situation and were able to publish the paper o 8th May. It surprised everyone. IT further wrote, “ the fire would have killed Shah’s family and the journalists, who were residing in that building. Shanthibhai Shah, with a help of a wooden plank, jumped to the next building and survived. His Son, Bahubhali shah jumped from the window and survived. His other son and daughter-in-law thought that their lives were going to end and started performing Japa with the help of Japamala. They were rescued too and ridiculed the CM. The newspaper vowed to pursue the truth, even when they were facing the guns.
Unquestioned Anarchy
This should have been blown out of proportion considering the nature of the crime. But, it did not become and it is not rocket science to figure out the truth behind it. There was no viable opposition both in the centre and in the state. Both the governments had a brutal majority. One could hear very feeble voices against this atrocity. Most of the magazines sided with the Government and kept quiet
Press Guild was headed by the Hindustan Time owner K.K.Birla, Congress MP Viswabandu Gupta, and others. It blamed the Gujarat Samachar for its behaviour and tried to justify the violence. No one was ready to oppose the goonda raj and Goenka decided to challenge him. Goenka challenged Solanki and humiliated him in Ahmedabad. I still remember that incident. The so-called present-day liberals, intellectuals, journalists kept quiet at that time and did not both talk about press freedom. Yes, they were all scared of the Congress party.
Guru, this is a fight between two daughters-in-law
In the meantime, Shanthibhai called Goenka and explained the situation to him. He also mentioned a case that was foisted on him by the Government. Goenka told him to explain the case to me. Solanki government has sent a circular to stop giving government advertisements to Gujarat Samachar. The newspaper had published. Hence, it was accused of leaking the state secret and its owners were about to be arrested. I shared the details with Goenka and he explained the possible reasons:
- One Upwomanship between the two daughters-in-law — Shanthibhai’s and another Harivallabhdas’ DIL, who was considered close to Solanki
- There was a simmering rivalry between the local business group member, Parul Jaikishan, and Shanthibhai’s DIL. The Jaikishans (Footnotes 3) were also considered close to Solanki. I spoke to my journalist friend, Sheela Bhat, who had written about this and confirmed them too (Indian Express, 24-Feb-2020)
Goenka in Ahmedabad
Goenka asked me about the way to tame Solanki, who was crossing the line and had the support of Rajiv. We planned to save Shah from getting arrested. We decided to publish the same circular in IE-owned Gujarati papers — Loksatta, Jansatta. This would challenge the government. Goenka, the brave lion decided to up the ante by visiting Ahmedabad on the same day. It would be a direct challenge to the government.
We reached Ahmedabad airport. IE group was there to welcome us. We skipped their car and came out of the airport. Shah’s family was ready with their Mercedes car too. Goenka, in general, hesitates to get into swanky cars. He got into a Maruthi van. It was peak summer in Gujarat. The 81-year-old Goenka endured all that and reached the Gujarat Samachar office. He saw all the burnt places and consoled their family too. He never rejoiced in the fall of a competitor. This stance was against the norm. There was no TV at that time. The whole media was waiting anxiously to see the next course of action. They were wondering whether Solanki would arrest us.
Is it required to insult us this much?
Then, we went to the IE office, discussed the local situation, and came to the airport to return to Mumbai. There were two daily flights between Gujarat & Mumbai — one in the morning & the other one in the evening. It so happened that Solanki was going to Mumbai on the same flight. Goenka wanted to challenge him. We were seated next to each other and I was introduced to Solanki. Solanki paid his namaskars to Goenka and said, “Goenkaji, do you have to insult like this? You could have simply asked us not to arrest Shanthibhai”. The Lion replied, “We don’t ask anything from people who are in power. All we know is to publish it in the paper. That’s all”.
Footnotes:
- In 2007, with the help of local law enforcement, the local politicians burnt the office of Dinakaran newspaper in Madurai. Three people were murdered. Since it involved the family of then CM, no one invoked the “Press Freedom”
- In Gujarat, since the 1960s, communal conflicts were happening (Religious riots and electoral politics in India by Sriya Iyer — Anand Srivastava, https://ftp.iza.org.dp9522.pdf). Congress indulged in minority appeasement and pseudo-secular politics. It led to the growth of the BJP in the state:
a. Won 9 assembly seats in the 1980 elections
b. Won 11 seats in 1985
c. Partnered with Janata Dal and won 67 seats in the 1990s elections
d. Won 51% of the votes in the 1991 parliamentary elections, secured 20 out of 25 seats, and became the # 1 party in the state
e. It captured 121 out of 182 seats in the 1995 elections. Since then, there was a steady decline for the Congress party. This trend continued throughout the country
- The Jaikishans was instrumental in constructing the World’s largest cricket stadium, Motera cricket ground in Ahmedabad
- Goenka recollected an old incident. In the 1930s, the IE printing press at Chennai was destroyed in a fire. Then, the editor and partner of “The Hindu” newspaper, K.Srinivasan, had asked Goenka to use their unused printing press to publish his paper. Goenka was lamenting about the absence of such marvellous people in the field
