Many stalwarts recently left this world for their heavenly abode. One of them had long association with Odisha. This writer has a personal weakness for him because of close personal association over a few decades. We are talking of Kuldip Nayar, noted journalist, author, diplomat and parliamentarian. He was born in Sialkot in 1924. He studied at Murray College in Sialkot and procured an llB from law College in lahore before joining the Medill School of Journalism in Northwestern University, Evanston, US, and acquired an MSc in journalism. He did odd jobs on board a ship and in the US to sustain himself. In his own language, “I did not want to be a journalist. I had passed my llB exam from lahore and wanted to practise law in my hometown, Sialkot, but soon after I had taken the final examination, India was divided. I travelled across the border from Sialkot to Amritsar, hoping to return when things settled down. But that never happened; and so, I came to Delhi in search of a job. I could have been a clerk, but that was not what I wanted. At the time, an Urdu newspaper owned by a Muslim businessman was looking for a Hindu journalist. I fulfilled the proprietor’s requirements because he wanted his newspaper employee to also teach mathematics and English to his two children. The newspaper’s name was Anjam (the end). In a way, I started my journalistic career from the end. I like to say, ‘My Agaz (beginning) was from Anjam ….” He worked as the joint editor of this newspaper.
In a distinguished career spanning more than sixty years, Nayar has seen and reported it all. From his vantage point at the forefront of every groundbreaking news event, in close proximity to and close confidence of the people in power, his articles are all the more fascinating as they give us a firsthand account of historic political events along with personal insights into the motives and machinations that conspired to bring them about.
Notable amongst the books Nayar authored include ‘Between the lines’, ‘Distant Neighbours’, ‘India after Nehru’, ‘India House’, ‘Beyond the lines’ and the most readable ‘Scoop!’.
Nayar had an uncanny sense in picking up a piece of news in its embriotic form. As Sekhar Gupta recently wrote, Nayar continued to be a reporter par excellence and never effectively went to the top of the editorial rank. That was the real speciality in man, who continued to be a reporter till his last breath. His association with Gobind Ballabh Pant, lal Bahadur Shastri and others are well-known. His other work ‘In jail’ should also not to be forgotten. It gives a vivid account of the inside story of the running of the jails. His role during the Emergency and his being detained are parts of constitutional history. The petition to the Supreme Court regarding a Rajya Sabha member being a resident of the State he was representing was argued by his able brother-in-law Justice Sachar, who valiantly argued the case. Nayar would not spare anyone in his columns and was even capable enough of quoting a private conversation to be the basis of certain inferences in the public domain.
Talking about journalism, Nayar said, “In 1975, during the Emergency, Mrs Indira Gandhi detained me without trial because I wrote her a letter to point out that censorship was not consistent with democracy. Her hard-line response was a measure of the significant role that journalists could play in public affairs. It is sometimes said that a journalist’s role is to inform, record, comment and sometimes entertain. All the above have been true for journalists of my generation, but at the time of Independence and afterwards, we were also cast in the exalted role of interpreting policy to the public and reporting the public’s reaction back to the policy-makers. In part, this was because of the limited resources available to the mass media. In 1947, television had not been invented. The medium of communication was confined to radio and newspapers.”
Nayar was not a reporter stuck to his desk. He travelled widely, except in the last few years. His father-in-law Bhimsen Sachar was the Governor of Odisha. The familiarity of Nayar with Odisha continued to flourish through his friendship with Surendranath Dwibedi and Rabi Ray. It is commonly believed that he was one of those who lobbied for Rabi Ray to become the Speaker of lok Sabha. He continued to represent the Times london for 25 years. His syndicated column appeared in over eighty publications around the world. He was a voice to be heard and not to be cramped down. His scoop regarding the CBI report on the Biju Patnaik Government is well-known. He was a man larger than life.
The writer will miss the meaningful interactions during lunch hours at the Gym Khanna Club or at the India International Centre. Nothing could be put in better words than his description of 30th January, 1948. “I was only three-month-old in Anjam, an Urdu Daily appearing from Billimaran in Old Delhi; which was also the span of my career in journalism. It was the only job which I could land quickly. Although I had a law degree from lahore my forte was a degree in Persian and the knowledge of Urdu. I was then twenty-two. Thrilled to be made a reporter-cum-subeditor without any experience, I would hang around the news agency ticker in the office and marvel at how quickly and relentlessly it belched out words. The afternoon of 30 January was one such occasion. I was near the ticker. A bell rang – it was a newsflash. This was the device used in those days to draw the attention of the news desk to any unexpected and important story. ‘Gandhi shot!’ were the words that caught my eye. I felt as if my heart had stopped beating. The whole world seemed to collapse around me. What would we do without himij A colleague had a motorbike. He said he would drop me to Birla House where Mahatma Gandhi lived. It was the biggest story of my fledgling career and I knew I was not equipped for it. I had failed in the journalism course at lahore; as I had in Urdu, an optional subject in the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree course. Gandhi could not die. He was all that we had, to check the chaos Partition had left in its wake. I was praying fervently as the motorbike sped towards Birla House. I recalled Gandhi’s words, saying that he would die after winning Independence. Sitting on the pillion of the motorbike, many things came before my eyes: saying goodbye to my parents in my hometown Sialkot, joining a caravan of people trudging towards India, and crossing the border with just Rs.120 in my pocket. There was no unusual activity on the street. Daryaganj, which divided old Delhi from New Delhi, was crowed as always. Further up, traffic was thin. The roads beyond India Gate were practically deserted – as they always were at the time. The wooden entrance gate to Birla House was shut but I managed to enter after showing them an identity card from my paper. I did not like the look of the place. It was desolate. Something pierced through me when I heard the chant ‘Gandhi Amar Rahe’ (long live Gandhi) – an invocation after the death of a great man.”
Such was the veteran Kuldip Nayar. There are several reasons to miss him in the days of upheaval in the country. May his soul rest in peace and may he continue to inspire us!
(The writer, a Senior Advocate, is a former All India Service officer, a former diplomat, a former editor, a former President of Orissa High Court Bar Association and a former Advocate General of Odisha. jayantdas@hotmail.com )