A brief news item from the past tucked away at the bottom of the page in this newspaper in the archival section ‘50 Years Ago’ caught my attention recently.
On that day – November 2, 1972 -- Pothan Joseph, journalist extraordinaire, passed away in Bengaluru.
Joseph was that rare newsman who inspired generations of journalists by his extraordinary work spanning 20 years before and 20 years after Independence. He launched or developed at least 25 newspapers in India. When The Printers Mysore Ltd decided to launch Deccan Herald in June 1948, the nationally famous Joseph became the founding editor. The inaugural issue of the newspaper carried his editorial and his phenomenally popular column ‘Over a Cup of Tea’. This continued for nearly a decade, his longest tenure in any newspaper.
Running the first full-fledged English daily in Bengaluru, Joseph overcame the teething troubles of a new paper, giving it solid grounding to press on. He was dynamic, keeping an ear to the ground, rubbing shoulders with the high and mighty as well as the hoi polloi. He played his part in India’s freedom struggle, working with the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Annie Besant, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Sarojini Naidu. His column ‘Over a Cup of Tea’ was a political column that ran for four decades (with brief disappearances) in successive newspapers where he worked.
The column, which ran in papers including the Hindustan Times, Indian Express and Deccan Herald was a big hit with the ruling class as well as the common reader. It had style and substance, yet there was a biblical simplicity to his writing and had a degree of impact. According to veteran journalist and author TJS George, there had been nothing like this in journalism. “It became a heady brew, loved and respected, occasionally imitated but never equalled.”
George’s informative and charming biography titled “Lessons in Journalism: The Story of Pothan Joseph,” is also the story of India’s nationalist press and the crucial role it played during the freedom struggle and in newly independent India.
Joseph was a remarkable champion of a free press and fiercely guarded editorial freedom, even demanding that editors support the news staff and refrain from encroaching on their freedom. Much before workers’ unions came to be formed, he demanded that journalism be recognised as a learned calling and fought for the rights of journalists.
Among the many newspapers that Joseph worked for was the fiercely nationalist paper, the Indian National Herald, the Bombay Chronicle, Hyderabad Bulletin, Capital, Indian Daily Telegraph, Indian Daily Mail, Star of India and Voice of India.
In 1942, he was offered the top job at the Dawn by Jinnah and, surprisingly, Joseph accepted the offer to be the paper’s first Editor, based in New Delhi.
When asked about the change of loyalty from the nationalist camp to the Muslim League, his riposte was that journalists were hacks who did someone else’s bidding, his daughter Anna Varki notes in her memoir ‘One Woman’s India’. “My father was not for Partition of the country, but he believed there was a case for the Muslims.” For him, joining the Dawn was akin to a lawyer who argued for whatever brief was in front of him, she adds.
Mahatma Gandhi was apparently shaken by his move; he wrote a letter. “My dear Pothan, why have you left us? I am a poor man. I need to read what you write, so don’t fail to send me a copy of Dawn.”
Another anecdote Varki shares is that her father felt that a lot said by Jinnah for the cause of the Muslims was not given adequate publicity; lesser so in the national newspapers, which never published Jinnah’s speeches or comments.
Between changing many jobs, Joseph did a brief stint as the first Principal Information Officer of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, and had a fling at politics after being elected as member of the Bombay Municipal Corporation.
While he was Editor of Deccan Herald, he led the Indian delegation to the first World Congress of Journalists in 1956. Two years later, he left DH. He edited Swarajya for a few years and enjoyed a simple retired life with family and friends until he passed away at the age of 80.
Tributes came in thick and fast, including from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who praised his contributions to journalism and history. Deccan Herald carried a large photograph of Joseph on its front page and a black bordered editorial calling Joseph a phenomenon and stating that “the thought that our teacher is no more reduces us almost to tears.” He was awarded the Padma Bhushan posthumously.
The doyen of Indian journalism died 50 years ago but memories of his writings and outstanding career live on.
(The writer is a veteran journalist)