Courage and commitment

Nikhil Chakravartty, 1913-1998.

S. VISWAM

NIKHIL CHAKRAVARTTY was no mere individual but an institution. He made friends instantly and those who became his friends remained so for life. Nikhilda, as he was affectionately called, was variously described as a phenomenon, a titan, the most seasoned voice in Indian journalism, an undeclared social rebel and a revolutionary in thought and action.

Nikhil Chakravartty, who died on June 27 at the age of 84 (he was born on November 3, 1913), was all these and a bit more, because his qualities as a human being were as heartwarming and praiseworthy as those which marked him out as a journalist of rare distinction.

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New Delhi was his home for the last four decades and more and he occupied in its political and intellectual life, not to mention its media scene, a place of dominance. He commanded the esteem of fellow journalists, politicians, civil servants, bureaucrats, teachers, lawyers and trade unionists, all of whom felt drawn to him. On any given day, Nikhilda would have interacted with and offered advice to an amazing variety of people. He had the remarkable gift of making his acquaintances feel that they were his friends and each of his friends feel that that person enjoyed his confidence more than others.

One was often struck by the similarities in the personalities of Nikhilda and G.P. (G. Parthasarathy). They were contemporaries and were, for many years, part of the capital's political scene, sharing their own friendship with another towering intellectual, P.N. Haksar. For someone who has had occasion to obtain an insight into their styles - both of thinking and action - it was a remarkable experience to come across signs of excellence in their very approaches to life and work. Both G.P. and Nikhilda were reserved, soft-spoken, low-profile, self-effacing persons, but each was effective and highly productive in whatever he did. Nikhilda and G.P. were modest by temperament but they had nothing to be modest about in their performance in their chosen fields, G.P. in diplomacy and Nikhilda in journalism.

Nikhilda combined in himself so many attributes and virtues; on occasion it was easier to identify him with his interests such as trade unionism, teaching, environment, population-related issues, economic development and science and technology than with journalism. He was well-informed on them and kept himself abreast of the developments in each of these disciplines. He was probably the only columnist who not only wrote for a large number of publications, but could also deal with subjects as varied as politics, history, science, religion and ecology, all in a single week. And then, he wrote with understanding on different regions of India.

What distinguished Nikhilda from many other members of the media fraternity was his unobtrusive but skilful use of journalism as a tool in the furtherance of political, social and economic causes dear to him. The causes dear to him grew with him, so much so that he was simultaneously involved in a number of organisations devoted to various pursuits. Nikhilda's all-consuming passion was to propel India towards a secular, just and humane social order. In his writings, he focussed on this but neither preached nor pontificated. Rather, he indicated patiently and repeatedly the direction in which free India should move to give its citizens the full benefits of democracy, freedom and justice.

For a man who displayed in his writings an extraordinary passion for and commitment to these attributes of the democratic and civilised way of life, Nikhilda was incredibly tolerant of the opposite point of view; on occasion he even allowed his own assessment to be influenced by the merit in a view contrary to his own. His writings were marked by a sophisticated but subtle style, and although he was unsparing in his criticism, he was never hurtful. As in life, he was always gentle and fair in his writing.

Unlike many of today's senior journalists, Nikhilda strayed into journalism from politics. Once a journalist, he stuck to his new vocation on account of the opportunities for public service it offered. In fact, journalism happened to be the link between himself and his brief political career as a full-time activist of the Communist Party of India. He represented the party's organ, People's Age as a correspondent in Calcutta. His incisive reports on the Bengal famine and the anti-imperialist upsurge in Bengal still make fascinating reading. He shifted from Calcutta to Delhi after his wife, Renu Roy, a niece of Dr. B.C. Roy, was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952, and he continued his association with New Age (formerly People's Age).

He shot into prominence in 1959 after he scooped through the India Press Agency - a feature news service which he launched in 1957 and which is still doing well - the story of the shady operations of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's personal assistant, M.O. Mathai. This was possibly the first exposure of corruption in high places in free India. Mainstream, the journal he founded in 1962, soon came to be recognised as the vehicle for left-wing political opinion and a medium for the espousal of social concerns.

Nikhilda's commitment to the journalism of courage came to the fore when he wrote fearlessly in Mainstream against the Emergency, even risking the publication's closure, at a time when censorship inhibited free expression. Nikhilda severed his links with the CPI in 1978 but remained steadfast in his commitment to Left politics, which he thought was the appropriate instrument for social change in the Indian context.

The fact that Nikhilda was once a card-carrying member of the Communist Party of India inhibited an objective assessment of his writings in the initial stages. New Delhi's media environment has usually been extraordinarily and often needlessly sensitive to the political predilections of senior reporters and commentators, and tended to assess their journalistic output through the ideological prism, in the process marking individuals into categories. However, the independence and fairness and the respect for moral values and intellectual honesty that characterised Nikhilda's writings soon won for him the unreserved esteem of his colleagues. His analysis of events was always dispassionate, his assessments were fair and reasonable. His reportage was unblemished by malice or vindictiveness. His professional success and eminence were in part due to his ability to retain confidences and in part due to his loyalty to his sources.

Nikhilda brought to bear on his reportage of any event a perception and comprehension that transcended narrow ideological influences. He came to be regarded over the years as the conscience-keeper of the profession and of society and as the natural leader of that section of the media which remained committed to press freedom and morality in public and political life. This in turn made him the natural choice for the chairmanship of the Prasar Bharati Board, to which the autonomy and independence of the electronic media was entrusted after an uphill struggle to free it from government control. Nikhilda's contribution to that struggle is an inspiring example of fierce commitment to professional independence.

As a journalist, Nikhilda was beyond compare; as a human being, he enriched the lives of those who came in contact with him through the basic goodness in him. It was this virtue that made him so lovable.

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