BG Verghese: Gentle in manner, but firm in his views

BG Verghese, who died on December 30 at the age of 87, was one of the most towering journalists of India. The Magsaysay Award winner was known for his courage, fair play, belief in the independence of the press and adherence to professional ethics and standards.

He began his career as an assistant editor at The Times of India soon after he returned on graduating from the University of Cambridge. He rose in his career and became the editor of two leading national dailies - The Hindustan Times and later, The Indian Express.

In both, he shone as an editor, where he built his reputation as an independent-minded editor-- a man of integrity and character. In the mid-1970s he wrote an editorial titled, "Kanchenjunga Here We Come," attacking Indira Gandhi’s choosing to merge Sikkim with India. Gandhi simply did not like the edit. Soon after, Verghese lost the job at the HT. In the wilderness, he worked with the Gandhi Peace Foundation. He was Gandhian in many ways; he worked for the downtrodden, Dalits, tribals, children and all those neglected by the society.

Then he joined the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi’s premier think-tank, and wrote several books after diligent research that he was famous for.

One of his seminal books was titled, Waters of Hope. His view was that if waters of South Asia’s rivers are used by all countries in the region, then one-fifth of humanity in this part of the globe will no longer have to live in poverty.

He loved India’s Northeast  and wrote about its neglect by the rest of the country; leading to the alienation of its people, anger and insurgency there.  His book called, Resurgent North-East, became an authentic study of the region’s problems.

While he worked at the Hindustan Times he adopted a village called Chhatera, near Delhi, deputing reporters to cover how this small village was undergoing change bit by bit. This was the beginning of his campaign for emphasis on development journalism. No wonder, he is known as the father of development journalism in India.

People were central to his thinking. He emerged as a civil rights activist and stood against the rigours of the system.

After a gap, he took over as the editor of The Indian Express, providing a rare kind of leadership to the paper. Working with him, I always found him gentle in manner but firm in his views which he expressed without fear and favour. He did not mind diverse opinions. He never stopped a story from finding the light of the day simply because he did not agree, so long as it was factually true.

He, however, never liked opinions being mixed with facts in reporting. Lately, he was critical of the TV channels attempting to sensationalise news and literally telecasting opinions mixed with facts.

He was saddened with the recent phenomenon of paid news, which he said reflected proprietary greed which would cost the press its credibility.

He took active interest in the Editors Guild; always standing firmly against any move that encroached on the freedom of the press; or anything that violated professional ethics.

He always lived a simple life, drove a small car and washed his own shirts.

He will be missed.

(As told to Prerna Singh.)