Hriday Narayan Dixit
Journalism is a concise but committed work. It inculcates a civilised conduct in the society through proper information. The nectar of all sensitive works in the Bharatiya context is Sanskriti (culture).
Mahatma Gandhi intervened in the history through direct action programmes, politics of public participation and his journalism. In all these endeavours the root was culture. He started publishing a news paper from South Africa, ‘Indian Opinion’. In the first addition itself he clearly wrote about the objectives of the news paper. He says, “The people who came here and settled down at the young age did not get a chance to know about the history and greatness of our motherland. For them I am running this newspaper.” The great freedom fighters like Tilak, Gokhale, Bipin Chandra Pal, Dr Ambedkar, Dr Lohia etc were active both in politics and journalism. Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay was simultaneously active in organisation building, political struggle and journalism and for his the ultimate goal of all these actions was ‘To Take nation to the Pinnacle of Supreme Glory’. Nurturing the public opinion that augments the nation is the ultimate objective of journalism; it is also true with politics. It is a different matter that there is devaluation in both the fields.
I was a student from rural area of Dhur in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh. There were atrocities of downtrodden by the anti-social elements. The actions of police forces were inhuman. I decided to encircle the police station with my fellow students. Neither party nor a flag, only Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Study and struggle went together. My name was already discussed in the college of the district. Some SFI friends contacted me and provided with some books. Their thoughts were foreign. Then, a colleague of mine associated with the Sangh introduced me to a Pracharak (RSS Full-Timer) where I got books as well as compassion. I regularly started going to the shakha. But in the rural areas my party-less agitations were at its peak. I am not sure whether such non-party movements can be considered as politics or not. At least in the present context, perhaps it is not. I was into politics of struggle without formally entering into politics.
Simultaneously, I use to write about the deficiencies in politics and society. Newspapers from Unnao and Kanpur use to publish my comments. There were many regular columns with the district level news papers. Thus, I was in politics without being in politics and was working as a journalist without formally associated with any newspaper. Around 1968, my article was published in Panchjanya. It was a delighting movement. Today both politics and journalism are short term activities, technically both of them are long term. Dr Lohia rightly called long term politics as ‘Dharma’. I became a member of Bharatiya Jan Sangh (BJS) in 1967-68. Became a member of Zilla Parishad. Wrote many secret pamphlets during the Emergency. After arrest, got a chance to contemplate for 18 months. Amidst active politics and continuous writing, I entered Legislative Assembly in 1985. I thought a legislature can change the face of his constitutency but there were no such possibilities. Of course, I could spawn an effective public opinion against the caste based discrimination and administrative atrocities. The foundation of Politics is no longer welfare of people. Politics nurtures minoritism and casteism.
In my opinion, a leader who writes cannot backtrack on his stand as his writings can be quoted at any moment. I neither travelled from journalist to politics not vice a versa. I have been active in both the fields. Annually n-number of meetings, public programmes, meeting more than hundred people on daily basis and writing 21 regular columns on monthly basis. More than 4000 articles and 25 books are published still not disappointed with journalism. The best is yet to come out The battle is still on.
(The writer a senior journalist and BJP leader in UP Legislative Council)
