A Raghavan Nair, known as AR Nair, joined as the first editor of Organiser in 1947. Hailing from Kerala, Nair had previously worked with The Straight Times in China and Bangok, The Statesman and The Hindustan Times. After his less than a year stint with Organiser, he started a newspaper, The Delhi Times, on his own in 1950. Nair worked for The Hindu before leaving Delhi in 1972. He breathed his last in Chennai on June 21, 1975. A tribute to our founding editor on the occasion of the 70 years anniversary of the publication
A Raghavan Nair
The new generation of journalists may not have heard of A Raghavan Nair. When Organiser turned fifty, many in the RSS wondered who this Nair was and how he became the editor of the paper. If one were to ask RSS members who the first editor of the journal was, most would say KR Malkani. The fact is that Malkani took over from Nair.
Hailing from a farming family of Palghat, Raghavan Nair was the first journalist from Padampalakkode Asan Thodiyil family. After completing his matriculation, he left for Delhi in search of a job. At that time Delhi was a job pasture for the unemployed youth of Kerala.
Little is known about what Nair did in his early days in Delhi, but his breakthrough in journalistic career came when he got a job in China. He worked for The Strait Times in Beijing and Bangkok. The Strait Times is now better known as a paper from Singapore. Nair worked in China till 1936 and then came back to Delhi. He joined The Statesman, owned by the British. Nair was the first Indian sub-editor in that paper. It was Nair’s command over the English language, which impressed the British editors of the paper, which was acclaimed for its high standard of the language. In fact, later Nair was even offered job in the British Information Service where he continued till 1946.
Later he left it to join The Hindustan Times as senior Editor under Devdas Gandhi. It was at this time that he married Devaki Amma who was also from Ottappalam in Palghat. That was the time the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was planning to start an English news weekly. But the biggest question was to get a good English-writing editor. Nair’s writings had been noticed by RSS leaders and they approached him to edit the news weekly.
Strictly speaking, Organiser was not an RSS paper in the beginning. RSS wanted to present the Hindu point of view or rather an Indian point of view against the demand for Partition of the country and the formation of a Muslim state Pakistan.
The first issue of Organiser came out in July 1947 under the editorship of AR Nair. The weekly continued publication till January 1948-exactly for seven months. Gandhiji was assasinated on January 30, 1948 and
consequently the RSS was banned on February 4. The Central Government confiscated the press and the office of Organiser and thus the weekly was also closed down for some time.
After the closure of Organiser, AR Nair started a paper of his own, The Delhi Times. It had the support of the Soviet Union. Started in 1950, The Delhi Times continued publication till 1960 when the Soviets withdrew support to it and extended their help to The Patriot, edited by another Malayali, Edathatta Narayanana Menon.
Nair then worked for The Hindu for a brief period and left Delhi in 1972 to settle down in Chennai. He used to write articles for various dailies till 1974. He died on June 21, 1975 just before the declaration of Emergency. Nair did not live to see the second ban on Organiser by the Congress Government at the Centre during the Emergency.
AR Nair’s son Krishna Raj followed in his father’s
footsteps and became Editor of the prestigious Economic and Political Weekly. Nair had three daughters Vijalakshmi, Malathi and Radha.
According to Krishna Raj, his father’s association with the RSS journal was purely professional and not at all ideological. “He was well-versed not only in English
language but in Hindu philosophy and Indian culture. His association with Organiser lasted only seven months.” Later, said Krishna Raj, he started his own publication.
“In fact we have not a single copy of the paper edited by our father nor have we any clippings of his writings,” said Vijaya Lakshmi who now lives in Delhi.
Krishna Raj also did not have any of his father’s
clippings. “Somehow when my mother and father moved from Delhi to Palghat his collection of clippings got
misplaced”, he added. His old associates only recall that Nair used to write on foreign affairs, and his articles were noted for his sharp observations and penetrating remarks. When Chou En Lai visited India for an Afro-Asian summit, and when Marshall Tito and Sukarno came for Non-alighned summits, Nair’s writings were especially talked about in the diplomatic circles.
The family has some old photos of Nair. “We lived in Daryaganj at that time. That house is still there, though it has since been modified,” said Vijaya Lakshmi.Organiser has travelled a long way from its inception in 1947. The RSS has also seen many ups and downs. AR Nair left his marks in journalism by editing a weekly, which became part and parcel of India’s destiny, a great achievement indeed.
(The writer is Chief of Bureau, Malayala Manorama,
New Delhi)
