Palakkad: The Organiser Weekly, launched its circulation campaign for Kerala in Palakkad on Sunday. The inauguration was held at Kerala Prant Samanvay Baithak, the annual coordination meeting of various RSS-inspired organisations, which was organised at Vyas Vidya Peeth.
In the inaugural ceremony, Prajna Pravah national convenor Shri J Nandakumar presented a copy of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav special edition of Organiser Weekly to veteran journalist P Narayanan, former chief editor of Janmabhumi daily. Shri Narayanan was the chief correspondent of Organiser Weekly for more than three decades.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri J Nandakumar reminisced about the first editor of Organiser Weekly, Shri A R Nair who was a native of Palakkad. RSS Kerala Prant Sanghchalak Adv KK Balram, Prant Karyavah P N Easwaran, and Organiser Chief News Coordinator Ganesh Radhakrishnan were also present.
The Organiser Weekly circulation campaign will officially start on September 1. The 20-day long circulation drive will end on September 20. The state unit of the Organiser Readers’ Forum has decided to observe September 4 as ‘Organiser Day’. On September 4, a state-wide massive circulation drive will be organised at various places to ensure the maximum number of subscriptions on the day.
During this period, Organiser Weekly can be subscribed at Rs. 1450., an offer price which is exclusively available for readers in Kerala. Along with the annual subscription, a copy of a book titled ‘Being Hindu’ worth Rs 350 will be available for free.
Speaking on occasion, RSS Prant Sah Karyavah Shri K P Radhakrishnan gave an introduction to the history of Organiser Weekly and its struggle for freedom of expression and independence of media. Launched in July, 1947, the Organiser has overcome several hurdles and faced challenges in the forms of state censorship and witch hunt.
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During partition, the then Congress Government used the iron hand to curb the reporting on these sensitive issues and KR Malkani, the second editor of Organiser, was called to explain himself to the Central Press Advisory Committee which he again protested through an editorial calling it ‘official acts of harassment’. This led to the imposition of censorship which was challenged in the Supreme Court by Organiser on April 17, 1950. On June 5, finally, the Court declared the relevant section of the East Punjab Public Safety Act unconstitutional which was described by the Organiser “A Great Event”. It was the first time a media organisation fought for the freedom of speech in court and obtained an order ensuring the freedom of the press under Article 18. Interestingly, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru moved the first amendment to the constitution to overcome this judgement in the Organiser case and curtail the legally established Freedom of Speech.
Another break was imposed on the publication during the Emergency in 1975 for exposing the establishment’s political manipulations, corruption and blatant abuse of power. Still, the revival was made possible after difficult times with the support of the masses.
Despite the incessant efforts to scuttle the voice of the nationalist weekly, since 1947, it has stood for the core values of journalism for nation and has continued its journey to organise the society and thought process for the national reconstruction. Therefore, the post-Independent journey of Bharat is inseparable from the constant march of Organiser.
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