Chalapathi Rau: A Doyen among Journalists

It is difficult to accept the fact that he who possessed one of the most lucid and articulate intelligences of our times and carried on nearly half a century of incessant creative work in the field of journalism and who had considerable force and authority of character has died in a teashop in Delhi and that his body was recognised and taken by his friends only 24 hours later from the morgue. M. Chalapathi Rau’s career reminds one of that French writer, Henri Murgert best known for his “Scenes of Bohemian Life” in Paris and his words aptly apply to this doyen of Indian journalism, popularly known by his initials “M. C.”

“Bohemia is the probationary period of artistic life; it is the preface to the Academy, the Hotel-Dieu or the Morgue.”

The last fitted in tightly, but fairly the first, as three universities had conferred honorary degrees on him for his services to the world of letters.

Like Dr. Johnson and James Joyce before him, M. C. disregarded all power and authority and again, following their footsteps, even when he made money, he made no sensible use of it for himself. But quite unlike them, he ever remained a bachelor. In a chastened form probably, the image of Bohemian remains part of the pattern of a literary life even now, whether it be, in Paris or London, New York or New Delhi. Though M.C. has been a reliable and picturesque Bohemian for a good many years, throwing in his weight on the side of sweetness and light, it has never seemed quite good enough for a man so splendidly equipped. Perhaps, his admirers expected too much from him. Of course, he had been the Editor of the “National Herald”, since even before Independence. He was the first President of the Federation of Working Journalists for several years, and a committee member of several international organisations, such as the UNESCO Conference on Journalism Training, the Initiating Committee of the International Press Institute and the Organising Committee of the International Conference of Journalists.

M. C. was a member of the Press Commission and its Report has now become a kind of Bible about the press. The Commission, presided over by Justice Rajadhyaksha, began an educative process and did work of lasting value for an industry, which has been the least organised. To list his activities, besides journalism, is no easy task, for he was a member of the Nehru Memorial Trust, was on the jury of the Nehru Award for International Understanding and on the Executive Council of the Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was a delegate to the UNESCO General Con­ferences and to the UN General Assembly. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in recognition of his journalistic eminence in the country, but being a fighter all his life, he returned it feeling that acquiescence in such official rewards might encroach on his true spirit of freedom.

Press freedom was the very breath of his life and he was convinced that the essence of the problem lay in steering clear of the Scylla of Government restrictions and the Charybdis of proprietorial limitations. Freedom of the press is not only freedom from certain restraints but freedom for certain objectives. Journalism, it has to be noted, is not only craftsmanship but creative activity, and hence has the dual role of aiming at reporting news as well as interpreting it in a creative way. In short, it is literature or history in a hurry. As an operation in ideas it has to be as free as possible from limitations of industrialism. M. C. has always expressed these ideals not only in his editorials but in all forums, where press freedom has been discussed. He believed that the techniques of journalism are only ancillary to the freedom of expression. He has advised the journalist to come to some compromise with the conditions of industrialism, but he should be given facilities, apart from the capacity to react, to interpret, and to communicate. Being a technician only in part, the journalist has to be a free man, but responsible too. The greater his freedom, the greater his responsibility.

Inspired with the needs of the working journalists, he had ever fought for their rights as creative artists but never failed to impress on them the importance of striving for the liberty of the press as also for maintaining its high traditions and ethical standards. This demands eternal vigilance involving a constant struggle for balance. As there can be no perfect pattern, both industrial conditions and the content of freedom being subject to change, M. C. had ever kept his head high, keeping a perfect draw between the two apparent irreconcilables by his editorial skill. Journalism is a profession and not a job, and if it is to be a worthwhile and useful profession it has to survive the assaults of commercialisation. He has always felt that in spite of the trade unionism which has been taken as a part of a search for security and fair working conditions for journalists, it remains a profession. Let us hear this doyen of journalism speaking on its duties and responsibilities:

“The press is also a public service and its operation is governed by public interest, in spite of the hired journalist being partly in the entertainment business and partly in the advertisment business. If freedom of the press is essentially journalistic freedom the test of social purpose becomes important particularly in a developing society. The function of the newspaper has been changing along with the nature of society, just as the manufacture of a newspaper is changing according to the changing economic pattern. While the newspaper industry is not able to keep pace with either technological or journalistic change, modern knowledge is outpacing editorial organisation. In developing societies, the press has to serve the cause of social change, apart from meeting the deep social need for discussion. The journalist has to be kept free from internal and external pressures. The position of the editor is the crux of editorial freedom.”

More than any set of formulae and standards for measuring merit, M. C. had always been pleading for an intellectual and moral basis for support of codes of conduct. Steeped in classical lore, he had imbibed the noble spirit of Greece and Rome, and with his Masters degree in literature and law, he was a walking Academy by himself, as he strictly followed Carlyle’s dictum that the “true university of these days is a collection of books.” It is this preference for intellectual integrity that made him too conscientious for partisanship and too scrupulous for professional success.

Not endowed with a strong constitution, his body was taxed by the sedentary habits to which life at the desk habituates one, and he had no recreation to recuperate his failing health. But ever cheerful, he had a sunny smile and a friendly word for all who came to him for help and advice; and “Argus” by his personal experience can vouch for the fact that he who approached him felt comforted or fortified. M.C.’s suggestion to the poacher that he was in the ‘Forties to turn gamekeeper, as he could no more maintain his family on the monthly pittance from journalism was timely He was persuaded to accept the Government service when M. C., along with other advice, quoted his favourite poet John Davidson:

“I mean that having children and wife,
with thirty bob on which to come and go,
Isn’t dancing to the tabor and the fife;
When it doesn’t make you drink, by Heaven, it makes you think,
And notice curious items about life.”