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Our Editor: a remembrance

Kasturi Srinivasan: The Hindu remained his first and last love.

Today, June 22, 2009, commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the death of one of The Hindu ’s great Editors, Kasturi Srinivasan. Born on August 7, 1887 at Coimbatore, he was near or at the helm of the newspaper between 1905 — when his father Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, a lawyer and freedom fighter who became a great Editor, bought the newspaper — and 1959. Leading the newspaper through a stirring phase in the freedom struggle and the first twelve years of Independence, Kasturi Srinivasan helped set new standards for independent, factual, and fair-minded journalism in India. Two days after he died at the age of 71 (there being no issue of the newspaper on June 23, 1959), The Hindu paid this tribute in a leader:

Mr. Kasturi Srinivasan, whose passing away is so widely and deeply mourned today, has left his mark on many fields of public life in India. Not only did he champion the great cause of Indian freedom but throughout his life he upheld others of hardly less importance to the nation. The innumerable tributes to his memory that we have received, and some of which we publish, bear testimony to the public recognition of his invaluable services. Running like a connecting thread all through his life and many-sided activities was, as President Rajendra Prasad has pointed out, utter sincerity of purpose. Once he made up his mind about the credentials of any person or the worthiness of any undertaking, he did not hesitate to come out with the utmost possible encouragement. With this generosity was coupled a sense of fairness and consideration for others even though divided from them on the political or other issues that came up for decision so often during his lifetime.

Indeed, this fairness to friends and foes alike and a serene dignity and restraint that he exhibited at moments of crisis were the great qualities that he displayed as Editor of The Hindu. These were precisely the results of his training under his father, that great Editor who built up those traditions of impartiality and objectivity forever associated with this paper. To Mr. Srinivasan’s work for the cause of the Indian Press in general, discerning critics pay tributes in our news columns today. But it is no exaggeration to say that The Hindu remained his first and last love. He identified his life completely with the paper’s and, like his father again, dedicated himself to its service. During his wise and far-seeing stewardship, The Hindu has expanded in many directions and now enjoys the distinction of being one of the best informed and best organised of modern newspapers. Mr. Srinivasan was solely responsible for this phenomenal growth.

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