Lalit Surjan Straddled the Worlds of Journalism and Activism With Elan

When I moved to Chhattisgarh to head the regional operations of a development organisation 20 years ago, one of the first people I met was Lalit Surjan, the chief editor of Deshbandhu, a prominent central Indian Hindi newspaper.

It was an unsurprising choice since Surjan was the first port of call for most visitors to the city and a regular host to those he befriended and charmed with his dignified grace, his strong sense of justice and his breadth of understanding on a wide range of societal issues. I was no exception, and in the years that I lived there, I had the privilege of benefiting from both the generosity of his insights and working with him on a number of issues.

His office was the Raipur version of an archetypical fin de siècle Parisian literary salon with artists, writer, poets, journalists, politicos and an assorted mix of do-gooders, including rookie jholawalas like me, always in attendance. A man of old-world charm and values, he would greet everyone who came in with a personal warmth that was inimitable.

Ever the gracious host, a cup of tea and whatever was the seasonal savoury for the time of year would greet visitors, as a perfect accompaniment to the conversation that would flow. A true cosmopolitan in a provincial town, Surjan was a quintessential raconteur, sharp-witted, and has a way with words which came from his interest in all matters literary.

Contribution to journalism and activism

Deshbandhu was started in 1959 by his father the legendary Hindi journalist Mayaram Surjan, who was the first editor of Navbharat.  Lalit Surjan entered journalism in 1971 and took over Deshbandhu in 1995 after his father’s demise. He built an institution that was uncompromisingly secular, searing in its social critique and stood resolutely with the marginalised, continuing the foundation values on which Deshbandhu was started. Under his stewardship, Deshbandhu grew to eight editions, a Hindi eveninger, Highway Channel, and the monthly literary journal Akshar Parv.

Surjan ran a tight ship at Deshbandhu which at one time boasted not just one of the finest editorial teams anywhere in the Hindi belt but also an enviable newsroom. This freed up time for him to incubate the Mayaram Surjan Foundation, and the Jan Darshan Media Centre, the first video documentation unit in Chhattisgarh.

If the newspaper was the outlet for his searing intellect, the Foundation had been the vehicle for his activist zeal for the last quarter of his life. The breadth of his involvement in social causes ranged from reviving traditional water bodies of Chhattisgarh to universal adult literacy. Surjan had a lifelong association with the All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO) and the Progressive Writers Association.

As an elder statesman, he actively guided many initiatives including the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament (CNDP), the total literacy campaign in the state, and the local chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). Our paths crossed often and it was not unusual to meet him in a meeting convened by the chief minister on media freedom on one day of the week, and find him speaking to communities on the banks of the Sheonath river against the privatisation of the river on another day.

His greatest despair was the rupture in the secular fabric of India that began with the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 and the subsequent untrammelled rise of the Right in politics and society. Irrespective of the government in power, he remained a fierce critic of the growing communalism and earned the grudging respect of those he opposed. He chronicled with alarm the decline of the media in India in his book Tum Kahan ho Joney Vaker and produced another volume of essays Sharanarthi Shivir main Vivah Geet.

Our friendship was marred for a few years in large measure due to my callow partisanship in what was a succession issue that was his personal prerogative to decide on. His magnanimity ensured that when we were back in touch there was never a mention of the bitterness of the intervening years and what he perhaps would have perceived as a personal betrayal.

Despite his failing health, he consented to join the board of an organisation I had co-founded in Chhattisgarh and provided critical inputs on negotiating the increasingly challenging policy spaces in public health.

Raipur has lost its finest editorial voice, a relentless torch bearer of Nehruvian secularism, a friend of many social movements and a relentless champion of the marginalised. His morality clarity will be hard to replace. Surjan passed away at a hospital in New Delhi on December 2. He was 74.

Biraj Patnaik is the executive director of the National Foundation for India.

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