Sankarshan Thakur, Editor of The Telegraph, Passes Away

New Delhi: Veteran journalist and editor Sankarshan Thakur, who was editor of The Telegraph, passed away on Monday (September 8) morning. He was 63 years old.

Thakur took over as editor of the newspaper in 2023, before which he served as the newspaper's national affairs editor.

He went to school at St. Xavier’s, Patna and St. Xavier’s, Delhi. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Hindu College, Delhi University, in 1983. Soon after, he became a journalist, joining Sunday magazine in 1984. He also worked at The Indian Express and Tehelka.

Thakur has written extensively about Bihar and Kashmir. His books include Subaltern Saheb, a political biography of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Single Man, a biography of Nitish Kumar, and The Brothers Bihari, a political diptych on Lalu and Nitish.

In 2001, Thakur received the Prem Bhatia Award for excellence in political journalism.

Thakur was also a keen painter, and often shared pictures of his art on social media.

Work.
In progress pic.twitter.com/pBk031V5zO

— Sankarshan Thakur (@SankarshanT) October 28, 2022

After his passing, journalists and others from across the country shared their condolences and spoke of the respect and admiration Thakur commanded. Many of their tributes referred to Thakur as an editor "with a spine", who encouraged young reporters and whose writings captured the essence of his subjects.