From powerhouse to ignominy: How National Herald and Congress sank together

Few would know that a ramshackle building at a corner of Quaiserbagh in Lucknow once symbolised the political powerhouse of not only Uttar Pradesh but also of the country. The building was called Herald House. It published three dailies — National Herald in English, Navjivan in Hindi and Quami Awaz in Urdu. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru used to walk the corridors of Herald House to meet legendary editor M Chalapathi Rau. VK Krishna Menon was Rau’s personal friend and was often sighted confabulating with the editor popularly known as MC. Those were not the days of big media houses. National Herald acquired an iconic status in the freedom struggle and was known to be representing people’s voice. In fact, the Congress was essentially the people’s voice then. [caption id=“attachment_2536322” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sonia Gandhi (left) with Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] For leaders like Nehru, Govind Ballabh Pant, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai to Lal Bhadaur Shastri, National Herald was no less important than any newspaper published from Delhi or Chennai. And MC was unsparing and even trenchant in his criticism of the functioning of the government. His criticism was taken as the guiding light to steer statecraft. Across the political spectrum, National Herald was considered to be the most credible and trustworthy newspaper for its fiercely independent editorial views despite its overt association with a political party. The scenario was too good to last. With Indira Gandhi’s ascent in the political horizon, there was an attempt to wrest the editorial control of the newspapers, published by an entity called Associated Journals Limited (AJL). For the first time, Umashankar Dixit, known as a retainer of the Nehru-Gandhi family, became the managing director. A mild-mannered Dixit was no match to the gruffly and tough MC. Dixit later went on to become Union Home minister while AJL’s management passed onto one of the most dubious characters of Indira Gandhi’s regime — Yashpal Kapoor. A pugnacious and crafty Kapoor checkmated MC at every step. Even at the height of Emergency, MC retained his editorial neutrality and junked news extolling virtues of Sanjay Gandhi and Indira Gandhi. MC ultimately left in disgust. Since the huge property that housed AJL at the heart of Lucknow, Kapoor found fourth estate far less attractive than the real estate. In the meantime, the National Herald also started its Delhi edition and got land allotted in Delhi. In Lucknow and Delhi, Yashpal Kapoor started building on the real estate and renting out premises on the pretext of making the newspapers economically self-sustaining. Ironically, as AJL’s real estate grew, employees were getting short-changed. Salaries started getting delayed for months on end. For the first time in a newspaper industry, VRS was introduced to prune the staff. National Herald, Navjivan and Qaumi Awaz were starved to a shameful existence. Hundreds of employees and journalists were left to fend for themselves in gross violation of the same very labour laws whose protection Rahul Gandhi now swears by. Apparently, AJL’s journey to ignominy is coterminous with the decline of the Congress. National Herald, a powerful institution and representative of people’s voice, was subsequently reduced to the status of real estate. And the family that once represented the best traditions of the Congress was caught in litigation over the acquisition of buildings that were built on the ruins of Herald House.