Senior journalist and editor-in-chief of National Herald Neelabh Mishra passed away on February 24 in a Chennai hospital after a prolonged battle with liver failure.
In a career spanning three decades of illustrious journalistic and human rights work, Neelabh Mishra had come to be known for his secular ethos and his ability to speak truth to power, a rare combination in an editor that inspired so many. Not only was he known for his journalistic capabilities, but also his rare contributions to the human rights movement in India. Neelabh strongly believed and emphasised on constitutional values and constantly challenged the propagation of shallow, hyper nationalist rhetoric- a disease many journalists hobnobbing with political prowess seem to suffer from today.
Neelabh Mishra was very few of those editors who had an equal hold over English and Hindi. Apart from both these languages, he also spoke Maithili and Bhojpuri fluently. In an obituary written for him, Bhasha Singh, his former colleague at Outlook remembered, “During the days when I was working with him in Outlook Hindi, I once had to write a story based on Justice Verma’s recommendations post the Nirbhaya case. The word ‘rape survivor’ came up. Neelabh ji emphasised that this word should be translated in Hindi. His argument in this regard is one thing I will remember always. He said, Hindi language has become so impoverished only because the sociologists have stopped thinking and creating new words in Hindi.”
In a hearty essay Krishna Prasad, former Outlook editor and Neelabh’s close associate, talking about his unwillingness to compromise with good journalism, especially the notions of quality, wrote “..At the same time, unlike so many Hindi editors who see their audience as less evolved than the English one, and therefore less deserving of thoughtful journalism, Neelabh was not overly inclined to giving readers “what they want”, short hand for prurient pictures, plugs and pap. This usually doesn’t endear good editors to managers and other animals in the media menagerie, but they always manage to find somebody more pliable to do their bidding” Neelabh truly highlighted the participatory role that mainstream media played, especially in dumbing down the discourse and distorting democracy through languages.
Neelabh worked meticulously to bring forth many stories that had a deep relevance to large sections of people, whose voices are often unheard, especially in a time when the media houses are sold to big corporates and multinationals. Having worked as the Chief Editor of National Herald and Navjivan and subsequently as the Editor of Outlook (Hindi) from 2005, Neelabh had helped diminish the false binaries between journalism and activism, he helped groom a new generation of journalist-activists through his own inspiring works on various subjects. He was a firm believer of the fact that whatever gets printed, establishes a relationship of faith with the reader.
Highlighting his principled work, the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) said, “A true feminist and partner of multiple people’s platforms, he was deeply committed to truth, fairness and secular values. A widely-read and well-informed person, with command over many languages and also an equally abiding interest in literature, culture and politics, he carried his wisdom very lightly, with immense humility and responsibility.”
Neelabh Mishra stood out like a rock and criticised Modi in the same breath as he had criticised Sameer Jain, the former managing director of Times of India who misjudged the Hindi news-print market and had suggested to publish Times of India in Hindi, in place of promoting Navbharat Times, a rather popular newspaper at that time.
Neelabh Mishra was a believer of equality, non-discrimination and believed in leading a life free of animosity and violence. Uncompromising on honesty, he probably made those uncomfortable who wanted to go the other way. Neelabh Mishra treaded the human rights movement gently with the support and constant presence of human rights activist, General Secretary of PUCL and his partner Kavita Srivastava.
Through his immense humanity, Neelabh Mishra was trying to change the world through the power of pen and ethical journalism-a quality rare to find today. He has left a deep void by departing untimely. Probably these lines of Kabir most suit his demise,
सुनता है गुरु ज्ञानी
गगन में आवाज़ हो रही झीनी झीनी
(The knowledgeable teacher listens, the light voice echoing the skies lightly)