On November 14, 2016, Pandit Nehru’s Birth Anniversary, the Indian National Congress re-launched the National Herald under the stewardship of Neelabh Mishra, erstwhile editor of the Hindi Outlook. Mishra had been asked to leave Outlook after a series of shake-ups in the publication, widely believed in the journalist world, to be under executive pressure. Editor of the English edition of the magazine, Krishna Prasad too is no part of Outlook’s team.
Freedom is In Peril, Defend It With All Your Might: Jawaharlal Nehru, is the strapline quote below the masthead of the e-newspaper.
A press release of the Associated Journals Limited, a company founded in 1937 by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru says:
“In keeping with the changing times, the newspaper group resumes phased publication as a multi-media outlet with a strong digital presence. The digital website will follow the same editorial vision and principles as that of our Founder, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It remains committed to furthering the values it has always cherished and the best values of the Freedom Movement – that of building a modern, democratic, just, equitable, liberal and socially harmonious nation, free of sectarian strife.
Launched in 1938 as a daily newspaper in the vanguard of the Indian Freedom Movement by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the National Herald proudly proclaimed its commitment on its masthead inscribed in Pandit Nehru's hand: 'Freedom is in Peril, Defend it with All Your Might'. During its halcyon days even in decades after independence, the National Herald group of newspapers, including also Navjivan in Hindi and Quami Awaz in Urdu, lent its influential voice to the efforts of building such a nation striving for world peace and imbued with rationality and scientific temper that its Founder had inculcated.”
The lead story, Mr Jaitley, a few questions for you [Was the disruption of the economy caused by scrapping Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes motivated by sound economic reasons, or prompted by extraneous considerations?] has an interesting tidbit:
“Rumours of demonetisation have been circulating in banking circles since April this year, when the State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya publicly blamed the rumours for an unprecedented surge in cash withdrawals. In an interview to The Economic Times, she had, in fact, stated that for the first time ever deposits in SBI had lagged behind advances…..
Some of these questions, posed by experts and the common man alike, are the following:
- Who are the Indians who transferred Rs 30,000 crore abroad between June 2015 and May 2016?
- Is it true that the Government was influenced by Pune-based NGO Arthakranti Pratishthan, believed to be close to the RSS, and ignored expert advice? The NGO has been advocating demonetisation of currency notes of high value denomination, abolition of income tax, restricting cash transactions to Rs 2,000 and promoting all transactions through banks. Experts however had dismissed the proposals, pointing out that the country has a long way to go before it could hope to become a cashless economy. The NGO’s claim that it motivated the PMO to take the decision has not been denied yet. Does it mean that the PMO and the Finance Ministry plan to act on the other proposals also made by the NGO?
- The rest of the story may be read here
The RSS-BJP’s hatchet man Subramaniam Swamy had trained his eye on the newspaper and in 2014, the court in Delhi, took up the issue of where the assets of Associated Journals (AJPL) who published The National Herald were distributed after the closure of the paper. Earlier in 2012, Rahul Gandhi had said that he would sue over allegations that his company, 'Young Indian', acquired Associated Journals (AJPL) improperly. On August 17, 2015 it was reported that the Enforcement Directorate had decided to close the case citing "technical reasons". Subsequently on September 18, 2015 the Enforcement Directorate decided to reopen the case.