My MJ Akbar Story From 1980s Is Of Rejections & Defamation Suits
This is not a #MeToo story. Payal Mohanka recalls her exchanges with MJ Akbar in the ‘80s & reflects on the past.
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(Disclaimer: This is a personal blog and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
This is not a #MeToo piece. I am merely strolling down memory lane.
Just after my graduation in 1982, I headed to The Telegraph office in Calcutta. The paper had been launched that very year. The Editor MJ Akbar was the superstar of journalism, after a successful tenure at Sunday, the magazine he had been editing for six years before The Telegraph was born.
“You Are Too Frail to Become a Journalist”
I was desperate to be a journalist. It was difficult as I came from a conservative family that had never seen a woman work, but I was determined. At 22 if you were interested in journalism in Calcutta, there was just one role model: MJ Akbar. The Telegraph had taken the city by storm. A dynamic, energetic editor who showed the city its sordid underbelly.
The state took him to court, but Akbar stood his ground and won the case. I had even gone to court for the final hearing. Those were the days when this messiah took on the system and fought for neglected sections of society. With stars in my eyes and idealism writ large on my face, I went for my The Telegraph interview.
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But rejection can sometimes be a blessing. A year later, I was selected by The Times of India as a trainee journalist, and left for Bombay. After a year’s internship, I had a confirmed job at the Illustrated Weekly of India, the magazine where Akbar had begun his journalistic career. Somewhere deep within, his words still hurt.
A Young Me Writes to Akbar
While I was home in Calcutta on vacation, I actually wrote to the iconic editor in 1984, “Sir, I would like to thank you. If you hadn’t sat like an omniscient oracle and told me that journalism was a tough profession and not the right one for me, maybe I wouldn’t have worked with such determination. However, I would like to bring to your notice the fact that your judgement is not necessarily infallible...”
About two weeks later, a hand-delivered note arrived from the superhero. “My dear Payal, If your journalism is as good as your letter — and on the evidence of the clipping it could be — then you will go a long way... I would be the last person to claim infallibility. I truly hope that you prove me very, very, very wrong. If there is anything I can do to help, let me know. MJ, Friday, 28th Sept, 1984”.
MJ Akbar’s ‘Stamp of Approval’
I was very happy with my job in Bombay. I thanked Akbar for offering his help but truly didn’t require anything more than his good wishes.
The pain of that first job rejection, the tears on the bus back home, the emotional upheaval of not wanting to tell your parents how badly that first interview had gone as they were dead against the job in any case... slowly melted into oblivion. My pride had been restored. The hero of Indian journalism had given this 24-year-old, a stamp of approval. I cherished these letters.
Four years later, I was back in Calcutta with the Illustrated Weekly. And in 1989, I found myself heading to The Telegraph office to do a four-page interview with the great Akbar himself. Akbar, then a huge Rajiv Gandhi loyalist, had been sued for defamation by Ajeya Sigh, son of VP Singh, contender for the throne. The Telegraph had alleged that Ajeya Singh had stashed millions of US dollars in the Caribbean island of St Kitts. Battle lines had been drawn between media houses too. While The Indian Express supported V P Singh and his son, The Telegraph was blatantly favouring the Congress. The truth was a casualty in the process.
I Interviewed MJ Akbar When He Faced a Defamation Suit
During that interview, I saw anger and aggression. Akbar didn’t like some of the questions and even asked me if I had been sent by Arun Shourie who was at the time editor of The Indian Express. I had to tell him to calm down and please answer my questions. He then wanted to see the interview before it was published. I transcribed the entire interview and sent him the hand-written draft. He went through it... put his pen through large passages, and in long hand even wrote, “I don’t want to get into all this. Nor do I want to answer questions best addressed to bankers. I don’t know the real details and should not have made any assumptions.”
And here, he was losing his cool while being interviewed. After the interview was published, I was surprised to find another hand-written ‘thank you’ note from MJ Akbar. Interestingly two months later, the object of MJ Akbar’s virulent media attack, ie, VP Singh, became the country's prime minister.
May the Truth Prevail
As many women journalists (some of whom I know personally) share angst-ridden stories of a predator boss, I feel an overwhelming sense of pain and anguish. As a woman, I wonder whether so many of these ladies would fabricate such charges? The indictment has been formally denied by Akbar and he has taken the matter to court. “Irreparable damage” is a terrible thing: whether it is to Akbar's reputation, or the psyche of the survivors. May the truth prevail.
(The writer is a Kolkata-based senior journalist)
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