Prabhash Joshi, veteran journalist, columnist and Chief Editorial Adviser of Jansatta, The Indian Express Group’s Hindi daily, died of a heart attack on Thursday night. He was 72. Joshi worked as the resident editor of The Indian Express in Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Delhi before he became the editor of Jansatta, a post he held for 12 years.

Joshi created a distinct and persuasive brand in Hindi journalism with Jansatta in 1983. His weekly column on Sunday, ‘Kaagad Kare’ (literally meaning black and white), was eagerly lapped up as it spoke in a fresh and common idiom, contrary to the trends in Hindi popular writing in newspapers at the time—he wove colloquial hindi from his hometown Indore in Madhya Pradesh with great fluency in print. Kaagad Kare’s last edition was on the 25th anniversary of Indira Gandhi’s assassination and her relevance today. Never scared of taking sides, his editorial, Hum Jaanenge, Hum Jeeyenge in 1996 in Jansatta is still remembered by RTI activists as a landmark, as far as moulding public opinion goes.

Joshi wrote with authority on a range of issues—from politics and literature to cricket. Spectators at Lords recall him distinctly in the pavilion at the MCC in his crisp, white dhoti and kurta, sitting through hours on end. On Thursday night, he switched off the TV after Sachin Tendulkar—his favourite cricketer— got out. Hours later, he suffered a heart attack. Joshi is survived by his wife Usha, daughter Sonal, sons Sandeep and Sopan and four grandchildren.

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