SP set out to change this by adopting a fresh and bold approach. He broke ranks with the many devotees, servants and fanatics of Hindi. Instead of worshipping Hindi, he worked with it. He worked out a simple yet crisp Hindi for television, distinct from the stuffy language of the print media, without giving in to the pressures of Hinglish. He recognised that Hindi was not an endangered species waiting to be rescued by the faithful. Unlike his contemporaries who had a contempt for or fear of the market, SP built on the huge market potential of Hindi — his confident Hindi did not need to be fanatic. He was perhaps the only Hindi journalist whose column was translated into English and carried by The Economic Times.

SP instilled professionalism in Hindi journalism. I was sitting by him when he received a call from a very powerful chief minister, complaining against an adverse personal report in the bulletin the day before. SP calmly replied that he was planning to use the story again that evening. And sure he did. When all of north India was celebrating Lord Ganesha’s milk drinking feat, SP got a scientist to explain surface tension in the evening bulletin. He dragged me into television, after reading my articles in the Economic and Political Weekly, for he thought Hindi media needed election experts.

Yet his professionalism was not apolitical. A man of deep political convictions and a political animal to the core, SP held his own against the communal wave that threatened to drown the Hindi media. Unabashedly pro-Mandal, he translated his conviction by recruiting and training a large number of non-upper caste Hindu journalists.

... contd.