K.R. Malkani & The Motherland : Voices of the Nation

In its brief existence of about four years, between 1971 and 1975, ʻThe Motherlandʼ, edited by K.R. Malkani (1921-2003) achieved rare distinction and recognition in the world of journalism. It established itself as a fearless and uninhibited voice of the nation, relentlessly exposing the decay seeping into India’s body-politic by the early 1970s. In that respect ʻThe Motherland’sʼ advocacy of ʻIndia Firstʼ and its unalloyed articulation of India’s national interest remain unsurpassed. It was also its strident and uncompromising criticism of the Indira Congress and the Prime Minister’s ways, which eventually led Indira Gandhi to shut it down at the first given opportunity after she imposed the Emergency. ʻThe Motherlandʼ was, “The only paper in India to announce on 26th June the imposition of the Emergency, arrest of leaders and the wave of national shock.” This collection of K.R.Malkani’s columns in ʻThe Motherlandʼ offers an insight into Indian politics and society in the years just before Emergency was imposed by Indira Gandhi. It is a record of India’s political history a quarter century after independence and is a very useful reckoner for the general reader for understanding the years that led to the imposition of the Emergency.