Half a century of ideas

Raj Thapar,who was vice-chairperson of the National Bal Bhavan between 1967 and 1974,played a crucial role in the development of the journal as co-planner,meticulous copy editor and manager. Romesh and Raj died in 1986,within months of each other.

The Seminar office was a place where poets,trade unionists,bureaucrats,politicians and artists stopped by for tea and conversation. When Romesh’s Bombay-based,left-leaning weekly,Cross Roads,was banned in Madras on the grounds that it was critical of Nehruvian policy,Romesh took the matter to court,and the legendary Romesh Thapar vs the State of Madras followed. The court ruled in favour of Romesh and forced a livid Nehru to consider amending the Constitution for the first time,in 1951,to qualify Article 19,laying down that the freedom of speech came with a caveat—that it should not disrupt ‘public order’.

Seminar,first published from Bombay,moved to Delhi. C. Rajagopalachari wrote to Romesh quizzing him on the purpose of the shift,“Why Delhi? It’s hardly a civilised place,unless costly buildings make it so.”

The Thapars’ Seminar was,and still is,an eclectic journal of ideas and academics made accessible. Says Malvika Singh,Thapar’s daughter,“We don’t have an editorial,we have a Problem statement,which is an unsigned articulation of the subject being debated that month.” The first ‘Problem’ was proposed by Nirad C. Chaudhri,on the Congress party.

Editor and Malvika’s husband Tejbir Singh says,“We firmly believe in the advertisement revenue model—no sponsorships. We have survived so far as we are a simple,low-cost,no-frills venture even today.”

Romesh Thapar was a man of means,but Raj Thapar used to recall to old timers how they started the magazine “with just Rs 11,000”. Malvika Singh adds,“Our ads,to date,remain the same.” Keshub Mahindra,for instance,religiously sends out a full-page ad that appears on the same page of every issue. This year,there is also a seminar in Shimla and a book edited by Rudrangshu Mukherjee,Indian Persuasions,which showcases a selection of papers published in Seminar over the past five decades.

Seminar has a staff of six and its strength is long-form essays on a wide variety of subjects—like architecture,caste politics,art. Says Consulting Editor Harsh Sethi,“Seminar remains one of a rare breed of magazines,where we can do stories on a wide range of issues. Earlier,there was deep engagement with processes governing politics,now there are fewer direct debates on policy and more issue-specific articles.”

Tejbir Singh says,“We have established names writing for us. Seminar has always been a magazine that looked out for talent and specialisation,encouraging young people to write for us,before they become well known.”

Harsh Sethi shudders at the prospect of being “stuck as cult and on the margins”. Seminar is open to changes in technology—a Web presence is already there. But in some matters,like design,little has changed—there are just graphics on the cover,no pictures,as veteran Dilip Chowdhry conceived it.

Will long-form writing survive in the day of SMS-friendly opinion pieces? The editors are sure it will. Says Malvika,“To take a very different example,you can’t say that parallel or art cinema,like Zia Sarhadi’s Uski Roti or Mani Kaul’s films,was marginal. If you look back,they spoke of social concern then and had a great influence on modern mainstream cinema. The big change now is that the intellectuals are coming out of their closed boxes and into the maidan,we want to be there to capture that significant shift and continue to provide a forum for that—for the new generation.”