Veteran journalist Mark Tully passes away at 90

In his illustrious career, Tully had covered war, famine, riots, and assassinations, the Bhopal gas tragedy, Babri Masjid demolition, and Operation Blue Star. He had covered South Asia as well, including the birth of Bangladesh, periods of military rule in Pakistan, the Tamil Tigers’ rebellion in Sri Lanka, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Tully was born during the British rule. His father was a businessman, and his mother belonged to Bengal. His mother’s family was involved as traders and administrators for generations.

Tully, who was fluent in Hindi, is credited with performing a balanced act — of English origin, yet not. Tully went to Britian at the age of nine, right after World War Two. He pursued history and theology at Cambridge. He ventured into theology with the goal of being ordained as a clergyman. However, he had second thoughts.

In 1965, Tully was sent to India as an administrative assistant for the BBC. He had begun his reporting role then. The BBC described his broadcasting style as idiosyncratic and never an armchair correspondent. He traveled widely through the country and became the voice of both the commoners and the elite.

During the Emergency, Tully suffered expulsion from the country at 24 hours’ notice in 1975. However, he returned after one and a half years and lived in Delhi ever since served as the Delhi bureau chief of BBC. While he stepped out of the BBC’s corporate priorities, he delivered a speech in 1993 accusing the then director general, John Birt, of running the BBC by “fear”. In 1994, he resigned from the BBC.

Later, he rose to prominence as presenter of Radio 4’s Something Understood focussing on issues of faith and spirituality. He was awarded the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan.

With inputs from PTI, BBC