The Cushrow Irani I knew…a friend, not a flatterer

During Board meetings, I stayed in the Statesman Guest House in Calcutta. Cushrow and I would have long discussions about how to cope with the virulent censorship and other measures directed against The Statesman. We were firmly agreed on one point. The Statesman would not crawl, nor bend and follow the disgraceful example of some national dailies.

There were several onslaughts on The Statesman during the Emergency. The first shot was fired when a notice was issued in December 1975 under the Companies Act proposing the appointment of an unspecified number of government directors on The Statesman’s Board. After a protracted hearing in the Calcutta High Court this notice was withdrawn by the government.

The next move was against Cushrow as the Managing Director on the charge of having acquired a small publishing company in 1970 without seeking Central government approval. The Calcutta High Court quashed the order. The next step was in January 1976 when Cushrow’s passport was impounded. That move was also stalled by the Calcutta High Court. In 1976, forfeiture of the Statesman Press in Delhi was threatened on the ground that it had unauthorisedly published some material.

The matter was taken to Delhi High Court and the notice for forfeiture was withdrawn. These efforts having failed, feverish attempts were made to buy the shares of The Statesman from its shareholders by offering them fantastic prices with a view to gaining majority control and thereafter pack the Board by government nominees. These moves were also scotched thanks mainly to the determination of the Board.

I was closely involved in all these legal proceedings. What impressed me was Cushrow’s unflinching spirit. My most vivid recollection is about a meeting at my home in Bombay some time in July 1976. There were Minoo Masani, Ramnath Goenka, AD Gorwala and Cushrow. Unfortunately, there is no video recording which would have given a picture of the indomitable spirit displayed by these champions of press freedom.

After the revocation of Emergency I resigned from the Board. Our close association continued and we became good friends. We agreed on many issues but that did not prevent him from castigating me in one of his Caveats for my talk at an American University on religious freedom where I flaunted our constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion but did not highlight the actual persecution of religious minorities. That was Cushrow, always a true friend but never a flatterer.

We worked together in the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution. Despite my persuasion that the Commission need not make any recommendation on the question of eligibility of persons of foreign origin for holding high public offices, he did not budge and appended a strong dissenting note. A tribute to his independence and intellectual honesty.

Cushrow was not a perfect human being. Who is? He could be arrogant, have scraps with his editors and did not suffer fools gladly. But he had that rare and lovely virtue, COURAGE, which he displayed at all times not counting the cost.

He endorsed the spirit of Benjamin Franklin: ‘‘They who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.’’

He richly deserved the Freedom Award of Freedom House, New York and the Astor Award of the Commonwealth Press Union, London. The nation shall miss an intrepid individual. I shall miss him profoundly. Good night, sweet Prince; And may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!