Senior journalist Vinod Dua died in New Delhi’s Apollo Hospital, on Saturday. He was suffering from a chronic liver disease. He was 67.
The former Doordarshan journalist was hospitalised with Covid earlier this year and lost his wife, radiologist Padmavati ‘Chinna’ Dua, to the virus in June. He has been in and out of the hospital ever since owing to his degrading health, according to a PTI report.
On November 29, Dua was said to be in a critical condition, and was moved to the hospital’s intensive care unit.
His last rites will be performed at the Lodhi crematorium, in Delhi, on Sunday, according to his daughter Mallika Dua’s Instagram story.
She wrote, “Our irreverent, fearless and extraordinary father, Vinod Dua has passed away. He lived an inimitable life, rising from the refugee colonies of Delhi to the peak of journalistic excellence for over 42 years, always, always speaking truth to power. He is now with our mom, his beloved wife Chinna in heaven where they will continue to sing, cook, travel and drive each other up the wall.”
In a longer post, she called Dua her “first and best friend,” and wrote, “Journalists in India can no longer be randomly slapped with a sedition case because Vinod Dua fought that fight for them, as he always has. Heaven is just so fucking lucky, it has my whole entire life. We won’t live in fear and grief forever.”
Born in 1954, the pioneer in Hindi journalism got his bachelors as well as master’s degrees from the University of Delhi. While he started out as a television anchor for channels like Amrtisar TV, his breakthrough came in 1984 when he co-anchored Doordarshan‘s election analysis segment with Prannoy Roy.
He hosted the popular food programme Zaika India Ka for NDTV that saw him exploring distinct food cultures of different cities and towns in India. He also anchored Jan Gan Man Ki Baat for The Wire Hindi.
The 2008 Padma Shri awardee was also the first electronic media journalist to be bestowed with the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award, in 1996.
Dua was also marred with scandal in 2018 after he was named during the Me Too by filmmaker Nishtha Jain for alleged sexual assault. A leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had leveled sedition charges against Dua, in June, which the Supreme Court quashed later.
Several public figures from across industries paid their tributes on social media.
Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of The Wire, wrote on Twitter, “I last met Vinod Dua after Chinna died. He was weak, Covid had taken its toll, but he was watching ‘How to Become a Dictator’ on Netflix and was eager to resume work. There was so much to do, dictators to fight. Alas, the media has lost a major voice. People have lost a tribune.”
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Long-time friend and colleague, journalist Prannoy Roy, wrote on Twitter, “Deeply mourning the loss of Vinod. He was not just one of the greatest, he was THE greatest of his time. I have always said that: THE greatest. An amazing talent I admired and respected-and from whom I learnt a lot in the many years we worked closely together Rest in peace my friend.”
Actor Anushka Sharma replied to Mallika Dua’s Instagram post, and wrote, “A part of my childhood is gone with him. I used to get most excited to watch a new episode of ‘Zaika India ka’. He developed the foodie in me and the belief that in any corner of our country I’ll discover some amazing place to eat. Bohat Umda!”
Other actors who paid their tributes in the comments section, include, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sanya Malhotra, Abhishek Banerjee, and others.
Dua is survived by his two daughters Mallika and Bakul.