Historian Ramachandra Guha will stop writing his column ‘Past and Present’ for Hindustan Times. The author took to Twitter to tell his readers that his writing will soon appear at a braver space.
That a column on the proposed Central Vista Project (for which, controversially, the Modi-led central government allocated INR 20,000 crores after the Coronavirus outbreak) has been censored, is a serious concern for watchdogs of free speech in India.
For print and online readers of my regular “Past and Present” column in the Hindustan Times—for this Sunday’s issue I had written on the folly and vanity of the Central Vista project. The newspaper has censored the column. The piece will soon appear in another (and braver) forum.
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) April 19, 2020
Guha also said in response to a tweet asking if HT, was a repeat offender, “The last time they changed some sentences without my consent and after I protested to the editor, he reinserted the original words online. This time the paper suppressed the column outright. Fortunately, it will appear elsewhere.”
The editors I worked with at the Hindustan Times were happy to publish this piece. They were overruled by their bosses and by the management. I was given the option of junking this piece and continuing the column. I have chosen to stop writing for them altogether. https://t.co/hn7ekYvJQh
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) April 19, 2020
The Central Vista project is monumental folly and reminds me of how Hitler wanted Albert Speer to redesign the heart of Berlin in the early 1940s https://t.co/64trucyFCj
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 19, 2020
