Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi is the Kohinoor of Hindi Journalism
Ganesh Yugin Journalism is considered to be the golden period of Hindi journalism. Journalists have aroused the service of the country and society by following the path shown or shown by the father of Hindi journalism, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi. In the first issue of Pratap, he introduced the concept of national journalism in an article titled ‘Pratap’s Policy’, which is still remembered as the manifesto of ideal journalism. He wrote – The welfare of all mankind is our ultimate aim.
We take upon ourselves the sacred work of service to our country and society. We will try our best to explain our duties and rights to our brothers and sisters. We will consider it our ultimate duty not to let hatred and opposition, unrest and dissatisfaction between the king and the subjects, one caste and another caste, one institution, and another institution.
Born on October 26, 1890, in his maternal grandfather Allahabad, home to teacher Jai Narayan Srivastava, a student of Hindi journalism, he is one of the selectively dynamic national personalities of the twentieth century-1890-1931. Bhagiratha Vidyarthi Ji of Hindi National Journalism received ideological fire in the thoughts of Lokmanya Tilak and received the rites of words and language under the guidance of Acharya Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi.
Journey of Journalism
The father of Hindi journalism, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Ji started his journey of journalism from Allahabad. He started writing in Urdu from the ‘Swaraj’ newspaper, meanwhile, he was attracted to Hindi under the guidance of Pandit Sundarlal. He started his career as a writer with a journalist from November 2, 1911, in the journal ‘Saraswati’ edited by Acharya Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi.
He got an opportunity to develop his literary and cultural rites in the context of Dwivedi Ji and ‘Saraswati’, and through Madan Mohan Malaviya’s newspaper ‘Abhyudaya’, he shaped his political views. Finally, on 9 November 1913 in Kanpur, the foundation of ‘Pratap’ was laid. In this Mahayagya, Shiv Narayan Mishra, Narayan Prasad Arora, and Yashoda Nandan also joined together with the student.
The student’s determination, service, and dedication towards Hindi journalism have been unmatched. From satyagraha, processions, and gatherings to leadership in electoral politics, he never allowed his journalism to become the facade of party politics. He fought ironically with the British government. Announced the public awareness through the pen. The student always kept burning the light of a candle in journalistic work. As a reward for carrying forward the mass movement, he repeatedly suffered imprisonment.
He made five prison trips in his life. Three of these were due to journalism and two to political speeches. Explaining his purpose in journalism, he wrote – praise or non-praise of someone, happiness or unhappiness of someone, any rebuke or intimidation will not distract us from our path. Truth and justice will be our inner guides. Pratap will always try to remain separate from communal and personal disputes.
Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi
Pratap was not born for the upbringing, protection, or opposition of any particular assembly, institution, person, or opinion, but his views would be independent and his religion would be true. We know that we will face great difficulties in this work. It requires great courage and self-confidence. We also know very well that we were born in an atmosphere of weakness, dependency, and meager power. Despite this, there is a desire in our hearts to move forward to serve the truth.
With whom he will stand through journalism, he has also mentioned – in this journey, journalists like Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Balkrishna Sharma ‘Naveen’, Krishnadatta Paliwal, Shriram Sharma, Devvrat Shastri, Suresh Chandra Bhattacharya, and Couple Kishore Singh Shastri. Like the weekly, the daily Pratap was also nationalist. Was a fierce opponent of the tyrannical rulers. This same policy was his biggest crime. He had to bear the brunt of it.
Apart from the government, the princely states also tried to clamp down on it. Seven-eight princely states ceased to have ‘Pratap’ in their kingdom. The publication of the daily ‘Pratap’ ceased on 6 July 1921, after giving its ransom in favor of the Non-Cooperation Movement run by Mahatma Gandhi, but the weekly ‘Pratap’ became the leading paper of North India due to its revolutionaries and clear political views.
Bail, warning, and government threats used to attack him. The student also kept an eye on the fact that ‘Pratap’ should not be misused for his unnecessary publicity. Most of his writings were also published under the assumed names of Hari, Diwakar, Gajendra, Lombodar, Vakratund, Srikanth, an Indian youth, etc. rather than the real name. He believed that the editor’s name should not be mentioned more than once in the entire issue of the letter or magazine.
Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi was influenced by Gandhiji in politics and on the other hand, was very close to the revolutionaries. What kind of journalism is this? Standing between Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent leadership and Bhagat Singh’s revolutionary ideas, Vidyarthi also wrote an article titled ‘Youth’s Rebellion’. The example of Ramprasad Bismil’s autobiography is an example of how he interacted with revolutionaries. Bismil wrote an autobiography in jail three days before his execution, which was published by Vidyarthji from the ‘Pratap’ press.
Vidyarthi was opposed to all forms of communalism. Vidyarthi returned from his last jail visit on March 9, 1931, when the country was engulfed in communal fire. There was a ‘Hindu-Muslim riot’ in Kanpur. In such a situation, it was considered appropriate to stay in Kanpur. He saw that the British government was completely silent in this terrible situation. In view of this, he jumped into the ground to extinguish the fire of communalism. Meanwhile, on 23 March 1931, he was hanged in the Lahore Central Jail.
Hearing the news of hanging, there was a lot of outrage across the country. On March 25, 1931, Vidyarthi was killed by a violent mob during the Hindu-Muslim riots. Today, the newspaper paid tribute to him and wrote, “We are crying on our helplessness that we are unable to stop the country even after seeing this kind of suicide.” We cry on the wisdom of those who understand that without such bloodshed, we will not be able to protect ourselves.
We are tempted to see the dissolved face of Mother India. Gandhiji sent a telegram to the joint editor of ‘Pratap’, in which Bapu wrote, “Even if the heart is bursting, Ganesh will not give condolences for Shankar’s death. His family deserves congratulations, not condolences. Let its example be exemplary. ”Our salutations to Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, the rich and inspiring person of all of us, of such a great personality.
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