Pravin Mahajan’s biography and the Marathi press

BY Prabhakar Kulkarni| IN Regional Media | 27/04/2009

The excerpts from Pravin Mahajan’s autobiography published two weeks ago in Mumbai has stirred a lot of commentary in Marathi newspapers subsequently, but all of them had balked at publishing the material which Loksatta did.

The material for publication was sent to all newspapers by IANS, Nagpur, according to Loksatta’s editor Kumar Ketkar. In his editorial he has explained why he published part of autobiography by Pravin Mahajan while others lacked courage to publish it. His editorial while endorsing the excellence in journalism and praising winners of Ramnath Goenka awards has pointed out that accusations of morals against Loksatta for publishing part of  Pravin’s autobiography are baseless. This is because such moral considerations were absent when Pandit Nehru was attacked with defamatory material, and also when defamatory allegations against Indira Gandhi were published. Those who think that Gopal Godse’s autobiography Gandhi Hatya and Me is worth reading but murder convict Pravin’s My Album is not, are stressing on a moral code which is nothing but hypocrisy, Ketkar says. It is in the tradition of journalism of courage introduced by Goenka that Pravin’s autobiographical part is published by Loksatta, says the editorial.       

Pravin Mahajan who is under life imprisonment for killing his own brother and BJP leader Pramod Mahajan has written an autobiography a part of which was sent to all Marathi and English newspapers but no one except daily ‘Loksatta’ published it with details in full page. In the first person narration which claims to be authentic, Pravin has elaborately described the life and working style of his late brother Pramod.

Besides his character, his behaviour in family life, arrogance and other details were also disclosed by Pravin who has also stated that because of his affairs Pramod’s wife Rekha was disturbed and had complained to BJP leader L.K.Advani. But will she now confirm that she wanted a divorce? Pravin has questioned.

The elaborate narration has covered the entire family’s life and Pramod’s role in it, with some of his good points also. But the major part is focuses on Pramod’s life style and character which has created stir among both media and political circles in general, and the BJP in particular. Pramod’s other brother Prakash Mahajan immediately reacted against the disclosure as false.  He said all details about their family life are falsely narrated by Pravin who was blackmailing Pramod for money as he was in the habit of doing nothing. Lokasatta published Prakash’s clarification on front page as also the  statement of Poonam, daughter of Pramod Mahajan according to which whatever Pravin has stated in his narration about her father is absolutely false.

In her interview published in Loksatta and later in Lokmat, Pravin’s wife Sarangi Mahajan has however stated that the autobiography which is being published under title Maza Album (My Album) is true and she has a handwritten copy which will be published and a number of publishers have approached her for publication rights. But she has also commented that this should not be used for political purposes.

Maharashtra Times in its editorial has commented that the narration by Pravin was damaging to the reputation of his brother Pramod whom he killed, and as the personal life of any person has no public or national relevance, it should not be made public. That is why, it said, this paper had declined to publish the excerpt. The editorial commented that the publication was timed for the elections.

Sakal has published front page news story after the exposure, under the title ‘First bullets, now rounds of allegations’. It questions the life of Pravin who was also living lavishly even though he was doing nothing. Again the main question raised was why such an autobiography was being sent to newspapers at this time, prior to its publication.

In his personal column, Sanjay Raut, executive editor of  the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Samana elaborately discussed the issue raised by the publication of the part of Pravin’s autobiography and has described the incident as killing Pramod first by revolver and now by pen.

Tarun Bharat has editorially commented that a prisoner writing something is a normal occurrence but the written material going out of  prison without the permission of prison authorities as has happened in this case raises a vital question. What is the purpose behind it? Political strategy or earning money, asks the editorial. BJP leader Gopinath Munde calls  Pravin’s autobiography defamatory and a plot’ in his interview which is published in Loksatta.