The Congress party said on Wednesday it will revive the National Herald and Navjivan newspapers and appointed senior journalist Neelabh Mishra as their editor-in-chief nearly eight years after the publications were pulled out of circulation.
A press statement, issued by the Congress on behalf of AICC treasurer Motilal Vora, said, “The Associated Journals Ltd, a company founded in 1937 by Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, has taken steps to resume publication of its English and Hindi newspapers National Herald and Navjivan. The Company has appointed senior journalist Neelabh Mishra as editor-in-chief for its Hindi and English newspapers and digital properties with immediate effect.”
Without specifying the exact date when the newspapers plan to resume publication, he said it would happen in coming months and will be followed by reviving of Quami Awaz, its defunct Urdu newspaper.
Mishra had earlier been Editor of Outlook, Hindu and has done extensive work in areas of research and documentation including for the Right to Information movement and legislation.
Vora said the spirit of the forthcoming publications of The Association Journals Limited, a not for profit company, is captured by the tagline “Freedom is in peril, defend it with your might”.
He said the publications shall seek to give voice to the vision of Nehru and shall seek to occupy a liberal, progressive, secular space.
“They shall strive to represent the under-represented and all those deprived of voice, thereby promoting the ideals of a plural, Democratic Party,” he said.
Announcing the plans of relaunching the newspaper last month, Vora had said the decision was taken at an Extraordinary General Meeting of AJL in Lucknow in January and the process is on.
In the Lucknow meeting, the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) had decided to convert into a not-for-profit company and re-launch its newspapers.
The decision had come in the midst of a legal battle over its past, which has ensnared Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul. The issue is pending in court.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who has also filed a private complaint in a local court, has accused top Congress leaders of misappropriation, a charge vehemently denied by the Congress leadership.
Swamy has also written to Urban development Ministry demanding cancellation of land allotment and confiscation of properties to AJL for alleged violation of allotment conditions.
