FIRST STIRRINGS vijay sanghvi

FIRST STIRRINGS

vijay sanghvi

 

‘I broke through the lines’

As a journalist from regional newspaper, Vijay Sanghvi overcame the
disadvantage that one suffers in a city where the political language is English

 

W

ithin a week of my arrival in Delhi in May 1967, my first encounter was with giants of political journalism assembled outside the Congress Party office waiting for the Congress Working Committee session to end. They were well over 50 years in age while I had only three months earlier stepped into my 28th year. They worked for reputed English dailies published from the capital, had the added advantage of knowing politics and politicians well, and operated in groups to bamboozle their way in. It was apparent that they would not allow a young person like me to have an edge. In addition, I also had inherent disadvantage of working for an out-station regional language paper that few could easily access or read. Every regional language media person suffers from this disadvantage because the political language of Delhi is English. No other language is recognised by decision makers in politics or the bureaucracy.

The only way I could overcome the shortcomings I realised would be by building one-to-one relations with decision-makers. I had my contacts in Mumbai and used them to get an exclusive copy of the 10-point programme that the Working Committee had adopted in its marathon session. My report was picked up the next day by news agencies enabling me to make my entry into what appeared to have been an impregnable wall of seniors in Delhi media circles because they greeted me as one of their own at our next encounter....READMORE