Press in : A Historical Account

DR. K. VENKATESHWARLU*

Abstract Urdu newspapers entered Telangana region belatedly owing to a host of reasons, especially, the oppressive rule of Nizam, impoverished conditions and lack of ed- ucational facilities in the region. The present article is a part of the doctoral thesis, Press in Telangana-A Historical Study. It dilates on the role of the Press in the socio- political history of Telangana and the Samsthan, which was under the Nizam rule. The press was divided in its support to the Nizam and opposed the role of Razakars -- Nizam’s private army. The article captures the run-up to the po- lice action and the merger of the Hyderabad Samsthan into the Indian Union fol- lowing police action. Further, the movements for Telangana in 1969 and later after 2001 were adequately covered by the Urdu Press. The ownership pattern, problems of Urdu journalists due to technological changes, advertisement and circulation strategies as also the emergence of small newspapers in Hyderabad and the districts of Telangana also find mention in this article.

Key words: Urdu press, Telangana, Nizam rule

The origin of the Urdu press in Telangana the Turkish word ‘ordu’ meaning ‘camp’ has its roots in the history and origin of or ‘army’, nourished during the period of Urdu as a language in and the birth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. It had of Indian journalism across the country. words from Persian and local languages. Also it is integrally linked to Urdu The language was to facilitate easy com- press/journalism which surfaced in differ- munication among soldiers who included ent parts of the country. Arabs, Turks and locals. Based on the The origin of Urdu language has a Khariboli dialect of Delhi and Western unique history. M Chatterjee (2011) states Uttar Pradesh in the Indian subconti- that Urdu was not the language of Mus- nent, Urdu developed under local Persian, lims, it was the language of the lashkari Arabic, and Turkish influence over the (soldiers). The word ‘Urdu’ comes from course of almost 900 years. It began to take shape in what is now Uttar Pradesh, * The author obtained his PhD from the India during the Delhi Sultanate (1206- Department of Communication & Journalism, Osmania University, Hyderabad. 1527), and continued to develop under the

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Mughal Empire (1526-1858). erences to the growth of Urdu press while Urdu is written from right to left just writing the cultural accounts of Hyder- like Arabic and Persian. Urdu has 39 basic abad. There is no clarity about the first letters and 13 extra characters, all to- Urdu paper published in the erstwhile gether 52 and most of these letters are Hyderabad State. from Arabic and a few from Persian. It The Telangana region was under has almost all the ‘sounds’ available in any Nizam rule when the first newspaper Ben- other language spoken in the world. gal Gazette, a weekly political and com- Chatterjee states that the Persian mercial paper was launched in January, newspapers of West Bengal were fore- 1780 by James Augustus Hickey in runners of the Urdu press. After the de- Kolkata (then Calcutta). It was only after cline of Persian as an official language, 77 years, Jam-i-Jahan-Numa, the first Urdu Urdu gained prominence. The first news- newspaper founded by Harihar Dutta paper of Urdu language was Jam-i-Jahan- was launched in 1822 in Kolkata and was Numa, founded by Harihar Dutta in 1822 followed by the publication of Risala-i- in Kolkata (then Calcutta). He was the Tababat, Urdu magazine for medicine and son of Tara Chand Dutta, an eminent science in 1857 in the Hyderabad Sam- Bengali journalist and one of the founders sthan by one George Smith. The maga- of Bengali weekly, Koumudi. zine had articles by eminent surgeons, On 14 January 1850, Munshi Harsukh physicians and doctors. Rai started Kohinoor weekly, which had a The history of the Urdu press can remarkably high (for those times) circu- broadly be discussed in three different lation of 350 copies. In 1858, Manbir phases-- prior to 1948; before accession Kabiruddin started the Urdu Guide, the of the Hyderabad Samsthan under the first Urdu daily, from Calcutta. Another Nizam rule into the Indian Union; after important paper founded that year was the formation of Andhra Pradesh State in Roznamha-e-Punjab from Lahore. Oudh 1956 to 2014. Based on the stance Akhbar by Munshi Nawal Kishore was adopted towards the then prevalent so- the first Urdu newspaper from Lucknow, cial and political issues, between 1935- also launched in 1858. There was a spurt 1948, Urdu newspapers can be grouped in Urdu journalism from the 1850s till In- under three categories. dependence in 1947. The first Urdu news- The first group of newspapers was pro- papers of Delhi were Fawaid-ul-Nazarin Nizam and respected the dynasty. They and Kiran-us-Sadai, founded by Rama included the Nizam Gazette and Subah-e- Chandra in 1852. The Urdu press in Delhi Deccan. The second group strongly advo- became highly critical of the British Gov- cated the news and views of the ernment. The best example of them is Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and the Urdu Akhbar, edited by Syed Hasan, pleaded for an independent Hyderabad which highlighted many civic issues like Samsthan and projected Nizam as protec- drainage, sanitation, adulteration of food, tor of Muslim interests. Such newspapers and corruption. were Rahbar-e-Deccan, Itteha, Aghaz, etc. Few historians have made cursory ref- The last group - Riyat, Payam, Waqt and

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Imroze were in favour of a constitutional functions and prominent personalities and responsible Government account- which enhanced its popularity and circu- able to the people of the State. lation. The paper projected the views of the then politically dominant community. Pro-Nizam It was printed on electrical press. After the military action, Major JN History records that newspaper enthusi- Chowdhary, the military of In- asts first gained the confidence of the dian Union ordered the closure of Rah- Nizam and later started newspapers. bar-e-Deccan as it supported independent Maulavi Syed Hussain Bilgrami, who be- Hyderabad. The paper was in the final came chief consultant and advisor of all stage of printing when orders were issued important affairs of the Nizam govern- in 1948. The Nizam Gazette daily (1927) ment, launched Magznul Fawade (1875), was loyal to the Nizam and till 1942, it which published educational news. Taj, a published all firmans of the Nizam. After monthly magazine, was launched in 1912 the police action, the paper published the and urged the government to spread ed- affairs of King Kothi. Manshoor and Waqt ucation among masses. Taj raised its voice (1929) published news in favour of nation- against rituals, traditional and supersti- alist movement. tions and presented a correct perspective Subha-e-Deccan (1928) pleaded with the of religion. Nizam for protection of Muslims’ inter- Newspapers like Hazar Dasthan (1883), ests. The editor of the paper Akbar first Urdu daily, and Paiki-e-Asafi (1885) re- Waqafi was shocked at the accession of ceived a grant Rs. 1500 from Nizam. the Hyderabad state into Indian Union Afsar (1896) launched by Moheebul Has- and migrated to Pakistan. san worked as a mouthpiece of military The relatives of the Nizam also affairs. Interestingly, several newspapers launched newspapers. One Gulam Mo- were launched during the crisis in Hyder- hammed Calcuttawala, a businessman, abad Samsthan. Ittehad (1947) worked as son in law of Khan Bahadur Ahmed Al- the official organ of the Majlis-e-Itte- ladin, launched Meezan Urdu daily along hadul-Muslimeen. Jinah (1947) published with English, following it up with Telugu news in support of Majlis. version Meezan in 1943 and wrote in Newspapers like Deccan Punch (1887) favour of the Nizam. Meezan was a popu- and Hyderabad Gazette supported the lar daily with a circulation of 20,000 Nizam and followed the firmans issued copies and it ceased publication in 1947 by the Nizam. Saltanat (1930) published when Calcuttawala migrated to Pakistan. the firmans and poems written by the Tanzeem (1944) expressed balanced and Nizam. moderate views. Rahbar-e-Deccan (1921) was against the merger of the Hyderabad state into In- Anti-Nizam dian Union as it supported the Nizam government and the Razakars. The paper Several Muslim scholars, who launched started publishing photos of important Urdu newspapers and magazines, pub-

Interface | February 2016 | 65 K. Venkateshwarlu lished news against the anti-people poli- months. They included Rahbar-e-Deccan, cies of the Nizam Government. North which supported the views of Majlis Itta- Indian scholars who settled in Hyderabad hadul Musleemeen (MIM) advocating and were employees of the Nizam Gov- the Nizam of Deccan as the representa- ernment launched newspapers to expose tive and protector of Muslims’ interest the anti-people policies of the Nizam to and was against the merger of Hyderabad educate people. Samsthan into Indian Union. Shoebullah Khan launched Imroze with After 10 months, several newspapers the support of B Ram Krishna Rao, the reappeared and Rahbar-e-Deccan was re- first chief minister of the Hyderabad launched under a new name Rahnuma-e- state, and friends. The writings of the Deccan. paper were critical about the Razakars, the private army of the Nizam led by Post Police Action (1948) Khasim Razvi as it indulged in excesses, though it was meant to defend the The military government, which took province. Shoebullah Khan criticised the over after the Police Action, resorted to policies of Majlis and supported the ac- oppressive measures leading to the clo- cession of Hyderabad Samsthan in Indian sure of several Urdu newspapers. Many Union. The weekly was banned after he newspapers failed to resume publication associated with Raiyat, which was also after the military government became banned in 1947. The Razakars killed soft but by then several editors and jour- Shoebullah Khan for publishing anti- nalists migrated to Pakistan. Others Nizam, anti-Rrazakar news and their op- failed to resume their publication due to position to the merger of the Hyderabad various reasons. Rahnuma-e-Deccan pub- State into the Indian Union. lished news in favor of the 1969 and sep- Kishan Rao launched Musheer-e-Deccan, arate Telangana movement in 2009. which ran till 1990s and published news (1949), which was against Nizam. It faced several hardships launched after Police Action, is one of the and was closed several times. Sahifa leading Urdu newspapers in Hyderabad. (1902), Payam, was a noted daily which It was launched to promote the national- changed the face of the Urdu journalism ist spirit among the people and ease the in Hyderabad by setting high standards, social, communal and political tensions in Rayyat and Imroze, which were progres- Hyderabad following India’s independ- sive and revolutionary, published news ence. The Siasat daily is the first Urdu against British rule as well as Nizam rule. newspaper of India to launch its online Others like Mandumula Narasimha Rao edition www.siyasat.com and the e-paper ran Urdu newspapers and published news in Urdu. against the then Nizam government. After the accession of Hyderabad State Urdu Press after 1956 into the Indian Union in 1948, several newspapers that supported the Nizam After the formation of Andhra Pradesh Government shut shop for almost 10 State in 1956, several small Urdu newspa-

66 | February 2016 | Interface Urdu Press in Telangana pers came into existence and the trend ing by Muslim girls. Hamjoli (1931) pub- increased year after year though the num- lished news to create consciousness ber of readers of Urdu newspapers was among the Deccani women. It became declining. The Urdu Press was not af- the official organ of the Deccan Women’s fected by the formation of Andhra Association. Pradesh State. It continued its journey though it lost its sheen after the Nizam Religious magazines: Ertaqa magazine Rule. Several newspapers were launched (1919) published religious articles. though they were confined to Hyderabad city only. Literary magazines: Adeeb (1882), Paiki-e- Siasat and Rahnuma-e-Deccan held sway Asafi (1885), Hassan (1888) was launched to till 1970s. During the 1969 separate promote literature. Moheeb Hassan Telangana movement, almost all Urdu launched Moileem-e-Niswan (1892) to give newspapers were neutral and some Mus- new direction to the Urdu literary and lim intellectuals actively participated in changes in Urdu journalism. Samratul the Telangana Movement. Rahnuma-e- Adeb monthly Muntaqhab Rozegar Deccan outrightly supported the separate monthly (1984), Dab-Dab-e-Asafi (1897), Telangana movement but Siasat was for Sahifa monthly/daily (1905), Risala Tohfa an integrated State. The Siasat daily monthly (1923) were launched by Anju- favoured a united Andhra Pradesh but man-e-Arabab-e-Urdu and they published turned pro-Telangana. Munsif published literary articles. Muktaba, Husnakar (1934) news in favour of separate Telangana published articles on literature and fine State recently. arts. Subras (1938) which was published till 90s, had literature, art and culture. Hin- Audience-specific dustani Adeb (1938) published poems and ghazals. The Urdu press had a fairly good mix of magazines/ journals targeting different Social Science journal: Siasat (1940) pub- segments of the society. lished articles on socio-political prob- lems. Children’s magazines: Bachchaon ki Duniya weekly (1908) showed the path to Political magazines / newspapers: newspapers to publish children’s Mohib Hassan (UP), a nationalist, columns. Meezan was the first paper launched Mollim-e-Shafiq (1882) that crit- which started a children’s column. Ataliq icized the government for its anti-people was children’s reformative magazine. policies. He encouraged women’s educa- tion and was against the purdah system. Women’s magazines: Unnisa monthly Safeer-e-Deccan (1888) was also a political (1919) was launched by the Association of magazine. Shaukatul Islam (1884) was Islam and highlighted the problems of under Nizam before the police action as women—education, pardah, zakat, phi- Haji Kartan, the editor published news losophy of martyrdom and English learn- against the suppression of the freedom of

Interface | February 2016 | 67 K. Venkateshwarlu press. Deccan Times also criticized the Technology Nizam Ekrarnama (which was against the freedom of press). Payam (1935) strongly The Urdu press has witnessed major advocated the accession of Hyderabad changes in technology. It kept pace with into Indian Union. the technological developments which Rayyat (1937) promoted the cause of led to ouster of calligraphers who were Nationalist movement in Deccan and earlier considered indispensable. Offset published news to unify people and cre- machines were introduced in the 1980s ate awareness among them on political is- after the Urdu font was developed. Later, sues. The publication of Rayyat gave the papers switched over to the Litho footing to the State Congress of Hyder- Process. abad through which Congress propagated Urdu publishers and writers have been its views of freedom. using Urdu software and fonts developed in Hyderabad for nearly 25 years now. Education magazines: Ilm-o-Amal (1904), Siasat daily was the first to use the Urdu Shafiq, Muallim-e-Niswan (1892) promoted publishing software in the subcontinent. education. Mohib Hasan launched three The fonts were named after Abid Ali papers — Mualleem-e-Shafiq (1882), Khan – simply as Abid. By 1992 almost Mualleem-e-Niswan (1892), Ilm-o-Amal every Urdu daily in India had already (1904). Hyderabad was the first state to adopted this software called Urdu Com- publish magazines on subjects like sci- posing System (UCS/1) followed by its ence, medicine, technology, engineering successor the Urdu Page Composer. and agriculture. Malgazavi (1904) focused Among the early adopters of the system on revenue related issues and Takmil were the largest circulated newspapers Ahsan dealt with agriculture. like the , Siasat, Rehnuma, Inquilab and The Shama, India’s largest cir- Medical journals: Risala-i-Tababet (1857), culating monthly. Medical Journal monthly (1898), Aftab-e- Ittemad and Munsif use state-of-the–art Deccan (1860) was the first newspaper to technologies for publishing. Ittemad is be launched in Hyderabad. Jareeda-e- the first mainstream newspaper to use Sahet-Aamma (1941) published articles on Cityline Printing machine. child health, resistance power of body, sex problems and physical health. Advertising

Legal magazines: Mehdi Ali launched In the early days, the Urdu Press was Miratul Qawaneen (1866), a legal magazine, hamstrung by low advertisement revenue in Hyderabad and Maulvi Fida Hassan but later, small firms and the government launched the law journal Aine-e-Deccan also started placing their ads. In the ab- (1882) from Aurangabad. Tasher-e-Deccan sence of ads, the papers depended on do- (1909) of Abdul Kareem was another nations and financial assistance of Nizam. noted law journal. Some newspapers sustained on the fi- nances of the owners.

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In order to garner more revenue, Urdu of Urdu newspapers was low compared newspapers entered into strategic tieup to the circulation of Telugu and English with local English and Telugu dailies. For dailies. Most of the Urdu newspapers instance, Siasat got into a tie up with The rely on buses and trains for distribution. Hindu and in June 2001. Initially, The Urdu newspapers published from limited to Andhra Pradesh, the combina- Hyderabad are being transported to Kar- tion was extended to cover all editions of nataka and Maharashtra and in few Telan- and Eenadu in November 2001. gana districts having Urdu knowing The Siasat daily entered into a tie-up with people. The Hindu, Eenadu and Milap in The Urdu press is experiencing a de- 2006 to offer ‘New CHARminar’, a logi- cline in readership. The total readership cal extension of their existing alliance. is about two lakhs in Hyderabad. The The main objective of this alliance is to mainstream Urdu newspapers—Siasat, offer advertisers ‘more for less’, more Rahanuma-e- Deccan, Munsif, Rashtriya Sa- reach at lesser costs, through conces- hara and Etemad dominate the market. sional combined advertising rates. The al- Presently, Rehnuma-e-Deccan, The Siasat liances, while helping the advertisers Urdu Daily, Munsif, Etemad and Rashtriya reach larger and discerning audiences at Sahara are the mainstream newspapers in lower costs, has also helped both the pub- Hyderabad with reasonably good circula- lications increase their market share. tion. There are over 300 small newspapers In the early years, Urdu newspapers in- in Urdu and most of them depend on fluenced the governments but after the DAVP, I&PR advertisements besides formation of Andhra Pradesh State as the Urdu Academy and Urdu Language De- other language newspapers sprang up, the velopment Authority. Urdu newspapers lost their hold. The cir- culation was confined to Hyderabad and Circulation a few towns in the region and the number of Urdu readers dropped as English news- Urdu was the official language of the Hy- papers took over. Presently, the Urdu derabad Samsthan and the circulation of newspapers are divided on their stance — the Urdu newspapers was substantial. Etemaad, which was launched by the The Urdu newspapers were read by Urdu AIMIM party, few years ago, supports knowing people who resided in Hyder- the AIMIM. The Siasat, Rehnuma-e-Dec- abad though there were people who can and Munsif are anti-AIMIM, whereas spoke Urdu in some districts head quar- Rashtriya Sahara, a national newspaper, is ters like Nizamabad, Karimnagar and neither in support nor against MIM. Nalgonda. There was no competition among the Urdu newspapers after the Po- Ownership lice Action but the publication of number of newspapers gained momentum within The ownership of Urdu newspapers a few years. As Urdu knowing people was primarily in the hands of individuals read English newspapers, the circulation and the turn of the 21st century saw

Interface | February 2016 | 69 K. Venkateshwarlu party-owned newspapers. The advance- papers in Urdu is a hallmark of the Urdu ments in technology-fonts, computers press in Telangana. Over 90 per cent of enveloped the Urdu media which had to them are concentrated in and around Hy- cut down on manpower especially callig- derabad city with a sizeable Urdu speak- raphers. The technological leap further ing people population. Former Urdu led to mushrooming of small newspapers journalists, printing press owners and owned by people who lost their jobs. Fur- journalism enthusiasts (even though they ther, though a record 400 to 500 Urdu didn’t know anything about journalism) newspapers are registered very few are contributed to this trend of launching published regularly while several others newspapers after the introduction of face the threat of closure due to financial computers and Offset Printers. The small problems. Several Urdu newspapers sus- newspaper publishers’ depend on News tain themselves through government ad- Agencies for news. There are a few small vertisements. Urdu newspapers in Adilabad, Nizam- The presence of over 400 small news- abad and Nalgonda districts.

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