Mightier than sword
It was a whole different world then. The country was nothing like we know it today. The cry for swadesh was in the air and freedom fighters left no stone unturned to take on the British colonisers. The written word was often their weapon and they used it to the full to reach the masses. Whether it was the Father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi or freedom fighters like H.S. Doreswamy of Bengaluru, their medium of communication became newspapers and publications which fearlessly opposed the British government and widely debated social issues.
The vernacular dailies, in particular, played a significant role as they had the advantage of reaching people at the grassrooots and took their mission seriously. In Bengaluru the publishers of these dailies carried on doggedly often under threat of arrest for writing against the government. Rather than give in to the threats they printed the newspapers clandestinely outside the state, in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, and smuggled them in to reach the people who depended on them both for information and the inspiration to keep the fight going.
Pouravani, for instance, established in the 1940s by H.S. Doreswamy, was printed in Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh and later supplied to Bengaluru. “Close to 2,000 copies were delivered to Bengaluru through volunteers. The demand was such that the newspapers run by freedom fighters and like-minded people were sold for eight annas,” recalls historian and director of Project Discover, Bengaluru, Arun Prasad.
Educationist Sheshappa, better known as Kidi Sheshappa, printed his newspapers in Madras and sent them to Bengaluru. “Sheshappa ran a newspaper called Swanatrodaya which was confiscated by the British government as he wrote against it. But he refused to give up and simply launched a new political weekly called Kidi and continued to take on the government,” adds Mr Prasad, noting that vernacular newspapers flourished those years, particularly from the Quit India Movement of 1942 till the Mysore state was freed from princely rulers. The most popular in Bengaluru were Tayeenadu, Vishwa Karntaka, Deshbhandu and Janavani. Prajamata, a weekly magazine, also devoted considerable space to the freedom struggle.
Recalls freedom fighter Tirumalachar, “Writers sent articles in pseudonyms to these publications so that the government did not arrest them.” Many papers also continued to publish post-independence since Mysore was still under a king, according to him.