In the heyday of the Blitz, Russy Karanjia carried the reputation of a “bulldog of an editor” with aplomb.
In fact, a bulldog was the mascot of the advertisements for The Daily, the daily tabloid he launched to complement the weekend offering.
In a non-aligned, less-insular India of the 1960s and 1970s, the world’s leaders from Anwar Sadat (Egypt) to Nikita Krushchev (USSR) to Marshal Tito (Yugoslavia) gave Karanjia their time.
He met the Shah of Iran at regular intervals, those interactions even resulting in a book, The Mind of a Monarch.
The rapport between an editor and an emperor led to comments from former Outlook* editor Vinod Mehta, a compatriot of Karanjia—and then a quick apology.
Now, secret cables from the American embassy in India, made available by Wikileaks, throw a question mark on the nature of the relationship between Karanjia and the Shah.
Below is the full text of a cable sent from New Delhi in July 1975, shortly after the proclamation of the Emergency, including press censorship, by the then Congress government of Indira Gandhi:
1. LEFTIST/RADICAL COMMIE-SUPPORTING BLITZ JULY 19 ISSUE FRONTPAGES EDITOR R.K. KARANJIA‘S INTERVIEW WITH SHAH IN WHICH KARANJIA SAYS SHAH “COMPREHENDS THE CAUSES, SOURCES AND LOGIC OF THE EMERGENCY PROCLAIMED IN INDIA AND SUPPORTS THE INDIRA GANDHI GOVERNMENT’S ACTION TO SAVE THE COUNTRY FROM BEING PARALYZED AND FRACTURED BY ANARCHY”.
KARANJIA SAYS SHAH “LIKENED THE INDIAN PRIME MINISTER’S ORDEALS IN DEALING WITH EXTREMISTS OF THE RIGHT AS WELL AS THE LEFT WITH HIS OWN EXPERIENCE DURING THE EARLIER TRAUMATIC YEARS OF HIS REIGN, WHEN ‘A DARK, UGLY AND STRANGE COMBINATION OF MULLAHS, LANDLORDS AND COMMUNISTS JOINED FOREIGN ELEMENTS IN A CONSPIRACY TO DISMEMBER AND DESTROY IRAN’.”
KARANJIA BLAMED “AMERICAN NEWS AGENCIES AND SYNDICATED TRASH” FOR THE ANTI-INDIA ARTICLES APPEARING IN IRANIAN PRESS.
2. WE HAVE BEEN PUZZLED FOR SOME TIME ABOUT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SHAH AND KARUNJIA AND CANNOT HELP WONDERING WHETHER SOME ILL-ADVISED IRANIAN CONSUL GENERAL IN THE PAST URGED THE SHAH TO PUT KARANJIA ON THE ROYAL PAYROLL. (emphasis added)
(WE HAVE THOUGHT FOR SOME TIME THAT MANY OF THE STAFF OF THE IRANIAN CONSULATE GENERAL IN BOMBAY ARE SAVAK RATHER THAN FOREIGN OFFICE. IN ANY CASE, THEY HAVE, AS A GENERAL RULE, BEEN IMPRESSIVELY UNIMPRESSIVE.)
WHATEVER THE EXPLANATION, IT IS GENERALLY ASSUMED HERE THAT KARANJIA IS ON THE SHAH’S PAYROLL. SHAH’S INTEREST IN THE LARGE PARSEE AND IRANIAN COMMUNITIES IN THIS PART OF INDIA MIGHT, IN HIS MIND, SERVE AS RATIONALE FOR A FRIENDLY PAPER, EVEN IF IT IS BLITZ. (emphasis added)
3. EVEN ADMITTING THE SHAH’S DESIRE FOR A FRIENDLY PRESS HERE, WE WONDER IF HE KNOWS WHAT A THOROUGH-GOING SCOUNDREL KARANJIA IS. KARANJIA IS THE ANTITHESIS OF EVERYTHING THE SHAH HIMSELF STANDS FOR AND THE SHAH GIVES HIM UNDESERVED RESPECTABILITY BY RECEIVING HIM IN TEHRAN AND GIVING HIM EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN IS THAT THE SHAH DOES HIS OWN IMAGE NO GOOD BY ASSOCIATING WITH THE LIKES OF KARANJIA. (emphasis added)
4. WE DO NOT MEAN TO IMPLY THAT THERE MAY NOT BE SKELETONS IN THE ROYAL CLOSET IN TEHRAN, BUT WE THINK THE SHAH’S CONTINUED CONNECTION WITH KARANJIA MIGHT AT ONE POINT PROVE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE. THE ALLEGED CIA INVOLVEMENT IN MOSSADEGH’S OVERTHROW WOULD, AT FIRST GLANCE, SEEM TO MAKE ANY CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SHAH AND KARANJIA IMPOSSIBLE WHEN IT IS REMEMBERED THAT CIA IS ONE OF BLITZ’S MOST CONSISTENT TARGETS, PARTICULARLY NOW.
5. KARANJIA IS PRESENTLY EMBARKED ON A CAMPAIGN TO WHIP UP SUPPORT FOR MRS GANDHI, AND HIS STOP IN TEHRAN OBVIOUSLY PAID OFF. THE KARANJIA INTERVIEW WITH THE SHAH WAS PICKED UP BY UNI AND CARRIED IN THE JULY 18 TIMES OF INDIA UNDER THE HEADING “SHAH JUSTIFIES EMERGENCY STEPS BY INDIRA”. WE CAN’T HELP WONDERING IF THE SHAH REALIZED THIS WOULD HAPPEN AND IF HE KNOWS JUST WHAT HE’S BITTEN OFF IN KARANJIA.
* Disclosures apply
Photograph: courtesy Arab News
Also read: Why Ayub Syed took two empty suitcases to Libya
It isn’t easy to tell tales of even dead editors
Sudheendra Kulkarni: ‘A courageous, committed editor’
External reading: P. Sainath on Russy Karanjia
