- Ramnath Goenka
Infobox_Celebrity
name = Ramnath Goenka
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1904|4|3|mf=y
birth_place =Darbhanga ,Bihar .
death_date = death date and age|1991|10|5|1904|4|3|mf=y
death_place =Mumbai ,Maharastra
occupation = mediabusinessman
spouse = Moongibai Goenka
salary =
networth =
website = [http://www.newindpress.com/ramnathgoenka/ The Indian Express]Ramnath Goenka ( रामनाथ गोयंका )(
April 3 ,1904 –October 5 ,1991 ) was a newspaper baron of India. He launchedThe Indian Express .Early life
Ramnath Goenka (
April 3 ,1904 –October 5 ,1991 ) was born inDarbhanga district ofBihar . He completed his primary education inVaranasi . At the age of 15, he came toChennai to learn the ropes of the business by venturing into the trade ofyarn andjute . He was married to Moongibai.In 1932, he took over the loss-making Madras edition of The Free Press Journal and drove the delivery van himself to dispatch the papers. He founded the
Indian Express in 1936, and in 1941, he was elected President of the National Newspaper Editors’ Conference. Following this, both the Indian Express and Ramnath Goenka openly challenged theBritish Raj .In 1948, Daily Tej partnered with Ram Nath Goenka to publish Indian News Chronicle, an English daily, from New Delhi. After the death of
Lala Deshbandhu Gupta , Ramnath Goenka converted it as The Indian Express. Upon independence he was nominated as a member to theConstituent Assembly of India .Ramnath Goenka would always be remembered for his role during the "Emergency" in India and his crusade against
Indira Gandhi .R. Ramakrishnan who used to work with him was also hailed byJayaprakash Narayan for organising meetings against the emergency. His bitter fight against the business tycoonDhirubhai Ambani is still remembered. His critics believe that his passion for politics was the fire that led the newspapers from Indian Express Group on a blazing trail.Heirs
Goenka had a son B. D. Goenka who was slated to take over the Indian Express. He, however, died as a result of a tragic cardiac arrest. Ramnath got along well with Saroj Goenka, his son's widow. HIs son B. D. and Saroj had three children, Arati Agarwal, Ritu Goenka and Kavita Singhania. However powers at the Indian Express Group decided that they were bereft of a direct heir, because the three children of B.D. Goenka were female. Goenka was averse to making his very capable daughter-in-law Saroj or his grand daughters as heirs to his media empire.
Ramnath had other children. He had a daughter named Krishna who was married to A. M. Khaithan of the Calcutta Khaithan's; who are the worlds largest tea producers and battery manufacturer's through the ownership of
Williamson Magor . [http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/nov202005/books12284420051119.asp] . Vivek Khaitan(who eventually was made heir after a change of name to Vivek Goenka (now Viveck Goenka). Another of Ramnath's daughter married in to the Sonthailia family in Chennai. Her son Manoj Kumar Sonthaila runs the The New Indian Express Group based in Chennai.cThe battle against Dhirubhai Ambani
At one point in time, Ramnath Goenka was a friend of
Dhirubhai Ambani . Ramnath Goenka was also considered to be close withNusli Wadia . On many occasions, Ramnath Goenka tried to intervene between the two warring factions and bring an end to the enmity. At one occasion, Ramnath Goenka is believed to have said "Nusli is an Englishman. He cannot handle Ambani. I am a bania. I know how to finish him" [ Was Goenka a BJP man? [http://vilakudy.blogspot.com/2005/10/was-goenka-bjp-man.html] ]As the days passed by The Indian Express, a
broadsheet daily published by him carried a series of articles againstReliance Industries and Dhirubhai in which they claimed that Dhirubhai was using unfair trade practices to maximise the profits. Ramnath Goenka did not use his staff at the Indian Express to investigate the case but assigned his close confidant, advisor and chartered accountantS. Gurumurthy for this task. Apart from S. Gurumurthy, another journalist Maneck Davar who was not on the rolls of Indian Express started contributing stories. Jamnadas Moorjani, a businessman opposed to the Ambanis was also a part of this campaign.Both the Ambanis and Goenka were criticized and admired. People criticized Goenka for using a national newspaper to sort personal enmity. Critics believed that there were many other businessman in the country who were using more unfair and unethical practices but Goenka choose to target only Ambani and not others. When Ramnath Goenka was asked as to why he choose to fight against Dhirubhai only, he is believed to have said "Everybody rapes the system but this man wanted to make it his mistress". Critics also admired Goenka for his ability to run these articles without the help from his regular staff. Dhirubhai Ambani was getting more recognition and admiration. A section of the public started to appreciate Dhirubhai's business sense and his ability to tame the system as per his wishes. [ Was Goenka a BJP Man? [http://vilakudy.blogspot.com/2005/10/was-goenka-bjp-man.html] ]
The end to the tussle came only after Dhirubhai Ambani met with a stroke. While Dhirubhai Ambani was recovering in
San Diego , his sonsMukesh Ambani andAnil Ambani managed the affairs. The Indian Express had turned the guns against Reliance and was directly blaming the government for not doing enough to penalise Reliance Industries. The battle between Wadia - Goenka and Ambanis took a new direction and became a national crisis. Gurumurthy and another journalist Mulgaokar consorted with PresidentGiani Zail Singh and ghost-wrote a hostile letter to the Prime Minister on his behalf. The Indian Express published draft of the President’s letter as a scoop, not realising that Zail Singh had made changes to the letter before sending it toRajiv Gandhi . Ambani's had won the battle at this point. Now the tussle was directly between the Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi and Ramnath Goenka. Ambani's made a quiet exit at this point. The government then raided the Express guest house in Delhi’s Sunder Nagar and found the original draft with corrections in Mulgaokar’s handwriting, which led to prosecution by the government.Jan Sangh and BJP
Many people believe that Ramnath Goenka supporting the sister organizations of
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh . Goenka’s best friends were Nanaji Deshmukh and the Rajmata of Gwalior,Vijayaraje Scindia both known supporters of RSS. His chief advisor wasS. Gurumurthy , who is proud of his RSS links. His doctor and advisor was J. K. Jain (of Jain TV fame) who is a known Swaymsevak or Volunteer of RSS. His most famous editor wasArun Shourie , who later became a BJP minister. His lawyer wasArun Jaitley , who served V. P. Singh’s government in a legal capacity but found fame as a BJP minister.Later years and death
Ramnath Goenka continued his fight till his last days. After a prolonged illness, on
October 5 ,1991 Ramnath Goenka suffered terribly and died in Mumbai.Biography
Warrior of the Fourth Estate, is the official biography of Ramnath Goenka and is authored by BG Verghese. It has been published by Penguin, India.
ISBN 0-67-005842-4 Media
He was portrayed as the ageing press baron, Manikdas Gupta, by Hindi film actor,
Mithun Chakraborty in the 2007Hindi movie,Guru (2007 film) .References
* [http://www.getitindia.com/html/aboutus.html Take Over of Indian News Chronicle]
* [http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/nov202005/books12284420051119.asp Article in Deccan Herald]
* [http://midday.chalomumbai.com/smd/play/2004/december/100605.htm Rare Photos]External links
* [http://www.newindpress.com/ramnathgoenka/ Tribute to RNG by Indian Express]
* [http://in.rediff.com/money/2002/jul/08amb4.htm Dhirubhai's fight with RNG]
* [http://www.indiavarta.com/gallery/show.asp?topic=-832 Ramnath Goenka in various moods]
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