Express Group mourns death of veteran journalist Prabhash Joshi

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: Prabhash Joshi, a veteran journalist, columnist and chief editorial adviser of Jansatta, The Indian Express Group’s Hindi daily, died following a heart attack on Thursday night at the age of 72.

Joshi worked as the resident editor of The Indian Express in Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Delhi before he became the editor of Jansatta, a post he held for 12 years. Joshi created a distinct and persuasive brand with Jansatta in Hindi journalism in 1983. His weekly column on Sunday, Kaagad Kare (literally meaning black and white), was eagerly lapped up as it spoke in a fresh and common idiom, contrary to the trends in Hindi popular writing in newspapers at the time—he wove colloquial Hindi from his hometown Indore in Madhya Pradesh with a great fluency in print. Kaagad Kare’s last edition talked about 25 years after Indira Gandhi’s assassination and her relevance today. Never scared of taking sides, his editorial, Hum Jaanenge , Hum Jeetenge in 1996 in Jansatta is still remembered by RTI activists as a landmark, as far as moulding public opinion goes.

Joshi wrote on a number of issues ranging from politics and literature to cricket. He was a sports enthusiast and devoted follower of cricket. Spectators in the Lords, London recall him distinctly in the pavilion at the MCC in his crisp, white dhoti and kurta, sitting through hours on end. He switched off the TV after Sachin Tendulkar—his favourite cricketer— got out on Thursday night. Later in the night, he suffered a heart attack.

“I’m really shocked by his demise…He was a keen follower of the game and his death has left a void. Right throughout, his words and opinions have always encouraged me,” Sachin Tendulkar said.

“The Express Group today mourns the passing of one its most distinguished editors. For the world of journalism, Prabhashji’s passing is a great loss. He was a man who combined great erudition with a common touch. He was equally at ease interacting with readers as he was in a literary gathering or a political gathering. He worked with and inspired three generations of journalists. He started Jansatta and nurtured it for about three decades. For me, he was a father figure and this is a personal loss. My thoughts and prayers are with his family,” said Viveck Goenka, chairman and managing director of the Express Group.