Nayar, also known for advocating better India-Pakistan ties, died 23 August, five days after he was admitted to a hospital with pneumonia.
New Delhi: Friends and well-wishers paid glowing tributes to journalist and human rights defender Kuldip Nayar, who passed away on 23 August, at a function in Delhi Wednesday.
Nayar’s loss was more acutely felt on a day when the nationwide police clampdown on journalists and activists evoked strong reactions from the civil society in the country.
“No democracy has succeeded for long without fiercely independent work to defend it, to fight for it. He (Nayar) was that person who went beyond the duties of a journalist,” said Balmiki Prasad Singh, former governor of Sikkim and a close friend of the Nayars.
A documentary made on his life was screened on the occasion. It shows Nayar narrating that two historic events proved to be inflection points in his life — Partition and the Emergency.
Also read: Kuldip Nayar: The rock star Reporter who should’ve been Editor
Nayar’s conviction that a free press was fundamental to the working of a healthy democracy landed him in jail during the Emergency. At the time, he was one of the most vocal critics of censorship and suppression of constitutional rights, being arrested one day after he led the historic anti-Emergency protest from Delhi’s Press Club.
“A cause that drove him through his life was an effort to undo the partition of minds that took place in 1947. He was one of the million that suffered, but he took the pain of all to heart,” said former editor H.K. Dua.
“It was the golden years of The Indian Express when he was around,” Dua added.
Nayar authored 15 books, served as the India’s High Commissioner to the UK in 1990, and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1997. Through his work and activism, he advocated for the mending of India-Pakistan relations, leading marches to Wagah every Independence Day to light candles at the border.
Ashwani Kumar, former Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, said the number of people at Wednesday’s event were a testament to the great man he was, one who “put his self-interest behind him every step of the way to talk about what is right, and what is needed”.
Former chief election commissioner S. Y. Quraishi and actor Nandita Das also attended the service among other distinguished guests.
Nayar passed away at the age of 95 on 23 August, five days after he was admitted to a hospital with pneumonia. His last rites were performed the same afternoon at the Lodhi crematorium.
Also read: The India-Pakistan border haunted journalist Kuldip Nayar all his life after Partition