Ramnath Goenka and Khushwant Singh
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ramnath Goenka, owner of the Indian Express group of newspapers, was one of the most powerful persons in the Indian polity when he came close to Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan.

He was so influenced by the veteran leader that Indian Express virtually became synonymous with the Janata Party movement.

Naturally, when the Emergency was declared and Indira Gandhi imposed censorship, Goenka's media group was the worst hit.

For several days, the newspaper ran blank editorials and columns of black ink on the front page to tell its readers that the main news had been censored.

Though Goenka suffered heavily in revenue, he continued his fight against the Emergency in his own manner.

Khushwant Singh, who was then editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India, was against censorship, but he supported the imposition of Emergency and still does.

"I had advised Indira that she should not muzzle the press, but she did not listen to the sane advice. I still think she was right in imposing Emergency because there would have been chaos in the country if she had waited till June 29.

Narayan had given a call for civil disobedience. I did not agree with Narayan and wrote a letter to him. He replied to my letter that was carried in The Weekly," said the man who loved to be amidst controversies during his heyday and loves them even now.