Leaf from past:Seditious Newspaper
Shall we really have to give up journalism? It has of late become a very risky affair to write freely and fearlessly in any newspaper or to speak at any meeting. Does not such a state of things bode evil both to the rulers and the ruled? Can uneducated or power loving village headmen or subordinate officials always in dread of the frowns of their superiors be expected to report the real wants and grievance of the public with the same impartiality and sense of responsibility as newspapers? Can the former ever gather facts and bring them to the notice of the superior officials with as much fearlessness as responsible editor do? From this point to view, therefore, it is the impartial and fearless Indian newspapers as also the public speakers who are the indispensable friends of the administration. Is it not then positively harmful to the administration of the country to arrest and severely punish in this way these papers and speakers and to prevent them from speaking out the truth?…
Bengavasi (Calcutta). December 1929