PATRIOTS, POETS AND PRISONERS
Selections from Ramananda Chatterjee's The Modern Review 1907-1947
Anikendra Sen, Devangshu Datta and Nilanjana S Roy (Eds)
Harper Collins
325+XII pages; Rs 450
Writing for the Annals of the Academy of Political and Social Science in its September 1929 issue, Ramananda Chatterjee presented a perceptive analysis of the challenges Indian journalists faced in that period. This was around the time Chatterjee went to jail on sedition charges. Yet, the editor of The Modern Review, a monthly journal published in English, and Prabasi, its sister publication in Bangla, did not let his bitterness overtake a realistic review of the state of journalism, which has not lost its relevance.
Chatterjee recognised that in spite of the draconian laws restraining the freedom to publish, there were other laws that provided some flexibility to Indian publications as evident from the rising number of newspapers and journals in the first few decades of the 20th century, his own included. Yet, Chatterjee struck a sombre note: "We have to serve and please many masters. The staff of those journals which are owned by capitalists have to serve them. They may not in all cases have to do their bidding directly, but there is indirect, perhaps unconscious, pressure on their minds. But even in the case of those journalists who are proprietors of their own papers, there are other masters to serve and please. There is the circle of readers…. There are the advertisers. And last of all, one must not offend the ruling bureaucracy beyond a certain more or less unknown and unknowable point. Having to serve so many masters, we may seek to be excused for not listening, above all, to the voice of the Master within, speaking through our conscience. …Great is the temptation to play to the gallery; but our task is to mould and guide as well as to give publicity to public opinion."
In many ways, this sums up Ramananda Chatterjee, the intrepid editor of one of 20th-century India's most respected and influential journals that became the platform for the best minds of that era to voice their views on politics, art, culture, defence, economy and international affairs. The Modern Review was not just about erudite commentaries; it also carried interviews, short stories and even poetry, reflecting its editor's intellectual eclecticism and catholicity. In the process, Chatterjee "became the voice of India to the world outside, and he was heard with attention in every country where reason and humanity were honoured by its thinkers," noted eminent historian Jadunath Sarkar in his obituary of Chatterjee, who died in 1943, having served as editor of The Modern Review since its launch in 1907.
A journal that contributed to the many political and cultural debates in pre-Independence India was kept in neglected condition in the archival sections of some of India's libraries. Now, three of Chatterjee's descendants have put together what they consider some of the best essays, interviews, editorials, stories and poems published in The Modern Review. That such an effort took so long to materialise is a sad reflection of India's collective indifference to Chatterjee's work as an editor for over three decades under trying political and economic circumstances (he gave up a teaching job on a question of principle, but soon after launching the journal, Chatterjee had run up a debt of Rs 1,800 - no small amount in 1907).
Thus, reading the many essays and editorials of The Modern Review excerpted in this volume would give you an idea of the difference of views over Swarajya between Rabindranath Tagore and M K Gandhi, why Tagore was ambivalent to the idea of promoting the cult of the charkha or why S C Bose felt that there was a conspiracy in sections of the Congress to isolate him at its Tripuri session. Equally riveting are Jawaharlal Nehru's thoughts on the judiciary and his essay written in the pseudonym of Chanakya on the dangers of his continued leadership of the party.
The kind of relationship Chatterjee maintained with Tagore as one of his main contributors to The Modern Review is worthy of emulation. The two were friends, but would not hesitate to disagree with each other on certain issues as they did on the idea of partially rejecting Bande Mataram as an anthem for the Congress and of appointing Annie Besant as the president of the Calcutta session of the Congress. Yet, the two would agree to discuss their differences. And Tagore would continue to be a contributor to The Modern Review!
The three interviews published in this volume are a must read. Tagore's interaction with Albert Einstein takes the debate between science and humanism with a tinge of Vedanta to a new level. Gandhi's interview to Nirmal Kumar Bose brings out the best interpretation of non-violence, trusteeship and caste hierarchies. And Bose's interaction with Romain Rolland presents the doubts that prevailed on the efficacy of a peaceful movement to free India from British rule.
There is only one shortcoming. The editors of this volume have done a commendable job providing short introductions to each section but inexplicably failed to provide annotations in many of the essays to help readers place the references to characters and historical events in the right context. That would have enhanced the value of this fascinating anthology.
