Pratap, Urdu newspaper that was a chronicle of its times

Chronicling a century of journalism, a father-daughter duo from Jalandhar —- Editor Chander Mohan and his columnist daughter Jyotsna Mohan —- have penned a book titled, ‘Pratap— A Defiant Newspaper’. The book was launched at Kanya Maha Vidyalaya on Thursday.

Published by HarperCollins India, the book traces the journey of the Urdu newspaper ‘Pratap’ and its Hindi successor ‘Vir Pratap’, their founder and editors, and key moments in Indian history. Launched by Mahashay Krishan on March 30, 1919 and carried on by his son Virendra and later his grandson Chander, ‘Pratap’ was known to be a torch-bearer against the British Raj that covered all the major events during India’s struggle for Independence and after, until it wound up in 2017 after rendering service for almost a century.

Recalling the turbulent times during the book launch event, Chander Mohan said, “Known for its bold stance, ‘Pratap’ faced shutdowns, arrests, and even a parcel bomb, yet remained a fearless voice and stood like a rock against the tide of times.” The book also chronicles in a meticulous way the life of the founder’s son Virendra who once walked shoulder to shoulder with stalwarts like Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad.

In a poignant narrative that weaves historical facts in unbiased journalistic writing, Chander Mohan recounted horrors of Partition, vicissitudes of the family that had to shift from Lahore to Jalandhar and political turbulence, particularly during the militancy in Punjab, in the 1980 and 1990s. The co-author of the book, Jyotsna Mohan, with nearly three decades of experience across TV, print and digital media, is a fourth generation journalist in

the family.

The chief guest at the event was Justice (retd) NK Sud. Members of the KMV Managing Committee, including Dr Sushma Chopra, Dhruv Mittal, Prof Suresh Seth, Dr Satpal Gupta, Irwin Khanna and Rajesh Bali also graced the event. College principal Dr Atima Sharma Dwivedi congratulated the father-daughter duo on this creative and impassioned endeavour. She said that the historical perspective rendered to his personal saga of struggle and resilience in an autobiographical tone by Chander Mohan leads the readers on an engaging journey back to the past with easy flow of thoughts, thematic cohesiveness and soulful insights, making the book a must-read.

Both the authors described the book as ‘a journey of history, courage and storytelling coming to life’ with a message of fight for right, importance of speaking truth to power and values like compassion, tolerance and love for all against communal hatred.