There are few journalists who are consistent in what they write, back it with scholarly knowledge, and say it as it is, not as it should be to please bosses or the powers that be. Praful Bidwai was one of this rare species, a journalist who never gave up his freedom to speak out even when at times he was facing penury, and actually felt the pressure of joblessness and a column that the big guys in the newspaper ‘business’ were too terrified to print.
Tributes to Praful Bidwai
Editors of Historical Materialism remember Praful Bidwai as an engaged open-minded intellectual
(Text of Email Message dated 11 July 2015)
The editors of Historical Materialism were shocked and saddened to hear of the tragic death of Praful Bidwai. Praful was a keynote speaker at the HM Delhi conference and we were extremely pleased to have such an engaged, critical and open-minded intellectual involved with our event and our project of reinvigorating Marxist debate.
Praful will be missed by everyone committed to socialism, workers' rights and environmental justice. We share the grief of those who worked closely with him for an outstanding comrade.
Steve Edwards
For the editors of Historical Materialism http://www.historicalmaterialism.org
Some photos from the memorial meeting for Praful Bidwai in New Delhi on 8 July 2015
The below photos were taken by Mukul Dube
Remembering Praful
I remember Praful from his pre-journalist days - the IIT days, the Magowa days - days when we were closest. This is a Praful who is not very well known and today I would like to speak about him.
Praful was India’s best and bravest journalist from the left
Praful was an extraordinary human being, always deeply committed politically, starting with his days as a student at Bombay I.I.T. and also the least dogmatic and sectarian left-winger that either of us ever knew. He embodied the vision of an essentially modern Left, the Left as a secular, rationalist force, a champion of democracy in the modern world, and as opposed to the authoritarianism and repressiveness of ostensibly “leftwing” regimes as to capitalism’s wide-ranging subjugation of humanity and of nature. As someone who was thoroughly cosmopolitan and internationalist in his outlook, Praful was repelled by the espousal of nationalisms across the political spectrum.