The ''National Herald'' is an Indian newspaper published by The Associated Journals Ltd and owned by Young India Limited a company by

Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president of ...

and

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi ('' née'' Maino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest serving president of the Indian National Congress, a social democratic political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independ ...

. It was founded by India's first prime minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

in 1938 as a tool to win independence. It was banned by British government in 1942 during the

Quit India The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule i ...

movement. It was one of the major English language newspapers in India after the end of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

, and occasionally published op-eds authored by Nehru. The newspaper ceased operations in 2008 for financial reasons. In 2016, it was relaunched as a digital publication. The newspaper has been linked to and controlled by members of the Indian National Congress political party. The newspaper is an accused in the National Herald corruption case along with Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi.

History

National Herald was established in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

on 9 September 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru. The paper carried on its masthead the words 'Freedom is in Peril, Defend it with All Your Might' taken from a cartoon by Gabriel from

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

that

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

had forwarded to Nehru. Jawaharlal Nehru was an early editor of the newspaper and until his appointment as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

was the Chairman of the Herald's Board of Directors. In 1938,

K. Rama Rao Kotamaraju Rama Rao (9 November 1896 – 24 May 1953) was an Indian editor, freedom fighter, and also served as a member of Rajya Sabha. He was the first editor of The National Herald (India) The ''National Herald'' is an Indian newspa ...

was appointed the paper's first editor. Following the Quit India Resolution of August 1942, the

clamped down on the Indian press and the paper was shut between 1942 and 1945. The Herald reopened in 1945 and from 1946 to 1950,

Feroze Gandhi Feroze Gandhi (born Feroze Jehangir Ghandy;: "Feroze Gandhi was also from the Nehrus' home town, Allahabad. A Parsi by faith, he at first spelt his surname 'Ghandy'. However, after he joined the national movement as a young man, he changed th ...

served as the paper's Managing Director, helping restore its financial health. From 1946 to 1978,

Manikonda Chalapathi Rau Manikonda Chalapathi Rau (also known as MC and Magnus) (1910 – 25 March 1983) was an Indian journalist and an authority on the Nehruvian thought. Rau was editor of the English-language daily National Herald of Lucknow for over thirty years fr ...

served as its editor. Nehru had served as the paper's international correspondent for a while and after becoming Prime Minister was able to use the paper to espouse unpopular views and to sidestep the press corps in conveying his thoughts on various issues to the reading public as in 1954 when he wrote a scathing piece on the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests titled 'The Death-dealer'. The paper had editions from Lucknow and

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

, the latter begun in 1968. In Delhi, the paper was based out of Herald House on

Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg is a road in Delhi, India. It is named after Bahadur Shah Zafar who was the last Mughal emperor. This road is sometimes also referred to as the (Mountain grass) Fleet Street of India,

, known as Delhi's

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

while in Lucknow it was based out of the Nehru Bhawan and Nehru Manzil buildings. The National Herald also had

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Indore Edition

Mumbai based businessman Vishnu Goyal said his involvement with the National Herald dates back to 1998, when Shiva Publications (a partnership firm) bought rights to publishing the National Herald in Indore & Mumbai. Goyal launched the Indore edition in 2009, months after The Associated Journals decided to shut the Herald’s publication subsequent to settling dues of the staff. Designated as Chief Editor of National Herald &

Global Herald Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

Newspapers, Goyal is also the Chairman & Managing Director of Alpha Vision Overseas India Ltd, a company listed on the BSE.

Plans for revival

National Herald, before its closure was being run by Associated Journals. There were reports that the paper was being revived under journalist Suman Dubey, technocrat

Sam Pitroda Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda also known as Sam Pitrod) is an Indian inventor, telecommunication engineer and entrepreneur. He was born in Titlagarh in the eastern Indian state of Odisha to a Gujarati people, Gujarati family. He is popularly ...

and the newly incorporated Young India Company headquartered at Herald House. However,

, a member on the board of Young Indian Company denied of such movement and mentioned that it is a not-for-profit company and cannot have any profitable business. In March 2016, The Associated Journals Ltd. decided to revive the media outlet in digital form. On 1 October 2016, it announced the appointment of Neelabh Mishra as the Editor in Chief of the National Herald Group. On 14 November 2016, an English website was launched. Simultaneously, it also announced that the print publications under suspension, namely National Herald in English, Navjivan in Hindi and Quami Awaz in Urdu, would be revived in due course. In its press release dated 14 November 2016 the National Herald group pledged its commitment to furthering the editorial vision and principles of its founder Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and India’s Freedom Movement – that of building a modern, democratic, just, equitable, liberal and socially harmonious nation.

Official re-launch

On 12 June 2017, Rahul Gandhi re-launched National Herald at an event in

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. Vice President of India Hamid Ansari was the chief guest and said, "''The duty of the state is clear - free media is necessary for free society. When faced with unjust restrictions, censorship in the media can aid covering of abuses.''".Rahul Gandhi In Bengaluru For Re-Launch Of National Herald
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Commemorative edition

The commemorative edition of National Herald was launched on 1 July 2017, by the then President of India Pranab Mukherjee.

Controversies

The National Herald corruption case is an ongoing case in a Delhi court filed by Indian economist and politician

Subramanian Swamy Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician, economist and statistician. Before joining politics, he was a professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is known for his Hindu na ...

against politicians

and

, their companies and associated persons. As per the complaint filed in the court of the Metropolitan Magistrate, Associated Journals Limited (AJL) took an interest-free loan of from

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

. It is alleged that the loan was not repaid. A closely held company, Young Indian, was incorporated in November 2010 with a capital of and it acquired almost all the shareholding of AJL and all its properties (alleged to be worth ). A defamation suit of Rs 5000 crore was filed by

Reliance Group Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group or popularly known as Reliance ADA Group or simply Reliance Group is an Indian conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company, which was formed after Dhirubhai Ambani's business was divided up, ...

, against National Herald claiming an article published by it was "libellous and derogatory".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:National Herald 1938 establishments in India Newspapers established in 1938 Indian independence movement Indian National Congress English-language newspapers published in India Asian news websites