Rajinder PuriPersonal blo Rajinder Puri /ref> (1934–2015), was an Indian cartoonist, veteran columnist and political activist. He was on the staff of The ''
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia.
It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...
'' and ''
The Statesman
A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level.
Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to:
Newspapers United States
* ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...
'' as a cartoonist and writer. Later, his column appeared in ''
Outlook
Outlook or The Outlook may refer to:
Computing
* Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and personal information management software product from Microsoft
* Outlook.com, a web mail service from Microsoft
* Outlook on the web, a suite of web applications ...
''.
Puri was born on 20 September 1934 in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
, now in Pakistan. His family settled in Delhi after the
partition
Partition may refer to:
Computing Hardware
* Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive
* Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job
Software
* Partition (database), the division of a ...
. He drew cartoons for ''The Statesman'' in 1956–57, after which he went to London, where he drew cartoons briefly for ''
The Manchester Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' and ''
The Glasgow Herald
''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...
'' (1958–59). He returned to India to become cartoonist for the ''Hindustan Times'' from 1959 to 1967. He started working as a columnist and freelancer after this stint. From 1972 to 1977, he was the editor and proprietor of '' Stir Weekly''.
An early critic of the
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
and a fierce opponent of
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 ...
, Puri moved into politics in 1977, becoming the founding General Secretary of the
Janata Party
The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...
. He was later associated with some of the parties that splintered from the Janata Party: the
Lok Dal
Lokdal or Lok Dal is an Indian political party based on agriculture policies, founded by former prime minister of India Charan Singh.
See also
* Girraj Kishore Mahaur, former MLA of Lok Dal
* Lok Dal (Charan)
* Rashtriya Lok Dal
Rashtri ...
and the
BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
, but was not attached to any political party after 1988.
Puri died in his sleep on 16 February 2015 at the age of 80.
Bibliography
*''India 1969: a crisis of conscience'' (1971)
*''India, the wasted years: 1969–1975'' (Chetana Publications, 1975)
*''Government that works-- and how!'' (Scan Publishers, 1989)
* ''Recovery of India'' (Har-Anand Publications, 1992)
*''Bull's Eye'' (Hope India Publications, 2004)
*''A tale of two countries: chronicles of a columnist, 2004–2008'' (Har-Anand Publications, 2008)