Nepal’s Pioneer Journalist

‘My job is to sniff the stinking asses and expose them.’

A journalist said so when the country was under the 'Panchayat Regime' which was oppressive and notoriously against 'free press'.

When offered the post of a minister by the then king Mahendra, the same journalist replied, "Your majesty, forgive me for I am a guy who is being sold at the price of 10 paisa so I have neither capacity nor interest to be a minister."

By quoting the price of 10 paisa, he was actually indicating the price of his newspaper.

He was Chandra Lal Jha, Editor of Nepal Times daily, who continuously denied offers of holding lucrative administrative posts and relentlessly fought for the freedom of press and right to expression and opinion.

He was among a few journalists who suffered imprisonment for several times for writing against the Panchayat Regime and raising the issues of the people.

Sunil Chandra Jha has come up with a book – Chandra Lal Jha: Kalamko Swabhimani Sipahi – an anthology of write-ups on the veteran journalist and articles and editorials penned by the journalist himself.

Sunil is son of Chandra Lal and a professor of medicine at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital who also worked as a special correspondent for the Nepal Times for about two years some four decades back – before the referendum of 1980.

Chandra Lal was continuously harassed and threatened by the government.

Public interest was the major motivation for him which continuously inspired him to stand against the Panchayat dictatorship.

Journalist Purushottam Dahal writes, "One day Chandra Lal said that a journalist should have a smell power like a horse which can sense danger from a distance and take the rider to a safer destination as soon as possible."

He was jailed for seven and a half years during his 37-year long journalism career from 1958 to 1995.

He was sent to jail for 17 times from six days to one-and-a-half years. The government also seized 31 ropanis of land from his family.

Jha who rode a motorbike with a number plate 2007, symbolic to the dawn of democracy in the country, was very unhappy when the political leaders were indifferent to the issues of people and development and the whole political system was marred by corruption, nepotism and impunity.

He died a silent death on 27 July, 2012.

The passionate fighter of press freedom was critical of the political parties and leadership that went haywire in regard to democratic values after the restoration of democracy.

Nepal Times was a school for the famed journalists like Kishor Nepal, Purushottam Dahal, Achyut Raman Adhikari, Rajeshwar Nepali, Sukeshwar Pathak and Ramchandra Poudel.

Jha was decorated with 'Press Freedom Fighter' medal by the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ).

The book includes articles from personalities like S. Chandrasekaran, Madan Mani Dixit, Kishor Nepal, Dr. Nil Prasad Pant, Durga Nath Sharma, Puroshattam Dahal, Jhalak Bahadur Sapkota, and Gobinda Pradhan, among others.

It has a separate section that includes various articles, editorials and news written on Nepal Times and Chandra Lal. Some pages of photographs have added value to the book.

'Chandra Lal Jha: Kalamko Swabhimani Sipahi' is not only a good read but also a good collection. It’s particularly useful for the students of Journalism and Mass Communication at different levels at university and anyone who has interest in the field of journalism.

(Published in The Rising Nepal, Friday Supplement, May 11, 2017)