New Delhi: Anandabazar Patrika Group launched its centenary celebration Saturday to commemmorate the publication's role in the Indian media landscape since it started printing 100 years ago in the year 1922.


In his opening remarks at an event at the Biswabangla Convention Center in Kolkata, Atideb Sarkar, Chief Editor, ABP Group, said: "ABP serves ordinary Indians, not their rulers. It does so through the heroism of its people, especially in crisis."


Talking about ABP's inception, he mentioned the world events taking place in 1922 including Mahatma Gandhi's arrest during his non-cooperation movement in India, and added: "As Calcutta celebrated the festival of colours, a Bengali evening paper was first published and, in red ink, lent support to Gandhi’s cause. The British saw not the red of Doljatra but a warning of danger."






The ABP Group Chief Editor recalled Anandabazar Patrika's glorious journey. He spoke about the newspaper’s silver jubilee coinciding with the year of India’s independence and then how the Indian press was faced with the challenge to be at the defence of its freedom by 1972. The institution celebrated its 75th anniversary when the Cold War had ended and India was reforming its economy. By this period, the group was publishing The Telegraph and was to foray into television. 


"Over the past 25 years, the group has ventured into new lands, languages and forms. Today, ABP reaches nearly 300 million Indians each month from Jammu to Kanyakumari across television, digital, print and radio," Atideb Sarkar said.


"The group’s enterprise has been matched by its heroism," he added as he went on to cite examples of ABP journalists who displayed exemplary dedication towards their call of duty over the years. 


The Chief Editor spoke about the challenges faced by the nation as well as the "sea change" witnessed in news media in the age of the internet.


"As the world changes, we will stay true to ourselves. We will continue to provide sound, independent journalism in the public interest. That means doing our work ethically and with rigour. It also entails holding the powerful to account, even in adversity," he said.


"We advocate realism in foreign policy or the singular pursuit of the national interest in an anarchic world," he added. 


Towards the conclusion of his address, Atideb Sarkar shared what advice Rabindranath Tagore gave to Anandabazar Patrika in 1933 "when dictators rose and India ached for independence".


Watch the entire speech here:



Here is the full transcript of the speech:


Ladies and gentlemen, 


Thank you for sparing your time to attend ABP's centennial. We are deeply grateful for your presence.


The occasion might lead some of us to Mahadeb's teashop on Prafulla Sarkar Street, some to the Press Club in Delhi, and some to the halls of Parliament. In each place, we might hear the question: "Who does ABP serve?" I will attempt an answer.


ABP serves ordinary Indians, not their rulers. It does so through the heroism of its people, especially in crisis. 


This is a year of significant centenaries in media and publishing. The Reader's Digest and Foreign Affairs magazine turn one hundred. Time magazine enters its hundredth year. It is a hundred years since the BBC's first radio broadcast. It is a century since Eliot's Waste Land and Joyce's Ulysses were published. 


In 1922, German democracy was straining under hyperinflation as the American economy boomed. Mussolini seized power in Italy. As the British Empire passed its high noon, Ireland won self-rule in January.


In March, Gandhi was arrested during his non-cooperation movement in India. 


As Calcutta celebrated the festival of colours, a Bengali evening paper was first published and, in red ink, lent support to Gandhi's cause. The British saw not the red of Doljatra but a warning of danger.


Twenty five years later, Anandabazar Patrika's Silver Jubilee coincided with the year of India's independence. An editorial celebrated the success of the freedom movement and the paper's emergence as one of its leading voices.


By 1972, the challenge before the Indian press was soon to be the defence of its freedom. The paper was among the country's largest by circulation. During his Golden Jubilee address, Asoke Kumar Sarkar, then Chief Editor, said the paper had grown because it had served its readers, not the powerful. 


Later, when the institution celebrated its 75th anniversary, the Cold War had ended and India was reforming its economy. The group was now publishing The Telegraph and was to foray into television. The then-Chief Editor, Aveek Sarkar, said that Anandabazar's ethos was its willingness to "question any establishment that subverted] values for the sake of expediency". The principles of personal freedom and the free market were central to editorial policy.


Over the past twenty five years, the group has ventured into new lands, languages and forms. Today, ABP reaches nearly 300 million Indians each month from Jammu to Kanyakumari across television, digital, print and radio.


The group's enterprise has been matched by its heroism. I will cite six examples over the past twenty five years.


In September 1999, a fire "engulf[ed]" the ABP office in Calcutta. Bulu Bandury charged into the building to rescue an employee from the flames.


Even fire could not burn us. The next day, the entire staff of Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph brought out the papers. Anandabazar's front-page editorial said: "Puriyao Jaha Pore Na".


In September 2006, a bomb kept in a tiffin box exploded in Jhargram when the police tried to deactivate it. Soumeshwar Mondal was critically wounded when he tried to take a photograph. Two years later, with one eye and a resilient spirit, he was back on his bike taking pictures. 


In July 2014, Jagwinder Singh Patial flew to war-torn Iraq to break the news of the killing of 39 Indian hostages by ISIS.


In May 2020, the cyclone Amphan hit West Bengal. As winds reached 150 km per hour, and trees and electric poles fell all around, Ruma Paul held her ground for two hours reporting on the ravages of the storm. 


Facing the same cyclone and failed internet lines, Rahul Maji connected a laptop to the CCTV server to send the PDF version of the next day's papers to the printing press. 


We are lucky to have many other heroes among us. We pay homage to them all. 


Our heroes face a very different world today.


America is no longer the world's policeman. China has risen and Russia is belligerent. Global trade and economic growth have declined and prices are rising rapidly. The ideals of liberal democracy are in retreat. As the world moves towards a multipolar order, Delhi dreams of a place among the great powers.


But this dream is clouded by threats within.


The task of economic reform remains incomplete and the pandemic has claimed lives and livelihoods. The Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy found that, in May, only two-fifths of Indians aged 15 years or older were employed or seeking jobs. This year, our economy will grow fast enough to create 6 million new jobs, where it needs 10.5 million. Our demographic dividend is becoming more difficult to reap.


Social divisions are growing. The politics of polarisation, played out through social media and news channels, has deepened the fissure of religion on the street and in the drawing room.


The environment for news media has also suffered a sea change.


The spread of the Internet has changed publishing in a way not seen since the invention of the printing press. The man in rural Uttar Pradesh has the world in his smartphone.


However, independent journalism often draws ire on social media. It also meets the anger of governments at state and Centre, the authorities now more sophisticated with their use of law, technology and commerce and more ruthless in their punishment of criticism. 


As the world changes, we will stay true to ourselves.


We will continue to provide sound, independent journalism in the public interest. That means doing our work ethically and with rigour. It also entails holding the powerful to account, even in adversity.


We advocate realism in foreign policy, or the singular pursuit of the national interest in an anarchic world. This is the path that Delhi has followed in its response to the war in Ukraine. It is also in the world's interest that India retain its relationships on either side of the conflict.


We believe that the task of reform must be renewed and long-term growth must be the government's main concern. The McKinsey Global Institute has estimated that the Indian economy needs to grow at 8 to 8.5 per cent till 2030 in order to employ its young jobseekers.


However, reforms alone cannot address the material strain on our citizens. The RBI and the government need to rein in inflation and the poor need a proper safety net. Personal freedom remains as relevant as ever. But we aspire to a larger ideal, which the Constitution calls "the dignity of the individual".


We believe that social harmony is necessary for national unity. Polarisation fetches eyeballs and perhaps helps win some elections. But it does not make the country stronger.


In 1933, as dictators rose and India ached for independence, Rabindranath gave the following advice to Anandabazar Patrika.


তোমার লেখনী যেন ন্যায়দন্ড ধরে
শত্রুমিত্র নির্বিভেদে সকালের পর। 
স্বজাতির সিংহাসন উচ্চ করি গড়ো,
সেই সঙ্গে মনে রেখো সত্য আরও বড়ো। 
স্বদেশের চাও যদি তারও উর্দ্ধে ওঠো,
কোরো না দেশের কাছে মানুষের ছোটো।    


A very rough translation in English follows.


May your words be just to all, 
Whether friend or foe. 
Raise high the throne that is the Nation 
But remember: Truth is higher still. 
If you desire your Nation rise still higher, 
Belittle not Humanity before Country.


In the halls of Parliament, at the Press Club, and at Mahadeb's teashop, the answer is this: We at ABP serve people, not power. And we find the heroes within ourselves, time and again.


Thank you for listening.