As I sat down to write this piece, I found myself thinking of Gulliver’s immense size when he first appears among the Lilliputians in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. That sense of disproportion, of trying to describe something far larger than Loneself, has stayed with me. This piece, too, risks becoming a Lilliputian’s account of Gulliver.
For, as a media person, PG Baruah’s personality is a colossal one for us. Compared to his personality, we are the Lilliputians! And, we only have the Lilliputians’ knowledge of him.
Most people know him only as the owner of The Assam Tribune group of newspapers. Very few among us know that he was a well-trained journalist and it was he who broke the news of the arrival of the Dalai Lama in India in 1959. That was news of historic significance.
The repatriation of 27 Indian soldiers released by the Chinese authorities after the 1962 Indo-China War was also reported by him. For the purpose, he himself drove a Fiat car to and fro between Guwahati and Chayduar, near Tezpur.
Again, it was he who, with his bold initiative to publish a report on the water pipe scam of the State’s Irrigation Department in the early 1960s, created quite a tumult in the political ecosystem of that time.
Because of his bold steps to cleanse it of the scum and to infuse new blood into its newsroom, the sagging The Assam Tribune of the 1990s could spiritedly jump out from its bedfast condition to create a readership record of almost one lakh in the early part of the current century. The Assam Tribune also got its spacious three-storey building during this time. The Assam Tribune Library was also set up during this period. His resoluteness carried him through all odds to achieve all these goals.
And as the Editor of The Assam Tribune, he was the main spirit behind all our endeavours to deeply focus on the issues that concern Assam and its people. Of course, he was always for strict adherence to the norms of journalism and insisted on complying with the spirit of Indianness while reporting on all such issues.
When there was an attempt made by the Union Government to link the rivers of Assam with those of the desiccated states, we tried to resist it with reports, quoting experts from different fields, which included reputed ecologists and geographers, among others; he was always there to guide us as the leader.
He played the same role of a guiding light when we upheld the State Government’s drives against those who were encroaching on the water bodies, hills and forests. Likewise, he extended wholehearted support to us when we reported the irregularities taking place in the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC), the State’s Veterinary Department, Gauhati University, among others.
His support to us in questioning the logic behind the Union Government’s moves to build big dams on the rivers of the Northeast region and narrowing the course of the Brahmaputra, between Dibrugarh and Dhemaji, for building the Bogibeel Bridge, and, in constantly laying stress on conservation of the historical monuments, demands special mention.
He backed us with a conviction that was as solid as a rock. This may be explained with the following example. When we were made to face a vexatious litigation by a deputy commissioner of neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh for a report on recklessly felling trees for the purpose of establishing the headquarters of a newly carved out district, he stood by our side with rock-solid affirmation and apt steps.
But, he had a very different approach towards leading a team. He used to lead us with his perceptive ideas and soft but assertive words. Nevertheless, he was a very watchful leader. He used to observe the developments in the newsroom with dignified silence, granting full freedom to all the individual members of the team to perform properly. He used to keep in with his instructions only when they became inevitable.
Likewise, he used to bear out the veracity of our reports by making some apparently simple questions in his unique style. And in doing so, he was very careful not to hurt the self-respect of the reporter concerned.
One can expect all these qualities only from a true gentleman like PG Baruah.
Ajit Patowary