ON September 6, 2022, Deshabhimani celebrated its 80th anniversary. Deshabhimani was begun on September 6, 1942, as a weekly. Later on, it was on  January 18, 1946 that Deshabhimani began publishing as a daily.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated Deshabhimani’s anniversary celebrations on September 6, at Kozhikode, where its first edition was published. Malayalam’s favourite story writer M T Vasudevan Nair was the chief guest. Several dignitaries from multiple walks of life participated in the celebrations. During the inaugural meet, Deshabhimani’s history, a directory containing information on all those who have worked in Deshabhimani till date, and a special edition of the Deshabhimani weekly were released.

The concluding ceremony of the anniversary celebrations will be held at Thiruvananthapuram on January 18, the day on which Deshabhimani weekly transformed into a daily. All those who were in the frontline of Deshabhimani will be felicitated during the concluding ceremony. In the districts, various programmes are being held as part of the anniversary celebrations. Programmes like seminars, art and literary competitions, family get togethers, sports competitions etc are being planned in such a way that all areas are covered.

Today, Deshabhimani is a daily that has around 7 lakh subscribers in Kerala. The newspaper has 10 editions in different parts of the state. It is proof of the fact that Deshabhimani is surging ahead. Along with the daily, as a cultural publication, the Deshabhimani Weekly is also being published. In Kerala, Deshabhimani Weekly is in the second spot in terms of subscriptions. Efforts are underway to make it the highest subscribed weekly, by the time the anniversary celebrations are completed. Every year, the daily is being popularised under the leadership of the state committee. The popularisation drive begins on September 23, the martyrdom day of Azhikodan Raghavan who was a state secretariat member of the Party and ends on October 20, the death anniversary of former Party state secretary, C H Kanaran.

One of the important decisions taken by the state conference of the Party was to strengthen its activities in the media sector. Certain directions were also put forth by the state conference in that regard. Accordingly, efforts are on across the state to increase the subscription to 10 lakhs.

The history of Left wing press in Kerala starts with the publication of Prabhatham, which was the mouthpiece of the Congress Socialist Party. Initially it was published from Shoranur. During those days, major campaigns had sprung up against the CSP. The need for a medium to counter such campaigns resulted in the publication of the first issue of Prabhatham from Shoranur in January 1935. Even though it was functional only for a short period of time, it played a major role in highlighting the workers struggles and various mass struggles that had started to spring up at that time. The Madras government confiscated it for publishing a poem titled Athmanatham. In 1938, Prabhatham once again began publication from Kozhikode as the mouthpiece of the Congress Socialist Party. Prabhatham’s second stint was put an end to with the revocation of its license, and hence it could not continue.

In 1942, Quit India protests sprang up across the country. Pitched campaigns were conducted against the Communist Party, in the wake of the position it took considering the change of winds in the Second World War. In Kerala too campaigns were conducted to alienate the Party. The crux of the propaganda was that communists were anti-nationals. It was under these circumstances that Deshabhimani began publishing on September 6, 1942. Even the name Deshabhimani – which means patriot – was chosen so as to counter the propaganda. It also means that the newspaper was begun with a patriotic sentiment.

What Deshabhimani’s stance would be was explained in the first issue itself, by P Krishnapillai who was the state secretary of the Communist Party. He wrote “this communist newspaper will strive to serve and to encourage everyone, for Kerala’s utmost fame, for the liberation of India our motherland and for the people of the land to determine their own fate.” In the subsequent years too, Deshabhimani has functioned by upholding the ideals enunciated by Krishnapillai.

The workers and peasants of the state have provided crucial support in Deshabhimani commencing its operations. P C Joshi’s comments in the extended Central Committee convened at Bombay in September 1943 points to it. In a village near Thalassery, an elderly peasant woman named Palora Matha had only a cow as her savings. When she heard of a Party newspaper being published, she donated her only cow to the newspaper fund. Deshabhimani was able to move forward only with the contributions of several such poor people.

Deshabhimani’s positions against colonialism and feudalism and in favour of social justice, resulted in several objections from the ruling classes. Subsequent to the hanging of the Kayyur comrades on March 29, 1943, Deshabhimani published an editorial on it. A fine of Rs 1,000 had to be paid on account of that. In 1944, Deshabhimani was confiscated for publishing a song titled Ernadinte Dheeratmakkal – the valiant children of Ernad. On the day when Deshabhimani’s first issue was being published, electricity was cut off and in order to publish the newspaper, Deshabhimani workers and Party comrades rolled the presses by hand.

On the 25th anniversary of the Malabar Revolt in 1946, Party’s state committee adopted a resolution titled ‘1921: The Call and Warning’. On the basis of that, EMS wrote an article in Deshabhimani using the same title. In the name of that article, the newspaper was banned. A bond had to be paid for the newspaper to begin publication once again. EMS donated Rs 50,000 to Deshabhimani, which was the proceeds earned through the sale of his property, for the functioning of the newspaper. AKG ran around the country and even travelled abroad conducting Deshabhimani Melas, securing funds for the operation of the newspaper.

On January 23, 1947, an ordinance named Public Security Act was passed and members of the editorial board and reporters of Deshabhimani were jailed. Even then, with the support of the people, Deshabhimani was able to continue its functioning. The newspaper was banned once by the Kochi government and twice by the Travancore government.

On June 19, 1947, Deshabhimani had published a piece stating that the newspaper would cease to function subsequent to that issue. The report was as follows: “With today’s issue, Deshabhimani’s publication is being temporarily suspended. Legally, there is no permission to continue publication. Now, it is up to the people to decide when Deshabhimani should resume. The newspaper will resume publication as soon as the people get us our permission.” This exhortation made through the newspaper resulted in heavy mass protests. Thus, four days prior to independence, Deshabhimani resumed publication. It is a fact that the newspaper has been able to continue on only with the support and interventions of the people.

Deshabhimani was banned even in independent India. The ban lasted from 1948 to 1951. During the National Emergency, the newspaper could be published only after censoring. As a mark of protest, the editorial column was left blank during those days.

State essentially sustains itself by the use of force. At the same time, it is also able to create a public consensus among the people. Communists like Antonio Gramsci and progressive intellectuals like Noam Chomsky have also dealt with this issue of hegemony. Walter Lippmann who was an informal advisor to several US Presidents stated that. It has been assessed earlier itself that the creation of consent or public opinion is an art of modern democracy.

As opposed to earlier times, at present there is an element of fear in the country’s media. At the same time, media is being controlled by corporates. The collaboration between State and corporate media is developing in such a way that democracy is being weakened. Instances ranging from the murder of Gauri Lankesh to the media’s current affinity towards Modi are cases in example. Under such circumstances creative interventions need to be made in this area.

In Kerala, the media has a big influence among the public. Orchestrated campaigns are being carried out against both the Party and the LDF government. During the previous elections to the local self government institutions and the legislative assembly, they had taken up propaganda in favour of the right wing forces. The right wing media had resorted to publicising the interventions of the central agencies in the state, cooking up sensational stories. As pointed out in the state conference, the interventions of Deshabhimani and Kairali were quite useful in countering such campaigns. This points to the need for and possibility of Left wing interventions in the media.

Kerala has a Left progressive mindset. Therefore, the right wing media in Kerala resorts to criticising the Party and the government using Left progressive ideas. The media is giving ultra importance to the campaigns conducted by right wing forces against the government. Earlier they only used to report activities of the right wing parties. Now they even create political agenda for the right wing parties. By and large, media in the state is conducting anti-communist campaigns, in the garb of neutrality. While small issues are being highlighted disproportionately, even major achievements of the government are being ignored.

Under such circumstances, creating proper media awareness among the public, has emerged as a primary task. Instilling media literacy among the public is of special importance. It is important that such activities are taken up as part of the anniversary celebrations.

While it is important to expose the right wing media, it is equally important to develop alternative media. Measures are being taken up to develop Deshabhimani along those lines. While upholding our political stance in the editorial, it is important to develop the newspaper in such a way that all news is available, so that more sections of the people can be attracted to the right ideas. It is with this vision that measures are being taken up for the development of the newspaper. As part of the 80th anniversary celebrations, such measures are being further intensified.

The influence of new media is on the rise in our society. Building on the prospects in that area is also an important responsibility with regard to media. Along with the newspaper, Deshabhimani’s online presence is being improved so that right wing attacks on that front can be resisted. Possibilities of e-paper are also being made use of.  Interventions are also being made to develop children’s knowledge. Aksharamuttam Quiz – the largest avenue for children in Kerala – is prime among them. It not only helps to provide more knowledge to children, but also helps in popularising the newspaper. Special editions are being published with focus on women’s issues as well. Deshabhimani is sought to be developed further by engaging with such newer sensibilities and avenues. By utilising the possibilities in new media, Deshabhimani is sought to be developed from a newspaper, into a media house.

The newspaper actively features all people’s issues. Issues of the marginalised are given special focus. In Kerala, it is Deshabhimani that is actively engaged in protecting our constitution and in exposing the policies of globalisation. Deshabhimani has also taken special care to douse the campaigns of regressive communal forces aimed at creating communal segregation.

Over the last 80 years, Deshabhimani has been able to remain active as a newspaper in Kerala, as propagandist, agitator, and organiser, in Lenin’s words. On this 80th anniversary, Deshabhimani has to take on the responsibility of expanding itself in such a way that it can overcome the challenges coming up in this new age and time. It is being popularised in such a way that our media can reach more sections of the people, as that is seen as the most important responsibility in the present scenario.