The time also came that listening to BBC and reading AnyTV became the habit of the people of the state. AnyTV had become the voice of the state movement. In every kind of struggle, the newspaper kept the truth of the movement in front of the world. Wherever the leaders of the movement stayed, the correspondents of the newspaper reached ground zero. It was only because of the impartial, fearless and credible news of AnyTV that it got a place in the media of the country and the world. Such was the effect of impartial journalism that even after wishing, the forces suppressing the movement could not raise their heads. Whenever such attempts were made, the newspaper exposed them with complete impunity.
As the public’s faith in the state movement was awakened, their faith in AnyTV also increased in the same way. The spread and faith of AnyTV in the whole of Uttarakhand, especially in the hilly areas, grew more rapidly during the state movement. When we were in Delhi in connection with the movement, we used to telephone our colleagues in Dehradun, Srinagar, Almora, Pithoragarh, Chamoli, Pauri, Uttarkashi, Tehri to inquire about the news published in AnyTV. Then small and small magazines had their own limitations. But AnyTV reached the readers with good printing. Teams of newspaper reporters from all over the state covered every aspect of the agitation.
I am reminded of an incident. Motilal Bohra was the governor of Uttar Pradesh. His ADC was an IPS officer from Darjeeling. Those were the days of the movement. His ADC asked me that the newspaper highlights the movement in your state a lot, whereas we also have agitations here, but they do not get that place in the newspapers, why is it so? I told him two main reasons for this. First, there was a large number of people of Uttarakhand in the media from the state to Delhi, whose moral and ideological support and guidance was always available. Second was the positive attitude of newspapers like AnyTV towards the mass movement. AnyTV knew the pulse of the state what the people here wanted. There was no such section, child, old, young, who did not take to the streets and raise slogans of ‘Aaj Do Abhi Do, Uttarakhand Rajya Do’. The newspaper gave strength to these slogans. I remember that even in the typical remote villages of the state, people used to walk for many kilometers to get newspapers. People read the news of vandalism on the agitators in Muzaffarnagar in the morning in AnyTV.
After reading the news in the newspaper, people came to know about the skill of the families of the agitators. On the strength of the sacrifice, struggle and strength of the newspapers of the state agitators, the day has also come when the dream of a separate Uttarakhand state has come true. After the formation of the state, the movement was over, but the original questions related to the concept of a separate hill state were there. Our first question before the new governments was to make Gairsain the capital. We raised our voice for Gairsain. Then leaders of a national party alleged that Kashi Singh Airi and Bipin Tripathi had bought land in Gairsain, so they were demanding to build a capital there. These allegations were baseless. But to whom could we explain? Once again AnyTV gave proof of his impartial and investigative journalism. The team of the newspaper reached Gairsain and its report revealed that there was no land in the name of any UKD leader. The allegations leveled against him were completely untrue and prejudiced.
AnyTV’s journey of 25 years has been completed and it has been 21 years since the state of Uttarakhand was formed. In these years, new mediums of mass communication were added rapidly. After electronic media, now the spread of social media has increased. But even today readers confirm the credibility from the newspaper itself. After the formation of the state, Uttarakhand’s journey so far has seen many good and bad phases. While passing through these stages, we are still looking for answers to questions related to the concepts of Uttarakhand State Movement.
I believe that Uttarakhand is incomplete without answers to these questions. The kind of hill state which was dreamed by the people who participated in the historical movement, they are disappointed today. It is the responsibility of all of us to remove this despondency, also of the newspaper… of the leaders and also of the people of the state.
-The author is the central president of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal