 |
| Senior Tamil journalist Bharathi Rajanayaham |
Bharathi Rayanayaham’s passing away last week in Thirunelvely, Jaffna has taken away from us a great journalist full of talent and dedication.
Bharathi was a great human apart from being a talented journalist who interacted with everyone.
I have lost a long-time close friend who understood me well beyond being a journalist, regardless of the mistakes I might have made.
My interaction with Bharathi began in the early 1990s when he joined the Virakesari newspaper as a sub-editor. Unlike those of us who worked from Colombo, Bharathi had grown up amidst various crises in the field of journalism. His entry into journalism took place in the days of the emergence of the armed Tamil militant movements in the North.
Initially working for Eelamurasu and Murasoli newspapers in Jaffna in the mid-1980s, Bharathi joined Virakesari after being involved in an accident while the Indian Peace Keeping Force was stationed in the North and East.
He served as the Editor-in-Chief of the weekend edition of Thinakural newspaper from 2004 till 2020 until he retired and relocated to his hometown – Jaffna.
Bharathi’s journalistic career spanned three decades of the civil war and the last 15 after the end of the war. As a result, he lived a life that was inherently imbued with Tamil nationalist political principles and devoted his writing to assiduously justifying the legitimate political aspirations and grievances of the Tamil people.
He became an excellent political commentator. In the early days of his joining Virakesari, the management used him for some research work on the national question. Attempts were also made to make a book of these studies. He has written extensively on social and political issues.
Bharathi was also actively involved in issues related to the rights of journalists and was the president of the Sri Lanka Tamil Journalists Union several times.
After the change in the management of Thinakkural newspaper in 2010, all of us had to work in the Virakesari office at Grandpass, Colombo, and the Virakesari management was keen to use Bharathi’s talent. He easily acquainted himself with the latest technological developments in the field of journalism.
Even after retiring, Bharathi worked in a regional newspaper in Jaffna. When the Virakesari looked for a person to be in charge of its Jaffna office, Bharathi was identified as a suitable candidate.
Bharathi had a large number of friends and was also well known in the expatriate Tamil community. He had travelled extensively abroad and gained much experience.
His demise after a few weeks of illness is an irreparable loss to the Tamil media. - Veeragathy Thanabalasingham Courtesy- The Sunday Times
Post a Comment