Govindrao Talwalkar

Govind Talwalkar was the legendary editor of Maharashtra Times for more than 25 years.

He is a voracious reader. He was influenced by M N Roy, and continued to follow slightly left-of-centre politics supporting Congress Party which was very often ruling the country. However, in 1980s he was a critic of Congress when Indira Gandhi made a comeback following her defeat in 1977. Under Talwalkar, the paper had also campaigned against A. R. Antulay's role in Maharashtra politics and involvement in corruption scandals. And he was among the first journalists to predict that Rajiv Gandhi was wasting a huge public mandate by hollow policies. He was supported in running the paper by stalwart journalists like Bandopant Gokhale and V N Deodhar. Gokhale had an excellent grip on the administrative side of the paper, leaving Talwalkar free to deal with the world of ideas. Kusumagraj praised the paper for teaching Marathi Man the importance of Comments section by the quality of its commentary.

Talwalkar currently resides in Houston, Texas. From his Texan base, he abandoned his earlier insistence on prior experience and good intellectual grasp in a leader, failings for which he had attacked Rajiv Gandhi, and supported Sonia Gandhi's role in politics.

References

* http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060806/spectrum/book1.htm
* http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19970807/21950793.html