The Statesman (India)

The Statesman is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper founded in 1875 and published simultaneously in Kolkata, New Delhi, Siliguri and Bhubaneswar. It incorporates and is directly descended from The Friend of India, founded in 1818. It is owned by The Statesman Ltd and headquartered at Statesman House, Chowringhee Square, Kolkata, with its national editorial office at Statesman House, Connaught Place, New Delhi. It is a member of the Asia News Network.

Quotes

• Probably about 40% of this small but doughty people are in one manner or the other describable as refugees. The transference, in the main, has been from irrigated regions splendidly fertile to lands less productive. Prosperous colonies developed by an industrious and capable peasantry have been abandoned, as has much other property in rural and urban areas; some revered shrines are left on the far side of the boundary.
  • Mr. Ian Stephens, Editor of The Statesman in the editorial of January 3-4, 1948 quoted in Talib, S. G. S. (1950). Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab, 1947. Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. [1] [2] [3] [4] p 240

• Until members of this numerically small but virile obstinate and deeply religious community, can (like British Catholics visiting Rome or Lourdes) buy a ticket for Nanakana Sahib or Panja Sahib confident of the ordinary decencies of international travel, there will be no stable peace in the two Punjabs, nor basis for Pakistan to rank herself as the full equal of other countries in standards of civilized modern tolerance……
  • Mr. Ian Stephens, Editor of The Statesman in the editorial of January 3-4, 1948 quoted in Talib, S. G. S. (1950). Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus inthe Punjab, 1947. Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. [5] [6] [7] [8] p 240-57

• Inquiry confirmed the doubt. It elicited, too, the appalling nature of the Sikhs’ own losses. About 40% of them had been made refugees. No such figure was approached by the other communities. They had no strong Press to put their case.
  • Mr. Ian Stephens, Editor of The Statesman in the editorial of January 3-4, 1948 quoted in Talib, S. G. S. (1950). Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus inthe Punjab, 1947. Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. [9] [10] [11] [12] p 240-57

• The story of 90 women of the little village of Thoha Khalsa, Rawalpindi District, who drowned themselves by jumping into a well during the recent disturbances, has stirred the imagination of the people of the Punjab. They revived the Rajput tradition of self-immolation when their men-folk were no longer to defend them. They also followed Mr. Gandhi’s advice to Indian women that in certain circumstances even suicide was morally preferable to submission... About a month ago, a communal army 3,000 strong, armed with sticks, tommy guns and hand grenades surrounded it. The villagers defended themselves as best they could. They had two guns which they put to good use. But in the end they had to raise the white flag. Negotiation followed. A sum of Rs. 10,000 was demanded by the besiegers. It was promptly paid. The intruders gave solemn assurance that they would not come back. The promise was broken the next day. They returned to demand more money and in the process hacked to death 40 of the defenders. Heavily outnumbered, they were unable to resist the onslaught. Their women held a hurried meeting and came to the conclusion that all was lost except their honour. Following the example of Indian women of by-gone days, they decided to evade inglorious capture. Ninety women jumped into a small well. Only three were saved. There was not enough water in the well to drown them all.
  • The “STATESMAN”, APRIL 15th, 1947. Women jump into well to avoid capture. as quoted in Talib, S. G. S. (1950). Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus inthe Punjab, 1947. Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. [13] [14] [15] [16] p 277

About

• “Our readership tends to be impatient of any kind of critical analysis,” wrote the editor of Calcutta’s respected weekly The Statesman when turning it down, referring to Hindu-Muslim riots that had resulted after Arnold Toynbee mentioned the prophet Mohammed in an article for the magazine.
  • Sunanda K. Datta-Ray to Arthur Koestler, 10/15/69, MS2386/3. Editor of The Statesman in a reply explaining their refusal to publish Arthur Koestler's essay “Mahatma Gandhi—Yogi and Commissar, a Re-Valuation” quoted from Michael Scammell - Koestler_ The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic (2009, Random House) - chapter 45.

• You won’t read about this in the Western mainstream media—or even in the Indian media, which has turned a blind eye to this ongoing tragedy because they are afraid to be labeled “politically incorrect” or “Islamophobic.” They are also afraid of reprisals. When Islamic zealots ransacked the office of the renowned newspaper, ‘The Statesman’ in Kolkata, in retaliation for a mere reproduction of an article condemning Islamic extremism, the Indian press remained silent. The editor and publisher of the newspaper were arrested for offending Muslim sentiments and no action was taken against the rioters.
  • Phyllis Chesler, Muslim Persecution of Hindus In India -- The Story You Won't See In the Western Mainstream Media, September 9, 2010 [17]