New Delhi: Veteran journalist, author and human rights activist Kuldip Nayar died at a hospital here. He was 95. Nayar breathed his last at the Escorts Hospital at 12.30 a.m, family sources said on Thursday.
He is survived by his wife and two sons. The cremation took place at Lodhi crematorium at 01:00 pm on Thursday in the afternoon.
Born on August 14, 1923, in Sialkot (Pakistan), Nayar was among the country’s first syndicated columnists and wrote several books.
Nayar started his journalistic career with the Urdu daily “Anjam” in 1948. He worked in the Press Information Bureau as a Press Officer to then Home Ministers Govind Ballabh Pant and Lal Bahadur Shastri.
He was the editor and General Manager of United News of India (UNI) and also the editor of The Statesman. He also worked with the Indian Express, The Times, The Spectator and the Evening Star.
He was also the author of 15 books including “Beyond the Lines”, “India after Nehru” and “Emergency Retold”.
He regularly wrote weekly columns till his death that were widely published, with their translations appearing in various Urdu dailies. He had also written a tribute piece on Atal Bihari Vajpayee after the former prime minister's death, but as fate would have it, Nayar's obituary has overtaken his unpublished article on the poet-politician.
"After Vajpayee's death, he (Nayar) was working on a piece on him. He had finished the article and it was to be sent to all the syndicated publishers, but the inevitable happened. Irony is, his obituary has been written even before his planned piece could be published. Such is life," his son Rajiv Nayar told PTI.
Nayar was suffering from pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital five days ago, after he had complained of chest pain.
"He was a deeply determined man. And so, even in his old age he was writing. Last Friday, we took him to the hospital, not knowing we were going to lose him. But, he was spirited till the end," said Ratish Nanda, who is married to Kuldip Nayar's granddaughter Mandira.
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