Malini Parthasarathy, former executive editor of The Hindu, resigned from the board of The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited (THGPPL), she tweeted on 5 June 2023, hinting at possible differences within the organization.
Parthasarathy, whose term as chairperson of The Hindu Group Publishing also ended simultaneously, tweeted, “My term as Chairperson of The Hindu Group Publishing ends. However, I have also resigned from the Board of the THGPPL as I find the space and scope for my editorial views shrinking. My entire endeavour as Chairperson and Director, Editorial Strategy was to ensure that The Hindu Group revives its legacy of fair and unbiased reporting.
“Also my efforts were to free our narrative from entrenched ideological bias. Since I find the scope for my efforts has narrowed, I have decided to move on. I thank all my well-wishers and friends who have supported this challenging journey.”
Following Parthasarathy’s exit, the company unanimously appointed Nirmala Lakshman as chairperson of the Board of Directors of THGPPL for three years. Lakshman has held senior editorial positions at the publication for years, leading the re-launch of several feature sections and the creation of new ones, such as ‘The Hindu Literary Review’, ‘Young World’, and ‘The Hindu in School.’
Lakshman is the founder and curator of Lit for Life, The Hindu’s literary festival. She served as the chairperson of Kasturi Media, publishers of The Hindu Tamil Thisai, the group said while announcing her appointment.
Parthasarathy’s exit comes days after the group relaunched its fortnightly news magazine Frontline in Delhi, in which both she and her cousin and The Hindu Group Publishing’s director N Ram shared the stage. The magazine was started in December 1984.
Media reports suggest differences have been brewing between Parthasarathy and N Ram for some time. News Laundry reported that recently, Parthasarathy responded to RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy’s criticism of The Hindu’s fact check on the sengol controversy, saying that they will “make changes if the facts are incorrect.”
However, N Ram had backed the reporter who had done the fact check and held a press meet to debunk the government’s claims around the sengol, a gold-plated sceptre, installed in the new Parliament House by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
