Kannada daily ‘Andolana’: 50 years and still going strong

NT Correspondent
Mysuru

It is indeed a proud moment for Andolana, a Kannada daily that is celebrating its 50 years of glorious existence in the cultural city of Mysuru. The newspaper was launched in 1970 as a weekly from Dharwad under the visionary founder-editor Rajashekar Koti.

Two years later, he shifted the publication’s base to Mysuru and made it a daily newspaper. In the last 50 years, the newspaper has carved a niche for itself by giving voice to the voiceless. After Rajashekar Koti’s death in 2017, his son Ravi Koti is heading the newspaper.

Andolana means revolution in English. Rajashekar Koti’s tryst with journalism through ‘Prapancha’, a Kannada daily owned by veteran journalist, Dr Patil Puttappa, at an early age of 13. After running Andolana as a weekly in Dharwad, Koti came to Mysuru with no godfathers. What he had was just zeal and enthusiasm to do something in this profession. Influenced by Budha, Basava, Ambedkar and Lohia, Koti always stood by his ideology, principle and never compromised even in the days of difficulties.

The real break for the newspaper came when forest brigand Veerappan’s actions in the forest adjoining Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and the government’s effort to catch him hogged headlines. At that time, people were waiting for the newspaper every day for sensational stories.

The newspaper’s reporters had an hawk eye on the movement of Veerappan and his gang members in the dense forests of Male Mahadeshwar Hills and the surrounding forests. Its circulation had reached a peak during the attack on forest and police stations, abduction of Dr Raj Kumar, kidnapping and killing of former minister H. Nagappa and the beheading of Deputy Conservator of Forests Srinivas. The paper published the most number of stories about the brigand than other Kannada dailies.

The unbiased reporting took Andolana closer to the people. Koti used to carry newspaper bundles on his bicycle and sell them in Mysuru. His weekly column was known for fearless writing. Apart from being a journalist, Koti had been involved in progressive agitations and gave space for the voiceless, women and oppressed classes. Besides, he gave equal importance to art, culture, education, sports, co-operation and progressive agitations.

During Kargil war, Andolana had collected Rs 25 lakh and donated the money to the Prime Minister’s Relief fund; Rs 11 lakh when earthquake struck Gujarat; built the Mysuru Colony near Cuddalore when Tsunami struck Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 12 lakh; Rs 20 lakh for flood-victims in North karnataka; built 21 bus shelters in Mysuru and Mandya districts and donated furniture to Government schools in rural areas