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IANS
New Delhi
Veteran journalist and editor S. Nihal Singh, a trenchant critic of the Emergency in the mid-seventies and equally of the Modi government, died on Monday following illness. He was 88.
The end came around 5.30 pm at the National Heart Institute here where he had been admitted. The cremation will take place at 12 noon on Tuesday at the Lodhi Road crematorium.
A journalist friend of Nihal Singh said he had been in and out of the hospital four times in the past few weeks and died due to multiple organ failure. Nihal Singh would have turned 89 on April 30.
An incisive writer, Surendra Nihal Singh was the Chief Editor of The Statesman, Editor-in-Chief Indian Express and Editor of Khaleej Times. He was also the founding editor of the The Indian Post.
Author of several books, he was active till recently contributing regular columns to newspapers.
He won the prestigious International Editor of the Year Award in New York for his role in opposing the state of Emergency imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in mid-1975. Of late, he was also critical of the Narendra Modi government on various issues like intolerance arising out of the activities of Hindutva organisations.
Nihal Singh was Director, Press Institute of India and a senior associate Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, New York City. He was also President of the Press Club of India.
Paying his tributes, senior journalist HK Dua said Nihal Singh was one of the most outstanding journalists and an excellent commentator on national affairs and foreign policy.
