Ghazipur: Saharashri Subrata Roy died at the age of 75 in a private hospital in Mumbai after a prolonged illness. His life was full of controversies. Apart from cricketers, famous faces of the cine world, business tycoons (famous ones) were also often seen at his high profile parties. His interference was not limited to this. Namvar Singh, a famous critic of the Hindi world, was known for his anti-capitalist and Marxist thinking. There came a time when Namvar Singh, who was away from the corporate world, was included by Subrata Roy Sahara as a consultant editor in his media ventures.
NBT Online correspondent contacted Dr. Sadanand Shahi, a professor who worked in the Hindi department of Kashi Hindu University (BHU) on this issue. Sadanand Shahi was personally associated with Dr. Namvar Singh for a long time. In an interview with a private channel, Namvar Singh had said that he was influenced by Marxist thinking throughout his life. In his academic career, he traveled to many countries of the world but he had no attraction to go to America. He never visited America.
This is because due to Marxist thinking he considers himself an opponent of capitalism. He saw America as a capitalist country at the global level, hence going to America did not seem appropriate to him. Namvar Singh, who was so distant from capitalism, joined Sahara after retirement from JNU. On this issue, Professor Sadanand Sahi said that Namvar Singh was not limited to just the world of Hindi literature. He was a writer and thinker of the public sphere. Somewhere in his mind it must have occurred to him that a Hindi newspaper could be a better option to understand and stay connected with the larger literary world. He might have joined Sahara’s media venture with this in mind.
Shahi told that Namvar Singh had joined Sahara on his own terms. While living in Sahara, Namvar Singh never followed the dress code. He was the only person in Sahara office who used to go to office wearing dhoti-kurta apart from the dress code prescribed by Sahara office. Even while joining Sahara, he did not compromise with his self-respect. While living in Sahara, he continued to write a regular column but from time to time there are commercial requests from the professional institute. Perhaps there might have been some such reason, not accepting which Namvar Singh had distanced himself from Sahara’s media ventures.
However, Professor Shahi also made it clear that he used to talk openly with Namvar Singh on various issues but in his conversation he never tried to know Namvar Singh’s side on this subject. Professor Shahi further said that like Subrata Roy Sahara, Namvar Singh also faced controversies over his name as long as he was alive. Even after his death, there is controversy over his name. Many people are trying to create their own identity by creating controversy in the name of Namvar Singh.