Thiruvananthapuram, July 23: Writer and journalist TC Rajesh Sindhu provided clarification on Wednesday regarding a controversy surrounding a non-published article. He expressed full agreement with CPI(M) state secretariat member M. Swaraj, stating that the decision to publish an article rests entirely with the editorial board of the newspaper.
The controversy began when a weekly supplement of a newspaper was not published on Sunday. Speculation arose that an article written by TC Rajesh about Vijayan from Muthippara was the cause.
However, the weekly supplement was released on Monday, featuring a special article on V.S. Achuthanandan, but Rajesh’s piece was absent. Initially, Rajesh posted on Facebook, taking responsibility for the situation, which sparked widespread discussion. Later, M. Swaraj mentioned that the article had never reached him.
In a detailed Facebook post on Wednesday, Rajesh explained that he chose not to directly respond to the continuous inquiries from TV channels, opting instead to share his thoughts on social media. He clarified that he never claimed the newspaper was obligated to publish his article.
Drawing on his extensive experience in journalism, Rajesh noted that rejecting articles, editing reports, and altering headlines are standard editorial practices in media institutions. He stated that throughout his career, he has witnessed many such decisions, making the non-publication of his article not unusual.
Rajesh revealed that the editorial team of the weekly supplement had encouraged him to write more articles. Following this, he visited Muthippara to interview Vijayan and prepared the article, sending it along with images via email for publication.
He mentioned that a journalist friend informed him on Sunday that the weekly supplement was halted due to his article. Believing this information to be accurate, he posted on Facebook that the mistake was his, although he did not disclose the article’s content.
When M. Swaraj later stated that no such article had reached him, Rajesh was not surprised, noting that not every article is required to reach the resident editor.
In a second Facebook post made on the same day, Rajesh accused a segment of the media of publishing only a portion of his earlier comments, ignoring the part where he supported M. Swaraj’s stance. He stated that such reporting presented a misleading and incomplete picture of his views.
Rajesh concluded, “If the intention was to harm me, there were many other ways to achieve that.”
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