Sankarshan Thakur, the Editor of The Telegraph and one of the pioneers of literary journalism in the country, died at a Gurgaon hospital on Monday after a prolonged illness. He was 63.
Thakur is survived by his wife Sona, son Ayushmann and daughter Jahan.
Several politicians, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Jairam Ramesh, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and RJD leader Manoj Jha paid tributes and recalled his formidable contribution to journalism.
“Deeply saddened by the passing of brilliant journalist, author and the editor of the Telegraph, Shri Sankarshan Thakur. His incisive reporting, fearless political commentary and eloquent writing style leave an enduring legacy,” Kharge said in a post on X.
Nitish Kumar said Thakur’s demise was “an irreparable loss to the world of journalism”.
Abdullah said Thakur was one of the few journalists who “made an effort to travel extensively around J&K and, while travelling, actually listened without judgment”.
Ramesh described Thakur as a “delightfully brilliant writer” and Jha said he loved “swimming against the current”.
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A condolence message on behalf of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav, among others, was shared by the party.
Born in 1962 in Patna, Thakur was the son of veteran journalist and author Janardan Thakur. He did his initial schooling from St Xavier’s, Patna and graduated in political science from Hindu College, Delhi University.
He began his journalism career in 1984 with Sunday magazine, making a name for himself in ground reporting. Thakur rose through the ranks at The Telegraph before joining The Indian Express as an Associate Editor in early 2000s. For his work in The Indian Express, he won the Prem Bhatia award for excellence in political journalism in 2001 and the Appan Menon Fellowship (2003).
Subsequently, Thakur became Executive Editor at Tehelka before he returned to The Telegraph in 2009 as its National Affairs Editor and later became the Editor of the newspaper.
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Known to combine intensive ground reportage with sparkling prose, Thakur was considered an authoritative voice in the Indian political reporting scene, especially on issues related to Kashmir, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
His monographs on the Kargil war and honour killings in Uttar Pradesh, along with his three books — ‘Subaltern Saheb’, a political biography of former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad, ‘Single Man: The Life and Times of Nitish Kumar of Bihar’, and ‘The Brothers Bihari’, a political diptych on Lalu and Nitish — are highly acclaimed and widely cited.
The Editors Guild of India issued a statement mourning Thakur’s death as a profound loss to journalism. “…his writings and professional craft will continue to resonate, serving as enduring benchmarks for younger journalists to emulate,” the statement said.
