By Sudhir Rao former, Chairman & MD Skoda India
When Denver, my former colleague, informed me of Chanchal’s passing away, I was left in a dazed shock, which released itself as lonely tearful sobs. Chanchal was a good friend for whom I had the utmost respect as an “aggressive but honest and fair” journalist.
It dawned on me after my first few months at Skoda in 2012 that he was not part of any of our media interactions. Upon asking, I was told that he had been “blacklisted” by a senior colleague in the Group for a critical article he had written.
Further questions and information revealed that his writing, while unfavorable to the individual/Group, was factually and analytically correct. We decided that, as far as Skoda was concerned, we would undo this situation – leading to Chanchal’s and my strong bond since then.
I respected, and strongly endorsed, his journalistic responsibility and obligation to seek facts and report truth, however unpleasant to the person or organization involved. He respected my expectation that he would always seek our perspective before arriving at his conclusions and what is off the record would remain so.
