Ramnath Goenka

Freedom fighter and newspaper baron Ramnath Goenka was born in Bihar on April 3, 1904. After his primary education in Varanasi, he came to Chennai at the young age of 15. It was the quirk of fate that led him to foray into the business of newspapers.

His journey to fame began in 1932, when he took over the loss-making Madras edition of The Free Press Journal. He went on to found the Indian Express in 1936, India’s first national newspapers to be published from multiple locations.

He had an active interest in politics and became a member of the Madras Legislative Council. He was close to all the top leaders of the Indian freedom movement. Ramnath Goenka was fiercely independent and is remembered for his role during the “Emergency”, where he was among the very few who stood up to Indira Gandhi. He also took on the might of industrialists like Dhirubhai Ambani.