This is Arun Shourie’s account of Dr Kinare’s role in strategizing Indian Express Goenka victory over the man who the entire Bombay business goverment and even media feared. Datta Samant
Arun Shourie’s first-hand account in The Commissioner for Lost Causes (2022). Shourie describes the confrontation from inside the Indian Express management. He says Ramnath Goenka regarded Samant’s entry as a union leader as a question of who would ultimately control the paper. Shourie also explicitly records Gurumurthy’s involvement in devising the response.
Shourie specifically says that after roughly two and a half months, information coming from workers and “Dr Kinnare’s assessment” convinced their team that they could begin preparations for restarting the editions. That independently corroborates the central point of Gurumurthy ji’s post: Kinare was not merely an RSS acquaintance—his assessment of the workers was part of the decision to restart the newspaper
Shourie then describes the actual operation: they brought “eighty-odd workers and subeditors” into Express Towers, produced Lok Satta and Indian Express with this small team, and sent the printed newspapers out in trucks accompanied by RSS men in case Samant’s supporters attempted to stop them. The initial print run was only about half normal circulation, but Shourie says its significance was that the strike was effectively over and Samant’s terror had been broken.
There was then a second battle. Management required returning workers to sign an undertaking of good conduct. Samant challenged this in court and initially obtained an order from Justice Sawant allowing workers to return without it. According to Shourie, H. M. Seervai approached the Division Bench and obtained a stay, meaning even Samant’s remaining supporters ultimately had to sign the undertaking.
Speaking at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards, Nitin Gadkari recalled:
“Datta Samant led a strike at The Indian Express.”
He then said Goenka stood firm through the difficult situation and “in the end, he emerged victorious.”
Dr. P. R. Kinnare (Kinare) appears to have played a much more central role in defeating Datta Samant than a general description such as “RSS worker who helped the Express” suggests. The strongest evidence have found is Arun Shourie’s own first-hand account in ‘The Commissioner for Lost Causes’ (2022).
What Dr. Kinare actually did
- Dattopant Thengadi personally deputed him to help the Express.
When the Express team was unsure how to counter Samant, Ramnath Goenka suggested that Shourie meet RSS/BMS trade-union leader Dattopant Thengadi. After hearing Shourie, Thengadi said he would assign two people in Bombay to guide them: Dr P. R. Kinnare and Vasantbhai Puriya.
This makes Kinare’s involvement an organised intervention through Thengadi’s trade-union network, rather than an incidental personal intervention.
- Kinare became the Express team’s link to the workers.
Shourie says that he, S. Gurumurthy and Bombay resident editor Hiranmay Karlekar began regularly meeting Kinare and Puriya. Every two or three days they went to Puriya’s modest residence.
Kinare’s specific job was crucial: according to Shourie, he kept them informed about what was happening among Express workers, what workers were discussing and how their mood was changing.
- He advised patience instead of confronting Samant head-on.
Shourie recalls that the Express team repeatedly pressed Kinare and Puriya to act faster. Both advised patience—consistent with Thengadi’s strategy that Samant was like a storm that should be allowed to exhaust itself rather than confronted directly.
At one stage Shourie and his colleagues even began wondering whether Kinare and the BMS actually possessed the organisational strength attributed to them.
That patience turned out to be part of the strategy.
- Kinare detected workers’ growing disillusionment with Samant.
This is one of the most important details.
Not many know about this great man Dr. Kinare A simple RSS worker and a positive trade unionist. He helped to save the Indian Express in Mumbai
In 1981 the militant trade unionist Datta Samant aligned with AR Antulay grabbed the Indian Express union Mumbai and launched an assault it was not the takeover of a trade union The idea was to take over the paper. The man was known for territorising and murdering company owners into submission
Goenka told Arun Shourie and me that if Samant succeeds he will decide what will go into the newspaper. He decided to close down the paper and issued a closure notice. Antulay refused allow closure
Indian Express filed a writ saying that the right to run a newspaper is subject to reasonable restrictions but the right to silence is absolute
Goenka being Goenka the workers were caught between two powerful men — Goenka and Samant
The man who stepped in on the advice of the trade union stalwart Dattopant Thengadi and help the Indian Express to wean the workers away from the murderous Samant was none other than Dr Kinare. He virtually saved when Arun Shourie was being targeted. He guided us how to approach the workers. Many RSS workers helped to approach the workers.
The battle lasted for 123 days. Finally the Indian Express handed the first defeat to Datta Samant who was the most feared and uncrowned King of Mumbai trade union
The man who centred that battle of the Express was Dr Kinare
A sincere and simple RSS worker. Like many he gave the best years of his life for RSS and the cause it represented. Neither demanded nor got anything in return from the Indiam Express or the organisation
A great soul. A great friend. A great man
He was an unknown but tall man
My heart felt condolences to his family particularly my friend Mangesh Kinare who is also a CA and the Vice President of the CA Institute