Thejas

About Thejas

Thejas was a Malayalam-language daily newspaper published from Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala, and is now an online-only news website at thejasnews.com. Founded as a morning daily on 26 January 2006 — Republic Day — it was owned by Intermedia Publishing Limited, a private limited company based in Kozhikode, and functioned as the mouthpiece of the Popular Front of India (PFI). The daily was the successor to Thejas weekly, which had begun in 1997 as the public face of the National Development Front (NDF), the organisation that later became the PFI. The print edition ceased publication on 31 December 2018 after nearly thirteen years, and since 1 January 2019 Thejas has continued as a digital news outlet. Its print run was defined by an avowedly pro-minority, anti-establishment editorial line that made it one of the most controversial — and most embattled — newspapers in Kerala's modern press history.

From Weekly to Daily: The 2006 Launch

Thejas daily was launched on 26 January 2006 after six months of preparation, growing out of Thejas weekly, which had served since 1997 as the journalistic face of the NDF. The launch exceeded expectations: where the management had anticipated a limited circulation, the first issue was printed in three times the expected quantity in response to reader and market demand. The paper's editor-in-chief was P. Koya, with veteran journalist N. P. Chekkutty (Chekutty) serving as editor. From the outset the daily positioned itself as a voice for Muslims and other marginalised sections of Kerala society, carrying the tagline "Conscience of Malayalee."

Rapid Expansion Across Kerala and the Gulf

The daily grew quickly. Within months of the Kozhikode launch, editions were added in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, and in May 2008 a fourth edition was launched from Kannur in northern Kerala — giving the paper a presence across the state within just over two years. The paper also developed Gulf editions, publishing from Jeddah, Dammam, Riyadh and Doha to serve the large Malayali expatriate population in West Asia. At its peak the daily's editions spanned Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kottayam in Kerala alongside its Gulf operations, an unusually ambitious footprint for a newspaper of its political character.

Ownership and the Popular Front of India

Thejas was owned by Intermedia Publishing Limited and was widely identified as the mouthpiece of the Popular Front of India, the Muslim organisation that grew out of the NDF. The paper's political alignment was explicit: it described itself as the voice of the minority and of the weaker sections of society, and it pursued a decidedly anti-establishment line on national and international issues. This identity won it a loyal readership among PFI supporters and sympathisers, but it also placed the paper under sustained scrutiny from governments and intelligence agencies, which viewed the PFI with deep suspicion.

Editorial Character: The Voice of the Marginalised

Thejas's journalism was defined by its focus on Muslim causes and minority rights — in Kerala, in India and internationally, including Palestine — and by its willingness to take positions that the mainstream Malayalam press avoided. Its supporters described it as a serious newspaper doing what a newspaper is expected to do: standing up for the weaker sections of society and for those denied the right to be heard and to participate. Its journalism widened the range of voices available in Kerala's media space, giving an anti-establishment perspective on national politics, communal issues and foreign affairs. In 2011 the paper's eponymous magazine became the centre of a controversy over its pro-bin Laden and pro-Taliban stance, an episode that intensified the official hostility toward the publication.

Denied Government Advertisements from 2010

The paper's troubles with the state began early. From May 2010 Thejas was denied government advertisements, with no specific reason cited and, according to its management, no opportunity given to defend itself against the allegations levelled at it. The government position was that the paper's articles and write-ups incited communal hatred and worked against the interests of the country — charges the paper denied, noting that in its years of publication not a single case had been registered against it on those grounds. The advertising ban struck at the paper's finances: as its editor N. P. Chekkutty explained, a daily newspaper relies heavily on revenue from central and state advertisements, and the withdrawal of state government advertising under the V. S. Achuthanandan-led government triggered a financial crisis from which the paper never fully recovered.

The 2013 Show-Cause Notice

In October 2013 the Kerala government served Thejas with a show-cause notice asking it to explain why its newspaper declaration should not be cancelled under Section 8(B) of the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867. The government alleged that the daily had been engaged in publishing reports, articles and editorials affecting the nation's unity and interests. The paper's management was heard by the assigned government functionary, and the notice became a national press-freedom controversy: commentators asked whether a government could gag a newspaper merely for taking an anti-establishment stand while highlighting Muslim causes, particularly when the daily's demand that the government identify which specific report had threatened national unity went unanswered. By then the paper had already been denied state advertising for three years under both the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front governments, on the basis of what was described as a "very secret report" by the state intelligence department.

The End of the Print Edition in 2018

After twelve years of journalism and continuous financial struggle, the management of Thejas decided to stop print publication. The decision was announced at a press conference on 22 October, and the final print edition appeared on 31 December 2018. The management cited the lack of government advertisements and what it described as negligence by both the central and state governments as the causes of its serious financial difficulties; the Gulf editions had already stopped some time earlier. Proposals from employees to cut expenditure and keep the paper alive came to nothing. Editor N. P. Chekkutty alleged that the police had always been hostile to the paper as the voice of the minority, that wrong reports had been sent against it to top officials, and that bureaucrats pursuing a political agenda had played a pivotal role in devastating the newspaper financially.

Online Only from 1 January 2019

With the end of the print edition, Thejas continued as an online-only news website, publishing from 1 January 2019 at thejasnews.com, which also hosts the paper's e-paper archive. The digital transition allowed the publication to survive without the crushing costs of newsprint, printing presses and physical distribution that had made the advertising boycott fatal to the print edition. As a website, Thejas continues the editorial line of the newspaper: reporting on minority and social issues, Kerala politics and the concerns of its readership, maintaining the masthead's presence in the Malayalam digital news space.

Legacy in Kerala's Press History

Thejas occupies a distinctive place in the history of Malayalam journalism. It demonstrated that there was a substantial readership for an explicitly pro-minority daily in Kerala — its launch-day sales and rapid multi-edition expansion proved the demand. It also became a landmark case in the debate over press freedom in India: the decade-long denial of government advertising to a newspaper on undisclosed intelligence grounds, followed by a show-cause notice threatening its declaration, raised questions about the use of the state's advertising power as an instrument of media control. Whether viewed as a courageous voice of the oppressed or as a communal publication, Thejas forced Kerala's media and political establishment to confront the limits of press freedom for dissenting minority journalism.

Thejas Today

Today Thejas survives as thejasnews.com, an online Malayalam news outlet carrying forward a masthead first raised as a weekly in 1997 and as a daily in 2006. The print daily that once published from four Kerala centres and the Gulf is gone, a casualty of the financial siege that followed the 2010 advertising ban. But the website keeps the paper's journalism — and its claim to be the "Conscience of Malayalee" — alive for readers who followed it in print and for a new digital audience. Its story remains a cautionary chapter in Indian press history: a newspaper that grew fast, spoke bluntly, and discovered how effectively the withdrawal of state patronage could silence a printing press.