Type Daily newspaper General manager K.J. Thomas Political alignment Marxist | Editor-in-chief M.V. Govindan Master Founded 1942 | |
Owner(s) Communist Party of India (Marxist) Kerala State Committee | ||
Desabhimani is a Malayalam newspaper and the organ of the Kerala State Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Started as a weekly in Kozhikode on 6 September 1942 and converted to a daily in 1946. The paper now has nine different printing centres: Kozhikode, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kannur, Kottayam, Trichur and Malappuram. According to the National Readership Survey of 1995, Desabhimani was the third largest newspaper in Kerala. At present, M.V. Govindan Master, secretariat member of the CPI(M) is the Chief Editor of the paper, K.J. Thomas, CPI(M) , secretariat member of the CPI(M), the General Manager and P.M. Manoj, the Resident Editor.
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It is the third most widely read newspaper daily in Kerala, after Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi.
History
Deshabhimani has a predecessor, Prabhatham (which means 'Dawn'). It was started in 1935 and was the manifesto of the socialist group in the Indian National Congress. It was in 1942, through the efforts of eminent leaders like A K Gopalan and E M S Namboodiripad (who in fact donated all of his ancestral property for raising funds for the paper) Deshabhimani started and became the voice of the Communist Party of India and later became the voice of Communist Party of India (Marxist), after the split from CPI in 1964. Various personalities like E.M.S. Namboodiripad, V. T. Induchoodan, K P R Gopalan, E. K. Nayanar and V. S. Achuthanandan, have served as the chief editors of Deshabhimani. Many notable journalists of South India work with Deshabhimani. Journalists who have worked with Deshabhimani include P Govindapillai, Ezhacherry Ramachandran, Prabha Varma, K. Mohanan, C.M. Abdul Rehman, Narikutti Mohanan, P.M.Manoj and B. Aburaj.