TOI's new Lucknow editor is a biographer of Yogi Adityanath

The Times of India’s Lucknow edition got a new head early this month. Praveen Kumar, who was previously deputy resident editor, replaced Raja Bose as editor on February 10.

Apart from his journalistic achievements, Kumar has written a biography of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath. The book, Yogi Adityanath: The Rise of a Saffron Socialist, was released on November 26, 2017 at the Times Lit Fest in Delhi. Two days earlier, it had created a flutter in Lucknow when a photo of Kumar presenting a copy of the book to Adityanath emerged.

Shortly thereafter, TOI transferred Kumar from Lucknow to Delhi. Though it was dubbed as a routine transfer, some within the organisation cited Kumar’s closeness to Adityanath as one of the reasons.

Interestingly, sources in the paper say Bose was removed because of the Adityanath government’s ‘dissatisfaction’ with stories done under his editorial leadership. One such story that reportedly “angered” the government was published right before the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Kashi Vishwanath project makes Muslims worried.

"The UP government stopped payment of advertisement to TOI. The newspaper was publishing govt ads but the payment had stopped,” the sources say. “Under pressure, the management decided to remove Raja Bose."

Read our detailed report on Kumar’s appointment and Bose’s removal on Newslaundry Hindi.