Sir Mark Tully: Tributes pour in for legendary broadcaster who became BBCs voice of India

Tributes have been pouring in for veteran BBC journalist Sir Mark Tully who has been cremated in the Indian capital, Delhi, a day after he died at the age of 90.

Hundreds of people – including friends and family – gathered at the Lodhi crematorium to bid their final goodbye to the broadcaster.

Sir Mark was widely regarded as the BBC’s “voice of India” and was one of the most admired foreign correspondents of his generation.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Sir Mark as “a towering voice of journalism”, adding that “his connect with India and the people of our nation was reflected in his works”.

On Monday afternoon, mourners lined up around Sir Mark’s body at the crematorium.

Wrapped in a white cloth, his body was laid on a platform on a bed of flowers, made up of rose petals and tuberoses. Marigold garlands and a wreath were placed on top.

Christian priests recited prayers and hymns were sung, before the body was taken for cremation.

Sir Mark, who died on Sunday at a Delhi hospital where he was undergoing treatment, has been described as a “chronicler of modern India”.

Over a career spanning several decades, he reported on big historical moments that defined South Asia’s trajectory, including the Indian army’s storming of the Sikh Golden Temple, the birth of Bangladesh, periods of military rule in Pakistan, the Tamil Tigers’ rebellion in Sri Lanka and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

In 1992, while reporting on the demolition of the Babri mosque by Hindu hardliners, he faced threats from a mob and was locked in a room for several hours before a local official and a Hindu priest came to his aid.

Journalist Satish Jacob, who worked closely with Sir Mark at the BBC for nearly two decades and later co-authored a book with him, said he first met him on a flight in 1978, an encounter that “marked the beginning of a friendship that lasted 48 years”.

In a personal tribute, Jacob recalled one of his fondest memories of his friend, from the night India won the 1983 Cricket World Cup.

“The match had been over 30 minutes before and we were on the terrace on a warm summer night in June while our Old Delhi mohalla [locality] was celebrating the win,” he wrote on Facebook, adding that he soon heard Sir Mark’s distinctive voice shouting, “Hum jeet gaya!” – meaning “we have won”.

“There was Mark standing outside my house with a bottle of our favourite whiskey dancing in the street celebrating India’s victory.”

Author and historian William Dalrymple called Sir Mark a “giant among journalists and the greatest Indophile of his generation”.

“As the voice of BBC India he was irreplaceable, a man prepared to stand up to power and to tell the truth, however uncomfortable,” Dalrymple wrote in a post on X.

Senior journalists and academics across India have also spoken about Sir Mark’s influence on them and the impact of his reporting.

Political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta wrote in The Indian Express newspaper that it “used to be joked that all Indians have a ‘Sir Mark memory'”. Mehta was a high school student when Sir Mark covered the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. When there was little reliable information, Sir Mark’s despatches became the “only voice of Indian history as it happened”, he recalled.

“It was only Sir Mark’s voice, each evening, speaking with controlled despair, that provided any coherent picture of what was unfolding. There was something about the soft, rhythmic lilt of his delivery that paradoxically made the horror he described even more vivid,” he added.

“During his decades of reporting for the BBC, he was the most recognised and trusted radio voice in India, at a time when the only real alternative was the completely government-controlled All India Radio,” veteran journalist Coomi Kapoor wrote.

Journalist Shekhar Gupta recalled how his mother wouldn’t accept that “Dacca [Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka] had fallen in December 1972” until she heard it on the BBC.

It was a belief shared by millions of Indians, including former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who said he would not believe his mother, Indira, had been murdered by her Sikh bodyguards until he tuned in to his short-wave radio and heard BBC confirm it.

“As familiar to ordinary villagers as Kashmiri militants and Afghan mujahideen, he was so well known to senior ministers in Delhi that the guards of one simply allowed him to amble through the front door,” the Times wrote in its obituary.

Born in Calcutta in British India in 1935, Sir Mark spent much of his life in the country.

He was knighted for services to broadcasting and journalism in the 2002 New Year Honours list. He also received two of India’s highest civilian awards – the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan – an uncommon distinction for a foreign national.

Additional reporting by Jugal Purohit, BBC Hindi

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