Tavleen Singh – one of only five women journalists in Delhi at that time, is an award-winning Indian veteran journalist and one of the first women political journalists in India to have worked for both print and electronic media. The political journalist is also one of the few to report on major events in South Asia, including general elections in Pakistan and India, ethnic conflicts in Kashmir and Punjab (including Operation Blue Star and Operation Black Thunder), and civil unrest in India. Coups in Sri Lanka, and Maldives. In an interview, when Tavleen was asked about political journalism in India, he said,
All political journalists around the world are at some risk of being sucked into the system. It’s very easy. I have very strong views on this. I truly believe that journalists should never take Rajya Sabha seats. I truly believe that journalists should not receive Padma awards. Once you do this, you should leave journalism and go into politics. There is nothing wrong in this.”
Tavleen is also a writer with six books to her credit. She was often in controversies over her affair with Pakistani businessman and politician Salman Taseer in the 1980s.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Tavleen Singh was born on Saturday, 22 July 1950 (age 71 years; as in 2021) in Mussoorie, Uttar Pradesh (now in Uttarakhand). Born under the Cancer zodiac sign, Tavleen was brought up in Delhi. She studied at Welham Girls School in Dehradun, Uttarakhand and moved to Shimla to pursue a bachelor’s degree from St. Bede’s College. Continuing her studies, Tavleen also did a short-term journalism course from New Delhi Polytechnic in 1969. The journalist works as a freelance writer for India Today and The Hitavada. She also writes weekly political columns for The Indian Express, Jansatta (on Sundays) and Amar Ujala (on Mondays).
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 3″
Hair Color: Dark brown (she often dyes her hair various shades of brown)
Eye colour: black
Family
Tavleen belongs to an elite Sikh family.
parents and siblings
The columnist’s father was a soldier and his maternal grandfather was one of the five Sikh contractors who, along with Edwin Lutyens, were given the responsibility of building the city of New Delhi. His father passed away in 2016 and his mother is over 90 years old. Tavleen is one of four siblings. He has a brother, Vijay Singh, and two sisters – Uday Kaur Akoi and Kitten Musker.
Tavleen Singh with his two sisters and mother
husband and children
Tavleen Singh is unmarried, but has a son, Aatish Taseer, from Salman Taseer, with whom she had a relationship in the 1980s. Aatish is a British-American writer and journalist of Indian origin.
Tavleen Singh’s father and son Aatish Taseer
relationships/affairs
- In March 1980, Tavleen had a scandalous relationship with Salman Taseer, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, who was assassinated in 2011. The two had a brief romantic relationship after meeting in Delhi, when the Pakistani politician was in India to promote his book. At that time, Salman was already married with three children in his country and returned after about a week. A month later, the couple discovered that Tavleen was with a child and decided to pretend that they were married. Tavleen and Taseer both moved to Dubai to hide the news from their families and moved to London during the summer, where Tavleen gave birth to their son Aatish. The two remained unmarried and separated when Aatish was 2 years old, after which the Indian mother brought Aatish back with her and raised him in her ancestral home in Delhi. Salman Taseer never came to India after 1980 and did not meet his son until Aatish turned 21. In an interview, Tavleen talked about her relationship and said,
I am very proud of my relationship with him. My relationship with him deteriorated because he was going to become a politician, and in Pakistan, you cannot become a politician with an Indian wife and children. This is an absolute no-no!”
Tavleen Singh’s romantic interest is Salman Taseer
- Since the late 1980s, Tavleen Singh has been in a romantic relationship with Ajit Gulabchand, the CEO of Hindustan Construction Company and scion of the Walchand Hirachand family, one of India’s oldest business families. In 1994, Tavleen moved to Mumbai with Ajit in a rented apartment in the same building, although she never married him.
Tavleen Singh with Ajit Gulabchand
Religion
Tavleen follows Sikh religion.
livelihood
print journalism
Tavleen has covered many political events in the Indian subcontinent in the four decades of his journalism career. The veteran journalist entered the industry as a junior reporter at The Statesman in New Delhi in 1974 and worked there for about eight years before joining The Telegraph as a special correspondent in 1982. Tavleen then became the South Asia correspondent for The Sunday Times. London in 1985 and again in 1987. He has also worked as a correspondent for several publications such as The Indian Express, India Today, Sunday and The Sunday Times (London).
broadcast journalism
In 1990, Tavleen started working in television and headed the Delhi bureau of Star Plus channel. Seven years later, Tavleen got the job of anchoring a Hindi weekly program “Ek Din, Ek Jeevan” on the same channel. The political journalist was also seen on television in several current affairs programs in both Hindi and English languages. Tavleen also anchored a show on NDTV Profit (now NDTV Prime) and interviewed Indian politicians like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan.
controversies
- Tavleen had courted controversy in the 1980s due to her ‘scandalous’ relationship with Pakistani politician and businessman Salman Taseer and the birth of a son by him out of wedlock. Their relationship made headlines in almost every major publication, until the pair ended on a bitter note. Even after an affair of almost four decades, the journalist and her dual-parent son are often criticized and trolled on social media.
- In October 2018, Tavleen was criticized by Indian Twitter users, including celebrities, for her comments against the #MeToo Indian movement and her open admission of not supporting the movement. Apparently the controversy flared up when Tavleen jumped to the defense of #MeToo accused journalist MJ Akbar. After a few days of Twitter controversy, Singh wrote his opinion in an article and tried to explain himself in an open letter to journalist Barkha Dutt. A few days later, several forums supporting women’s rights attacked Tavleen in open letters.
Tavleen Singh criticized for tweet supporting MJ Akbar
- Two months after the #MeToo criticism, Singh found himself in another controversy when he ‘joked’ about journalist Faye D’Souza’s clothes and said she “dressed like a man” during a #MeToo debate on a news channel. Were wearing clothes”. His insensitive comment did not go down well with Dutt and other Twitter users and Singh was again caught in a Twitter war.
Senior journalist Tavleen Singh is telling @fayedsouza That she is ‘dressed like a man’!
Hear Faye D’Souza’s answer to that! pic.twitter.com/zdMpkGkYFw
– Mirror Now (@MirrorNow) 1 December 2018
- In 2019, the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status of Tavleen’s son, Aatish Taseer, was canceled by the Indian government, saying he had ‘concealed’ that his late father, Salman Taseer, was a Pakistani. The decision came as a blow to the mother-son duo and the protective mother came to her son’s defence. Tavleen, who has been an open supporter of the government in the past, took to Twitter to term the Indian government’s decision as ‘bad’. In an article written for an English publication, Tavleen called out the Modi-led government and claimed that her son’s citizenship was revoked because the Indian Home Minister was angry over Aatish Taseer’s article on Narendra Modi which he published in Time magazine. Wrote for. Singh was soon attacked by right-wing social media users.
- The journalist again stood up in defense of her son in 2020, when Aatish Taseer’s derogatory remarks against Indian Home Minister Amit Shah were strongly criticized on Twitter. When the news of Shah being infected with Covid-19 came out, Taseer made fun of him. Soon, Tavleen was criticized for her parenting, while Aatish was called out for his dual parentage and his Pakistani ties.
Tavleen Singh’s son Aatish Taseer criticized for tweeting against Amit Shah
publications
- 2020: Messiah Modi: A story of great hopes
- 2016: India’s failed attempt
Tavleen Singh gifting her book to PM Narendra Modi
- 2007: political and incorrect
- 1999: Lollipop Street: Why India Will Survive Its Politicians
- 1995: Kashmir: a tragedy of errors
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Journalist in 1988
- Sanskriti Award for Journalism in 1985
Facts/General Knowledge
- Tavleen loves drinking alcoholic beverages.
Tavleen Singh holding a glass of wine
- While Tavleen was raising her son in Delhi, the single mother was financially supported by her sister and friend, politician Vasundhara Raje. Singh also revealed that his then friend Sonia Gandhi used to gift ‘nice clothes’ to young Aatish.
- It is also claimed by the media that Singh has an obsession with politician Sonia Gandhi. Talking about this passion of hers in an interview in 2016, Tavleen had said,
Why do I seem to be obsessed with Sonia Gandhi? Because I believe I would be failing in my duty as a political journalist if I did not point out that for the last 10 years she has been ruling India without any accountability. Was the Prime Minister. Now, if this means harassing Sonia, I will continue to do so.
- Tavleen was a government supporter – a strong supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) until 2019. Since then, the journalist has always taken a strong stance against the Indian government.
- The famous columnist is also a supporter of Indian literature and to promote it in the country, Tavleen helps skilled writers of Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi languages who are financially poor through an organization called ‘Mehfil-e-Gango-Jaman’. Drives. ,
- In 2012 Tavleen published her book, Darbar, which she revealed in an interview was originally written as a novel and eventually rewritten as non-fiction.
- The journalist is a fitness freak, who never compromises with her fitness even at the age of 70. Tavleen admitted in an interview that she exercised five days a week, did yoga in the evening and climbed 32 floors in nine minutes. However, in 2017, Singh underwent knee surgery to remove a torn meniscus, after which he has avoided excessive exercise.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn