Mark Tully, veteran journalist, India’s chronicler, passes away in Delhi at 90

New Delhi: Veteran journalist and author Mark Tully, whose reporting shaped international understanding of India across decades of political change, died on Sunday at a private hospital in New Delhi. He was 90. Hospital authorities said Tully passed away at 2:35 pm following multi-organ failure after a stroke. He had been unwell for some time and was admitted on January 21 to Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, where he was under the care of the nephrology department.

In a statement, the hospital confirmed his death and said, “Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with his family, loved ones, and all those affected by his passing.” Veteran journalist Satish Jacob, a close friend and collaborator, said that Tully died at the Saket hospital on Sunday afternoon.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss, describing Tully as a towering voice of journalism. “His connect with India and the people of our nation was reflected in his works,” Modi said in a post on X, adding that Tully’s reporting and insights left a lasting imprint on public discourse.

Born on October 24, 1935, in Calcutta, now Kolkata, Tully spent much of his early childhood in India before being sent to England for further education. He studied at a boarding school in Darjeeling and later attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read theology. He briefly joined the Lincoln Theological College with the idea of entering the priesthood, but left after two terms. In later interviews, Tully spoke candidly about that period, describing himself as rebellious and unsuited to the discipline of seminary life.

India returned decisively to the centre of his life and career in 1964, when the BBC sent him to New Delhi as its correspondent. That assignment marked the beginning of a professional association with the broadcaster that spanned three decades. After a brief interruption in 1969, when the Indian government barred the BBC following the broadcast of a critical French documentary, Tully returned to Delhi in 1971.

The following year, he was appointed chief of bureau, a post he held for 22 years while overseeing coverage of South Asia.

From that vantage point, Tully reported on some of the most consequential episodes in post-Independence India. His assignments included the Bangladesh war of 1971, the Emergency between 1975 and 1977, the execution of former Pakistan president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1979, Operation Blue Star, the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, the killing of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, and the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. These events formed the backbone of his reputation for detailed, patient reporting that sought to explain India to global audiences.

Operation Blue Star and the Punjab crisis were also the subject of Tully’s first book, “Amritsar: Mrs Gandhi’s Last Battle”, published in 1985 and co-written with Satish Jacob. His subsequent works expanded that engagement with Indian society and politics. In 1988, he published “No Full Stops in India”, a collection of ten essays drawn from more than two decades of reporting. Later titles included “India in Slow Motion”, co-authored with Gillian Wright, which examined issues ranging from religious politics and child labour to agriculture and Kashmir, as well as “India’s Unending Journey” and “India: The Road Ahead”. He also wrote fiction, notably “The Heart of India” and “Upcountry Tales: Once Upon A Time In The Heart Of India.”

Tully’s career at the BBC was not without friction. In a lecture in Birmingham in the early 1990s, he spoke of a climate of fear within the organisation. BBC director-general John Birt dismissed those remarks, and Tully resigned from the broadcaster in July 1994. He continued, however, to present the Radio 4 programme “Something Understood”, focused on spirituality, until it was discontinued in April 2019. Based in Delhi, he remained active as a freelance journalist and commentator, closely following the country’s social and political life.

His contributions were recognised in both Britain and India. Tully received the Padma Shri in 1992, was knighted in the New Year Honours in 2002, and was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2005.

On his 90th birthday last October, his son Sam Tully reflected on his father’s role in strengthening understanding between India and the United Kingdom.

“The heart is Indian but a bit English too,” he wrote in a tribute, recalling the trust listeners placed in Tully’s voice during moments of crisis.

For many who followed him on the BBC World Service, that trust became his enduring legacy.