M.J. Akbar’s Take on Pen, Press, and Parliament at Pune Book Festival 2025

By Akita Chettri
Pune, 19th December 2o25: At the Pune Book Festival, veteran journalist, author, and former parliamentarian M.J. Akbar delivered a wide-ranging reflection on journalism, democratic institutions, history, and the modern Indian state during the session “Pen, Press, and Parliament.”

Akbar interrogated the session’s three pillars, calling the “pen” a faded metaphor yet enduring symbol of intellectual responsibility. He critiqued the press’s transformation, where technological shifts altered content, eroding journalism’s ethical core—distinguishing it from mere “communication” now resembling a “shouting match” or “wrestling match” driven by sensationalism rather than morale.

Akbar was strong on the stance that news is “IQ plus EQ”. Now the media focus on neither, while its main purpose was to share “educated conversation with the people” and though-provoking content. He mentions the relationship of the Parliament and how it should be led with both IQ and EQ,

Akbar explores the 1980s, which he regarded as a “fractured” experience, where everything was building up. It was a build-up of trauma, violence, yet it is what gave India the courage to grow. It changed the economy, “national opinion”, and how the last 10 years have impacted India greatly. He greatly praises the elimination of poverty within India and how it was inconceivable when he had joined the Times of India as a journalist. He contrasts this with how Pakistan’s poverty has increased, how Pakistan has forgone their culture and made religion their national interest.

According to Akbar, while faith permeates lives across groups, but it cannot be considered to be a foundation of states. Modern nations require five constitutional principles: democracy, religious freedom, gender emancipation, poverty elimination, and cultural pluralism—upheld by India’s Constitution, unlike Pakistan or China, Akbar states.

Akbar’s new book is “After Me, Chaos: Astrology in the Mughal Empire”. According to him, the book takes pride in being only taken by “primary sources”. He explores the lives of the Mughal rulers, their knowledge, their ideas, their language. Most importantly, their belief in astrology, the knowledge that hides within the stars.

Akbar’s session underscored India’s democratic resilience as a civilizational triumph, rooted in constitutional principles and historical self-correction. While also praising the knowledge within the past and what an interesting world is still unknown to so many.