Astad Dinshaw Gorwala is one of the many unsung heroes of modern India.
Born in 1900 in the small Parsi community, Gorwala joined the prestigious Indian Civil Service in 1924 and served in the Northwest province of Sindh and elsewhere.
After India won Independence, Gorwala quit the Indian Civil Service and became a journalist. His critical articles were published in several newspapers including The Times of India.
In 1960, Gorwala founded a newsletter called Opinion in which he wrote fearlessly against corruption and campaigned for the rights of the individual against the state.
During the state of Emergency declared by that petty Indian dictator Indira Gandhi, the authorities, which had imposed press censorship in the country, ordered Opionion to be shut down.
In the final issue of Opinion, Gorwala boldly wrote that "the current Indira regime, founded on June 26th 1975, was born through lies, nurtured by lies, and flourishes by lies. The essential ingredient of its being is the lie. Consequently, to have a truth-loving, straight-thinking journal examine it week after week and point out its falsehoods becomes intolerable to it."
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