BJP mouthpiece carries IUML organ’s edit page on New Year’s day

On the morning of New Year’s day, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) State president Syed Sadikali Shihab Thangal received an unexpected phone call from a party worker in Kannur. The caller congratulated him on Mr. Thangal’s signed article on bidding farewell to 2025 published on the edit page of BJP’s mouthpiece Janmabhumi.

Although confused at first, Mr. Thangal soon realised that it was neither a prank nor a misunderstanding. Instead, it turned out to be a New Year’s mix-up by the Janmabhumi in its Kannur-Kasaragod edition.

For Janmabhumi readers in Kannur and Kasaragod, it was a jarring start to the New Year. For journalists, however, it became a faux pas destined to be remembered, and laughed about, for a long time.

“It was a technical mix-up during the printing process,” said Ganesh Mohan, Janmabhumi’s Kannur bureau chief, who is in charge of the edition.

Chandrika edit and op-ed pages in Kannur on the New Year’s day.

The mix-up occurred at a private CTP (computer-to-plate) centre, where digital newspaper page files are directly transferred onto printing plates without the use of film. At the Kannur CTP centre, which prepares plates for newspapers like Janmabhumi and Chandrika, the plate for Chandrika’s editorial page was inadvertently dispatched along with the Janmabhumi plates.

The blunder went unnoticed at Pratheeksha Printers, where newspapers like Madhyamam, Suprabhatam, Veekshanam and Janmabhumi are printed. “Luckily, there was nothing directly targeting the BJP on the Chandrika editorial page on the day,” said a BJP worker in Kasaragod, consoling himself.

Masthead too

The page 4, carrying the Chandrika masthead as well as the imprint line, included the editorial on the disintegration of the Left Democratic Front and three opinion pieces by Mr. Thangal, M.K. Muneer and Mohammed Shah focused on bidding farewell to 2025, reflections on Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s works, and the realities of the Yelahanka incident respectively.

“More than reaching a larger audience, I am glad I could connect with a different section of readers. This was truly a New Year surprise, and I will definitely remember it next year,” said Mr. Thangal in a lighter vein.

For Chandrika editor Kamal Varadoor, it was an unexpected dose of publicity from a rival newspaper. “Getting a wider readership for our editorial page on New Year’s Day is a good omen. It shows the days ahead are brighter,” he said, laughing.

Errors and goof-ups in the media, especially in print, are not uncommon. But a party mouthpiece publishing the editorial page of a rival party’s newspaper is widely seen in journalistic circles as an rare blooper.