Veteran journalist Vinod Dua, a Padma Shri awardee, has died after suffering from coronavirus-related complications, his daughter Mallika Dua confirmed in a social media post on Saturday. The 67-year-old journalist was last week moved to the Intensive Care Unit of Apollo Hospital in Delhi on the advice of doctors.
“Our irreverent, fearless and extraordinary father, Vinod Dua has passed away,” comic-actor Mallika Dua said in her Instagram story and added that the cremation would be held at the Lodhi crematorium in the capital tomorrow at noon.
Tributes and condolences poured in for the veteran journalist following his death. Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai said Vinod Dua was a “natural” tv personality and he had very few competitors.
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“There has been no more ‘natural’ tv personality than Vinod Dua: he was a trend setting journalist who could dive into a prog on politics,food, music, poetry with equal ease. Dua-Roy election jugalabandi was spl in 80s/90s DD general election live coverage as was Parakh show. RIP,” Sardesai tweeted.
Media entrepreneur Anurradha Prasad said, “Vinod Dua gone too soon, Learnt a lot from him. Truly Bhishmpitamah of the Television News Industry. Rest In Peace Vinod.”
Journalist Vir Sanghvi said Vinod Dua was “probably the greatest TV presenter of our times”.
Columnist and author Tavleen Singh wrote, “What very sad news. Vinod left an impression not just on those who saw him as a great TV anchor but on those lucky enough to have known him in real life. Truly a great loss.”
Here are a few more reactions:
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With an illustrious career spanning four decades, Dua was known for his voice. His legacy transcends the 80s, 90s, the 2000s and in his last avatar, on digital new age media. He was well known for his extensive election coverage in India.
Dua was a pioneer in Hindi journalism, with stints at Doordarshan and NDTV. More recently, he was associated with digital media platforms The Wire and HW News.
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Dua was honoured with several awards for his contributions to journalism. In 1996, he was honoured with the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award. In 2008, the government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri award, the fourth-highest civilian award of India.
Vinod Dua became famous while hosting ‘Parakh’, weekly current affairs show on Doordarshan.
