Senior journalist and chief editor of Janmabhumi Leela Menon passed away in Kochi on Sunday night at the age of 86. She was suffering from health complications, hypertension, breathlessness and diabetes.
“She passed away at 8:30 pm. For several months, she had not been keeping well and was undergoing medical treatment. For the last couple of months, she wasn’t able to recognise anyone,” Joseph Alex, managing trustee of Signature Aged Care, where she had been living, told. Her body will be kept for public homage at the Ernakulum Town Hall before being cremated.
A fierce feminist, Leela Menon was born at Vengola, Ernakulum in 1932 and studied at the Vengola primary school and the Perumbavoor English school before joining the Nizam college in Hyderabad.
Menon started her journalistic career with the Indian Express in Delhi in 1978. After working there for 22 years, she started writing columns for The Hindu, Outlook and Madhyamam before joining Janmabhumi as its chief editor. Before she plunged into journalism, she had served the Central government in the postal department. She left the cushy job for a less-paying profession out of passion.
Leela Menon, a close friend of Kamala Das who later became Kamala Suraiyya after converting to Islam, blew the off organised ‘Love Jihad’ of which Kamala Das was a high-profile victim. She converted to Islam in her late sixties. Kamala Das was tricked into a relationship by a Muslim politician half her age. He had promised to marry her but that did not take place. He is alleged to have got a huge sum of money for converting her.
After Leela Menon spilled the beans in this case, people started taking note of this phenomenon.
