FILE - Former BBC journalist in India Mark Tully, left, chats with a truck-driver at a highway teashop in Dankuni, 20 kilometers (13 miles) northwest of Calcutta, India, Monday, Feb. 18, 2002. (AP Photo/Nilayan Dutta,File)
NEW DELHI (AP) — Mark Tully, a longtime BBC correspondent who was widely known as the “voice of India” for his reporting on the South Asian nation, has died, the broadcaster said. He was 90.
Tully died Sunday at a New Delhi hospital after a brief illness.
Born in India’s Kolkata city in 1935, Tully joined the BBC in 1965 and was appointed its New Delhi correspondent in 1971. He later served for more than two decades as the BBC’s bureau chief for South Asia.
Tully reported on some of India’s most consequential events, including the 1971 India-Pakistan war that led to the creation of Bangladesh, the siege of the Golden Temple in 1984, the 1991 assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the 1992 demolition of the Babri mosque, which triggered nationwide riots.
Tully also reported from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Tully as “a towering voice of journalism.”
“His connect with India and the people of our nation was reflected in his works. His reporting and insights have left an enduring mark on public discourse,” Modi wrote on X.
Britain knighted Tully in 2002 for services to broadcasting and journalism. He also received two of India’s highest civilian honors, the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan.