Poet and journalist Arun Dasgupta passed away at his village Dhalghat Patiya in Bangladesh’s Chittaagong at about 12 noon on Saturday. He was 86.
He had been suffering from a cold and cough for a couple of days. He was cremated at his native village on Saturday evening.
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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and Cultural Affairs Minister K.M. Khalid, among others, mourned the death of Dasgupta.
“He does not need any state honour… I say he shines the whole globe. Countless Memories over three decades-long profession haunt us,” a social media post said.
A teacher-turned-poet-turned-journalist, thinker, and civil society figure, the patriotic, and erudite Dasgupta came back to his homeland in the pursuit of roots after his study in Kolkata and often spoke in the pure Bengal accent which drew attention to the local people of Bangladesh.
A confirmed bachelor, Dasgupta inspired many to pursue literature.
Born on January 1, 1936, at Dhalghat — the land of Master Surya Sen, he started his journalism career in 1973 with ‘Daily Azadi’ and was the literary editor at ‘Dainik Azadi’.
Dasgupta penned many literary works include “Khandobdahon”, “Rabindranather Chhoy Ritur Gaan o Ananya”, “Nabinchandra Sen”, and “Kabitachinta o Anyanya Prabandha”.
The ‘Da moni’ of media and culture community people, his residence on Nandankanon of Chittagong was a hub of critics of literature, politics, and philosophy, and saw grooming up of budding storytellers, rhyme composers, lyricists, and poets.
His regular discussion with friends, colleagues and the followers were about Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Indian educator and social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who is considered as “father of Bengali prose”, Indian reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee, C.R. Das, as well as Shakespeare, Tolstoy’s ‘Anna Karenina”, Maxim Gorky, and Bhupen Hazarika.
“Arun Dasgupta won’t stop his shinning. Time marches on but memories stay and torturing silently the rest of our days,” senior journalist Samir Barua said in a social media post.
Social media pages of the people of Chittagong also saw tributes and condolences from all over the world.
