By IANS,
KolKata : Senior journalist and founder-Editor of Bengali daily ‘Bartaman’ Barun Sengupta died after a prolonged illness at a city nursing home here Thursday, sources in the daily said.
Sengupta (74) was admitted to the nursing home Sunday with multiple complications, and put on a ventilator Tuesday. A bachelor, Sengupta is survived by two sisters.
Imprisoned for nine months during the Emergency in 1975 for writing articles critical of the then Congress government of Indira Gandhi, Sengupta was a fearless scribe who believed that the soul of journalism lay in an uncompromising anti-establishment stand.
His death came at a time when Sengupta had just crossed 50 years of his journalistic career and his daily paper ‘Bartaman’ turned 25.
Beginning his journalistic career in 1957 by launching a Bengali weekly ‘Bartaman’, Sengupta came in close contact with veteran Forward Bloc leader Hemanta Bose early in his profession.
He joined the ‘Ananda Bazar Patrika’ in 1960 and rose fast to become the daily’s first political correspondent in 1965.
Sengupta left Ananda Bazar Patrika in 1984, and started his Bengali daily ‘Bartaman’ the same year.
Famed for his insight into national and Bengal politics, Sengupta’s weekly column in Ananda Bazar Patrika gained him fame and great popularity among the readers.
A prolific writer, Sengupta wrote columns on state politics for his paper till a few days before his death.
Sengupta also authored a number of books in Bengali that were largely based on his vast experience in political reporting. Some of the more notable are Netajir Antardhan Rahashya (The mystery of Netaji’s disappearance), Dillir Palabadal (Change of Guard in Delhi), and ‘Sob Charitrai Kalponik’ (All Imaginary Characters).