Kolkata: Sahitya Akademi Award winning Bengali litterateur Samaresh Majumdar, known for portraying the tumultuous Naxalite period of the 1970s, died at a private hospital in Kolkata.
Majumdar, 79, breathed his last Monday evening.
“He had been suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) for more than 12 years. His health deteriorated recently and was put on ventilator. He died around 5.45 PM,” a hospital official told PTI.
Best known for his political trilogy – ‘Uttaradhikar’ ‘Kalbela’ and ‘Kalpurush’ – Majumdar has also penned short stories and travelogues.
He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for ‘Kalbela’, set against the backdrop of the Naxalite movement. Majumdar’s detective character ‘Arjun’ has also been very popular not only among the youth but also adults.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condoled his death, saying it is an irreparable loss to the literary world.
Noted film director Goutam Ghosh said Majumdar was the one who brought forth the turbulent phase of the 1970s in north Bengal.
“The period from 1960s to 1980s in north Bengal, the social and economic situation, the dreams and frustrations of the people in the Dooars area became alive in the works of Samaresh Majumder. I regret not having met him in recent times despite hearing that he was not keeping well,” Ghosh said.