Barun Sengupta ( bn, বরুণ সেনগুপ্ত) (23 January 1934 – 19 June 2008), the founder-editor of ''

Bartaman ''Bartaman Patrika'' is an Indian Bengali daily newspaper published from Kolkata, West Bengal, India, by Bartaman Pvt. Ltd. Apart from the Kolkata edition, the newspaper has three other simultaneous editions, published daily from three major to ...

'' newspaper, was a Bengali journalist and popular political critic. He is remembered for his bold and simple diction of political analysing that made him extremely well liked among the common readers in

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

Life

Son of Nirmalananda Sengupta and Ranibala Devi, Barun Sengupta was born in

Barisal Barisal ( or ; bn, বরিশাল, ), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal Dist ...

(in present-day

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

). Sengupta, along with his family, moved to

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

before the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

in 1947 and rented a house near Baithakkhana Market in north-central Kolkata. His education started in B.M. School, Barisal. Later he was admitted to Town School, Kolkata. After graduating in commerce from

City College, Kolkata City College is a composite fully state government-aided public college, affiliated to the University of Calcutta. Established in 1881, it is one of the heritage institutions of Kolkata, and played a prominent role in the wake of the Bengal ...

, he founded a periodical named ''Bhabikal'' which lasted a few issues. In 1957, he founded another weekly named ''Bartaman'' with the aid of

Hemanta Kumar Bose Hemanta may refer to: * ''Hemanta'' (film), a 2016 Bengali language film * Hemanta Mukherjee metro station, a metro railway station in Kolkata, India People with the given name *Hemanta Bahadur B.C., Nepalese politician *Hemanta Dora, Indian foo ...

, a popular leader of the political party,

Forward Bloc The All India Forward Bloc ( AIFB) is a left-wing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party a ...

. He joined

Anandabazar Patrika ''Anandabazar Patrika'' (Bengali: আনন্দবাজার পত্রিকা, ) is an Indian Bengali-language daily newspaper owned by the ABP Group. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1 million cop ...

in 1960 and became its first designated political correspondent in 1965. During the

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

, he was sent to jail along with another reporter,

Gour Kishore Ghosh Gour Kishore Ghosh (20 June 1923 – 15 December 2000) was a Bengali writer and journalist. Associated with ''Anandabazar Patrika'' for decades, Ghosh was known for his novels ''Desh Mati Manush'' and ''Prem Nei''. He was the first editor of ''A ...

. In 1984, he left Anandabazar Patrika to start his own journal and launched ''

'', a daily, on 7 December that year. For its straightforward and intrepid style, the journal became extremely popular among the common Bengali readers. Later Sengupta launched two more periodicals - ''

Saptahik Bartaman ''Saptahik Bartaman'' is a Bengali language weekly magazine published by Bartaman Pvt. Ltd. (the publisher of the newspaper '' Bartaman'') from Kolkata, India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. ...

'', a weekly and ''Sukhi Grihokon'', a monthly and this time too it was a success. These two journals are now widely read in West Bengal. He died in a south Kolkata nursing home after a brief illness.

Books

He wrote several books on India's political situation. One of his controversial book ''Indira Ekadashi'' was based on the 11-year tenure (1966–77) of

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

as the Prime Minister of India. * ''Pala Badaler Pala'' * ''Sab Chatitra Kalpanik'' * ''Bipak-i-stan'' * ''Andhakarer Antaraley'' * ''Netajir Antardhan Rahasya''

References

External links

* News of Sengupta's Death and a short biography from The Telegraph

* News of Sengupta's Death from Indian Express

* Biography of Barun Sengupta from Yahoo News

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sengupta, Barun Indian newspaper editors Indian newspaper founders Indian editors 1934 births 2008 deaths Bengali Hindus 20th-century Bengalis Bengali writers Bengali-language writers City College, Kolkata alumni University of Calcutta alumni Indians imprisoned during the Emergency (India) People from Barisal District Writers from Kolkata Journalists from West Bengal Indian male journalists Indian journalists Indian newspaper journalists 20th-century Indian journalists Indian magazine founders Indian critics Indian writers 20th-century Indian writers Indian political writers Indian political journalists Indian political scientists Indian non-fiction writers 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers Indian male non-fiction writers 20th-century political scientists

Life

Books

Further reading

References

External links