Bismriti Chhapiye by Ashok Mitra [Hardcover]

"‘For a long time, I have harbored a latent grievance,’ he wrote about three years ago. Against whom is this grievance? And why? Against society, and its privileged class. Countless people are 'living on the extreme edge of poverty, barely surviving on starvation and half-starvation,' yet 'knowing all this, educated Bengalis are self-satisfied and complacent.' This horrific and tragic disparity torments the elderly man. It is not just economic inequality, nor merely social division, but a deep mental inequality as well. This realization caused Ashok Mitra lifelong mental agony and made him resentful. Against society, against his peers, and against himself.

Most of the writings in this collection seem like reminiscences. However, a deep social philosophy, rooted in class consciousness, emerges repeatedly through various contexts. He cannot be confined to any framework. By formal education, he was an economist. He taught at various educational institutions and played a significant role in formulating government policies, such as the Chairman of the Agricultural Prices Commission, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, and the Finance and Planning Minister of the West Bengal Government. Later, as a member of the Rajya Sabha, he enriched the Indian Parliament. But for more than half a century, his vibrant presence outside the institutional realm of economics and politics has enriched society. His thoughts and writings span an endless horizon. Besides many valuable books, he wrote numerous articles in magazines and newspapers. Driven by his social consciousness, even in his nineties and despite various physical ailments, he continued to edit the fortnightly magazine ‘Aro Ek Rakam’. 'To survive in society, one cannot be too different in many cases,' he said, and he himself embodied a defiance of this statement. He was honored with the Sahitya Akademi Award (1997)."