Devi played significant role in uplifting the extremely backward communities.
AB Wire
Renowned writer and activist Mahaswetha Devi passed away on Thursday afternoon at a private hospital in Kolkata.
The 90-year-old died of cardiac arrest due to multiple-organ failure. She was admitted to the hospital in south Kolkata on June 22, 2016 with septicemia and urinary infection.
She was also suffering from diabetes and was put on ventilator support dies at around 3 p.m.
“Mahashweta Devi wonderfully illustrated the might of the pen. A voice of compassion, equality & justice, she leaves us deeply saddened. RIP” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on twitter.
“India has lost a great writer. Bengal has lost a glorious mother. I have lost a personal guide. Mahasweta Di rest in peace,” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted.
Mahaswetha Devi, Who won Magsaysay award in 1997, played a significant role to uplift the extremely backward community, Kheria Sabar.
Her intellectual moorings were initially with the Left but for the past 10 years Devi was a bitter critic of the left.
Wife of one of Bengal’s prominent playwrights, Bijon Bhattacharya, the activist-writer grew up in the family of Bengal’s leading writers, poets and filmmakers.
In 1940’s she was influenced by the communist movement and chose to work among the poor people in the tribal areas of southern West Bengal and in other parts of the country.
She also got awards such as Sahitya Academy (1979), Padmashri (1986), Jnanpith (1996) and Padma Vibhushan (2006). Her works were also made into movies.
Social Media Updates:
Mahashweta Devi wonderfully illustrated the might of the pen. A voice of compassion, equality & justice, she leaves us deeply saddened. RIP.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 28, 2016
India has lost a great writer. Bengal has lost a glorious mother. I have lost a personal guide. Mahashweta Di rest in peace
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 28, 2016