Sunanda Sanyal (1 February 1934 – 22 March 2022) was an Indian eminent academic, essayist, social activist and columnist from West Bengal.

Life

Sanyal was born into an illustrious family of Pabna in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(now in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

) on 1 February 1934. He completed his schooling at Pabna and came to Kolkata for higher studies and thereafter at Hyderabad and Leeds University. Sanyal did his graduation and post-graduation in English literature from

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

. He got his postgraduate DTE degree from

English and Foreign Languages University The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) is a Central university (India), central university for English and foreign languages located in Hyderabad, India. It is the only such university dedicated to languages in South Asia. The un ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

in the early 1970s.

Career

Sanyal started his career as a teacher in English at the

Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira is an autonomous degree college of India located in Belur, West Bengal, Belur, Howrah district, Howrah near Belur Math. History The Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira is a fully residential degree college for ...

Belur Math Belur Math () is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda, the chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It is located in Belur, West Bengal, India on the west bank of Hooghly River. Bel ...

. He was also a part-time English lecturer in

and

University of Burdwan The University of Burdwan (also known as Burdwan University or B. U.) is a public state university located in Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, India. It was established by the West Bengal Government as a teaching and affiliating university on 1 ...

at Burdwan. He wrote articles on different social issues in different English and vernacular newspapers. Sanyal opposed the Left Front government’s decision not to teach English in the primary classes. As a member of the state education commission, he gave his note of dissent on the LF government’s English language policy decision for which he was upbraided by the chairman of the commission,

Ashok Mitra Ashok Mitra (10 April 1928 – 1 May 2018) was an Indian economist and Marxist politician. He was a chief economic adviser to the Government of India and later became finance minister of West Bengal and a member of the Rajya Sabha. Early life ...

, the then Minister of the LF government. Sanyal was also closely involved with the All Bengal Save Education Committee headed by Tarunkanti Naskar. Professor Sanyal had always wanted proper education for poor rural children. Because of his prolonged opposition against the LF government’s education policy, the government was finally forced to bring back English in the primary level. Sanyal, along with several others, formed Ganamukti Parishad to support the movements launched by

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 2 ...

Singur Singur is a census town in Singur CD block in Chandannagore subdivision of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Location Singur is located at . It has an average elevation of 14 metres (45 ft), and i ...

Nandigram Nandigram is a census town in the Nandigram I Community development block, Community Development Block of the Haldia subdivision in the Purba Medinipur district of the India, Indian state of West Bengal. In 2007, the West Bengal government all ...

and Jungle mahal. He visited these areas and took part in rallies and meetings to create public opinion.

Death

Sanyal was suffering from old age-related ailments, was admitted to a private hospital in Salt Lake area on 26 February. He was diagnosed with sepsis and multiple-organ failure. He died on 22 March 2022. Former advocate general Bimal Chatterjee described Sanyal as a perfect gentleman of high moral values and integrity and a repository of knowledge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanyal, Sunanda 1934 births 2022 deaths Bengali Hindus University of Calcutta alumni Indian academics People from Pabna District Academics from Kolkata Academic staff of the University of Calcutta