At a time when thousands of students across the country are facing a crisis due to the NEET paper leak and the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam, a dedicated group gathered in Kolkata on Friday evening to honour the centenary of a man who devoted his life to the noble cause of education and teaching. Professor Dilip Chakraborty, who was also an MP, was born on April 23, 1923 in Shologhar village in Dhaka, present-day Bangladesh.
Professor Chakravarty overcame early hardships, including the loss of his parents, to achieve academic excellence. He won a gold medal in Economics Honours from Guwahati Cotton College and excelled in both MA and Law examinations.
“Even before the Indian government determined his role in the Bangladesh Liberation War, Dilip Chakraborty was supporting the Mukti Bahini with arms. This is a very little known fact. He founded the Calcutta University Bangladesh Sahayak Samiti and played a key role in providing refuge to thousands of writers, artists and teachers on Indian soil. His contribution to the liberation of Bangladesh was immense,” said Shahriar Kabir, an eminent journalist and writer from Dhaka.
“Dilip da was a gentleman. An able leader who always led from the front. He never backed down from adversity,” recalled former West Bengal minister Kiranmoy Nanda.
