Birth centenary of Subhas Mukhopadhyay observed at Nabanna

Kolkata: State Power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay garlanded the portrait of poet Subhas Mukhopadhyay on the bard's birth centenary at Nabanna.

Mukhopadhyay, a Padma Bhusan awardee, was born on February 12, 1919 and passed away on July 8, 2003. He got the Sahitya Akademi award in 1964 for Joto Durei Jai.

Mukhopadhyay passed his matriculation examination from Mitra Institution, Bhowanipore. He graduated with honours in Philosophy from Scottish Church College. He was known as the Padatik Kobi.

The poet was one of the founder members of Anti Fascist Writers' Association and Artists' Association to protest against the death of his friend Somen Chanda, a poet and a Marxist thinker. He remained attached to the Communist Party till 1982.

Mukhopadhyay had also edited Sandesh for a brief period with Satyajit Roy. He married Gita Bandyopadhyay in 1951 and adopted three daughters and a son.

Ace singer Hemanta Mukhopadhyay was Mukhopadhyay's classmate in Mitra Institution and the two developed a close friendship which they cherished throughout. It was Mukhopadhyay who took Hemanta to All India Radio and arranged his first recording.

Mukhopadhyay supported the fighting spirit of Mamata Banerjee and had congratulated her when she defeated Somnath Chatterjee to become an MP in 1984.