Now Reading: Historian Sumit Sarkar, Subaltern Studies founder, dies at 87
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Historian Sumit Sarkar, Subaltern Studies founder, dies at 87
Eminent Marxist historian Sumit Sarkar died at his Delhi residence on Thursday from age-related ailments, historian and family friend G Arunima told PTI. He was 87. Sarkar, known for his seminal works…
The Story in Brief
Eminent Marxist historian Sumit Sarkar died at his Delhi residence on Thursday from age-related ailments, historian and family friend G Arunima told PTI. He was 87. Sarkar, known for his seminal works "The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal", "Modern India: 1885, 1947", and "Writing Social History", challenged leader-centric accounts of Indian nationalism. A founder of the Subaltern Studies Collective, he later critiqued it. He received the Rabindra Puraskar in 2004 but returned it in 2007 to protest the CPI(M) Left Front government's treatment of farmers in West Bengal.
Sarkar is survived by his wife, historian Tanika Sarkar, and son Aditya Sarkar, an associate professor at the University of Warwick. Tributes poured in from historians and politicians, with Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha recalling Sarkar's understanding of Gandhi. The Federal reports his last rites are likely on Saturday.
The Indian Opinion
Sumit Sarkar's death has brought predictable eulogies, but the real loss is of a historian who made intellectual discomfort his home. Many narratives will paint him as just a Marxist historian, yet he returned a state award and broke with his own Subaltern Studies group. That rare honesty is what Indian public discourse needs now, not hagiography. The question is: will any current historian dare to question their own tribe as Sarkar did, or will conformity win again?
Sources (2): thefederal.com, thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
