Famous Bengali poet Shankh Ghosh breathed last on 21 April. Ghosh was 89 years old and was found to be Covid-19 positive in the investigation. Considered awards such as the prestigious Jnanpith and Sahitya Akademi, Shankh Ghosh was suffering from age-related diseases for some time. He was also admitted to the hospital in January this year.
Shankh Ghosh underwent a corono virus test on 14 April in which he was found positive. He was living in isolation in his house. On Tuesday, April 20, his sudden health deteriorated. He was removed from the ventilator on Wednesday morning. Ghosh breathed his last at around 11 this morning.
After Shankh Ghosh Jibananda Das, Bengali poets were counted in the best line. Ghosh also taught at the University of Delhi, University of Iowa and Visva-Bharati for many years.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Jagat Prakash Nadda paid his tribute to the famous poet on Twitter. His tweet in Bangla reads, “I am deeply saddened by the demise of famous Bengali poet Shankh Ghosh, who was honored with Padma Bhushan, Sahitya Akademi Award, Rabindra Award, Saraswati Award and Jnanpith Award, may his soul rest in peace.
Born in 1932 to the house of Manindrakumar Ghosh of Chandpur (now Bangladesh), Chittopriyo Ghosh named his name Shankha Ghosh. He did his graduation in Bangla from the Presidency College and his MA from the University of Calcutta. Then joined Jadavpur University and retired from there in 1992. He was counted among the ‘Pandavas of modern Bangla literature’ along with Shakti Chattopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Binoy Majumdar and Utpal Kumar for their five decades of literary service. Writer-critic Vishwanath Tripathi, who was awarded Akashdeep for Hindi along with Shankh Ghosh, said that the unique word of Indian languages was gone.