Veteran litterateur Mahasweta Devi passes away in West Bengal

Kolkata: Social activist and veteran litterateur Mahasweta Devi passed away at a private hospital of south Kolkata in West Bengal on Thursday. She was 90.

The Magsaysay award receiver was not keeping well for more than a month. Suffering from septicemia and urine infection, she was admitted to the hospital on June 22 last.

Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to micro blogging website Twitter to mourn the ‘gem of literature’:

India has lost a great writer. Bengal has lost a glorious mother. I have lost a personal guide. Mahashweta Di rest in peace

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) 28 July 2016

Mahashweta Devi wonderfully illustrated the might of the pen. A voice of compassion, equality & justice, she leaves us deeply saddened. RIP.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 28 July 2016

Other highlights:

• After her condition deteriorated in the hospital, an eight-member medical board was formed for the author’s treatment.
• She was the wife of the state’s most creative playwright Bijon Bhattacharya who died in 1978.

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