Gourkishore Ghosh was an unusual personality. He had never compromised with anything that stood between him and serving the society and the people. He was at loggerheads with the Government over people's rights, but when needed, he joined hands with authority to serve the community."My home is built in the minds and hearts of the common people. Take them away from me and I become homeless," cited Gourkishore Ghosh in 1981 in the Magsaysay Award Ceremony where he was honoured for 'Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts.' But the mission to dwell in people's heart began at a much younger age. His socio-economic situation made him down to earth towards life, society and people. The journalist-activist Gourkishore commenced his journey as a humanist as early as the 1940s.

"My home is built in the minds and hearts of the common people. Take them away from me and I become homeless,"

In 1938, at the age of 15, he joined the student wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI) which was then banned by the British Government of India. He had organized one strike and had his first taste of defying the authority. He came to Calcutta, joined the Indian Federation of Labour and was assigned by the Radical Democratic Party to go with a cadre to organize jute workers in the industrial belt of Barrackpore. During his five months there, he was severely beaten by communist workers for speaking out against their platform and their candidate. With the end of the Second World War in August 1945, trade union activities intensified, and Gourkishore was assigned in early 1946 to organize the Lalmonir Hat branch of the Bengal and Assam Railwaymen's Association. When the police evicted him from Lalmonir Hat, which was under the British rule, he crossed the nearby border into Cooch Behar, then one of the princely states ruled by a Maharaja. He was next sent to Darjeeling to bring into the party fold the organizer of the workers on the Darjeeling-Himalayan Railway. He later wrote that the union wanted to split the workers and was working for the interests of the company to oust the organizer. The union accomplished this by giving him a pompous title in the overall organization, whereby he lost control of his own core group. The organizer whom Gourkishore was ostensibly sent to help proved to be "a very good, tough man and a born organizer," and he became his friend. Unfortunately, he reported "no personalities can be tolerated by the Party and thus he had to set up a faceless organization. He wrote seriously about this tragedy. The net result of his experience was a story titled - SaginaMahato, after the organizer named Sagina, which showcased how a Marxist organization destroyed a natural labour organizer.

The humanist in Gourkishore had grown with time. It began to radiate its full glory while he stormed into the world of journalism. His profession allowed him to seek Truth and present it to the people as well as to serve the society. In 1971 he was assigned by ABP to report "Bangladesh Mukti-Yuddho" (Bangladesh Liberation War). Apart from reporting he arranged aids for Muktiyodhayas (the freedom-fighters), even sheltered many of them in his humble Calcutta residence. In 1975, during the state emergency, he took up his pen to no not only criticize the Government but also lodge the most vigorous protests against the Press censorship. According to him losing one's fundamental right of expression and freedom of speech, was equivalent to the death of his mother. So he began a symbolic protest with a traditional Hindu act of bereavement, by shaving off his curly black hair, but "to achieve maximum propaganda effect" he kept his full moustache and walked through the streets drawing passers-by into his loss. When he was imprisoned, he wrote symbolic letters to his 13-year-old son from behind bars. In this "PitarPatro" (Letter from a father). Ghosh stated: "If I recognize as the supreme end of my life the task of providing you all with a secure shelter . . . the question of my taking the risk of registering my protest does not arise... But then I have to make a compromise with untruth....to sell my honour as a writer...I have to stifle in me the urge for asserting myself as a man."

ACTIVISM

ACTIVISM

ACTIVISM

Jyotirmoy Dutta, a young editor of 'Kolkata' magazine, was willing to print his "PitarPatro" and other uncensored articles and those were finally published in the special political edition of the magazine. In August nine hundred copies of the special edition of Kolkata reached the newsstand. Ghosh remained under surveillance but moved freely until the early hours of October 6, 1975, when his home was raided, a copy of the offending issue of the magazine was found, and he was arrested without charge on the orders of the Chief Minister of West Bengal. On that very evening, the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) was invoked to place him in solitary confinement in Presidency Jail, Cell No. 10. Kolkata magazine was proscribed. But neither imprisonment nor the authority could break his indomitable spirit.

Jyotirmoy Dutta, a young editor of 'Kolkata' magazine, was willing to print his "PitarPatro" and other uncensored articles and those were finally published in the special political edition of the magazine. In August nine hundred copies of the special edition of Kolkata reached the newsstand. Ghosh remained under surveillance but moved freely until the early hours of October 6, 1975, when his home was raided, a copy of the offending issue of the magazine was found, and he was arrested without charge on the orders of the Chief Minister of West Bengal. On that very evening, the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) was invoked to place him in solitary confinement in Presidency Jail, Cell No. 10. Kolkata magazine was proscribed. But neither imprisonment nor the authority could break his indomitable spirit.

Yet again, in 1981 he filed a case against the Government of West Bengal, Calcutta Municipal Corporation and CESC on the grounds of failure to provide essential services to the people and for environmental pollution. In 1982 he again raised his voice against the Bihar Press Bill and organized a protest. He also actively participated in Narmada BachaoAndolonwith MedhaPatekar and Orrisa Environment Movement. He worked intensively in the riot-torn areas of Bhagalpur (1990) in Bihar. In 1991 when a communal riot broke out in Calcutta in the aftermath of the Babri Mosque demolition, Ghosh not only took up his pen reporting the developments but actively engaged himself in restoring communal amity and helping the administration to reach the affected areas. He often led official teams into riot-hit areas. He acted as the reliable bridge between the authority and the victims.

Further work towards communal harmony: When the freedom of the journalists was curtailed due to the infamous Bihar Press Bill (1972), Ghosh was arrested in Calcutta for delivering speeches in favour of the freedom to speak. In 1974, he was one of the organisers and mediators of the procession of opposition journalists and non-journalists, who went to office to break the 52-day strike on AnandabazarPatrika at the instigation of a particular political party.

While reporting on the infamous 1989 Bhagalpur riots, Ghosh involved himself in the work of rehabilitating the riot victims. He worked for the same purpose during the riots in Calcutta after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.

While collecting news of the Bhagalpur riots, Ghosh realised that it was not just a Hindu-Muslim communal problem, it was a well-planned plot to evict the inhabitants from the land. He began researching the subject with funding from the Magsaysay Award Foundation. However, he became seriously ill and the work remained unfinished.