Ghosh’s philosophies and ideologies were shaped by the many influential figures in his life. His first mentor and guide was Gouri Prasad Basu, a young teacher who opened the great world outside to him when he was just a mere boy. Manabendranath Roy was his political pilot from communism to New Humanism. Rabindranth Tagore, the great Bengali poet-philosopher was as much an inspiration to Ghosh as Chittaranjan Das, Mahatma Gandhi and M.N. Roy.
In 1938 at the age of 15, under Gouri Prasad Basu’s influence Ghosh joined the student wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI) which was then banned by the British Administration ruling India at that time. Soon he organised one strike, thereby gaining his first taste of defying the oppressive authorities.

When M.N. Roy was expelled from the party as a result of a disagreement, Ghosh left the party along with Basu and joined Roy’s Radical Democratic Party. Which was later renamed the ‘Radical Humanist Association’. Although he withdrew from direct politics a few days later, he had a lifelong connection with the organisation. His connection and closeness with the eminent thinker and essayist Professor Shivnarayan Roy fuelled this connection as well.

In his will, Ghosh had written:

“I believe in love, for love and only love makes a man human.”

Sudden changes of residence in his youth, sharp fluctuations in their economic situation and his father’s concern for the destitute sharpened Ghosh’s social awareness early on. He was thus alert to the sociopolitical discussions among his classmates and teachers. They were among those influenced by the anti-British activists who had studied Marxism in jail after the Chittagong Armory Raid in 1931, and the Marxist students returning from English universities.

He spent his life trying to create public opinion in favour of communal harmony. When his name was announced as the recipient of the Magsaysay Award, he was lecturing at the Muslim Institute in Calcutta. He voiced his concern regarding the hostile commentary and bias against Muslim rulers written in the history books of the schools at that time – a concern that plagues school curriculums even today.