By Satyaki Chakraborty
Dr. Gargi Chakravartty, eminent historian and a leading figure of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) passed away in Kolkata on March 2. She was 78. Her husband famous journalist Sumit Chakravartty passed away only last year. She has left behind a son who is a television mediaperson with Prasar Bharti.
Gargi, called Tanya in her younger days, was the daughter of one of the lading communist families of the undivided Bengal. Her mother was Sabitri Roy, the writer whose novels Paka Dhaner Gan and Trisrota created a stir in Bengali literature in depicting the struggle of the people, their hopes and aspirations. Sabitri Roy was a hardcore activist in the peasant movement. Gargi’s father Dr. Santimoy Roy was a noted historian who worked all along for the maintenance of communal harmony in the state as also at the national level.
This family traditions led Gargi from her childhood. In her students days, she was active in the students movement as also in the programmes which were held in Calcutta, now Kolkata in favour of communal harmony. After getting married to Sumit Chakravartty and shifting to Delhi, she continued with her work for the cause of gender equity apart from seeking justice for the weaker sections of the women. During her academic life in Delhi as a teacher of history, she always focused on the glorious role played by women in the country’s freedom movement and also how they had to fight against the social injustices.
Dr. Gargi Chakravartty’s scholarship was shaped by both rigour and responsibility. Her books, including Coming Out of Partition, Charting a New Path: Early Years of the National Federation of Indian Women, and PC Joshi: A Biography, opened up crucial conversations on Partition, refugee women in Bengal, the evolution of the Communist movement, and the ethical struggles within India’s public life. She wrote with care and conviction, attentive to those histories that are often neglected or silenced.
For nearly three decades at Maitreyi College, University of Delhi, she taught generations of students to think critically and historically. She was not only a respected academic but also an active participant in the teachers’ movement and in wider democratic struggles. As Working President of the National Federation of Indian Women and a member of the National Council of the Communist Party of India, she remained deeply engaged with questions of justice and equality.
Her friends and comrades always remember her smiling face. Whether addressing meetings or taking classes on history, she was always in her best as she enjoyed both. (IPA Service)
