Editorial
The passing of Nirmal Sen
A life led with values
With the passing of Nirmal Sen, we lose yet another member of the vanishing breed of heroes who sowed the seeds of our nation. Beginning from the anti-British movement back in 1942, he participated in all successive movements for freedom, including the liberation war and the anti-autocratic movement. More recently, he was seen in a wheelchair among the journalists demanding justice for the killing of mediapersons Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi last year.
Through his contributions to left and progressive politics as well as his journalistic work -- with newspapers in erstwhile Pakistan, including Dainik Pakistan which later became Dainik Bangla, especially his renowned column written under the pen name “Aniketâ€, and as an active member of various press organisations post-independence -- Sen was a vocal champion for freedom -- of the press, nation and people, particularly the less fortunate.
Every day of his 82-year-old life was dedicated to the cause of freedom and rights of the people. Even illness and old age could not restrain his spirit, for, while his body may have been paralysed and confined to a wheelchair, his mind still soared and he continued to write about the nation to which he had given his all. And even in death he has not been overcome, for his last wishes to establish a women's college in his village and to donate his body to a medical college for research purposes will surely make him live on. His was a life lived in full as has been his death.
We salute Nirmal Sen. He will remain irreplaceable, but in remembering him, we hold him up as a beacon of hope for the future and look towards our present and coming generations for a reflection of his ideals to take forward our nation and its people.
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