Tribute to A. K. Biswas | Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Deeply sad to hear about the demise of Dr A K Biswas, one of the foremost historians of the Bahujan movement who has been consistently writing on issues hitherto kept under the carpet by the mainstream Brahmanical íntellectuals. Dr Biswas was an outstanding scholar who would search the original document and spoke with facts. Sadly, none of us knew it as there was no source to know about it. Though, I spoke to the family person but they were interested to speak except saying that he passed away. Our friends in Kolkata, too did not know much.

I was searching for news reports, blogs, Facebook pages but did not get anything. My friend Ramvdev Vishwabandhu informed me on the previous day, but I wanted to confirm it and there was none. Just yesterday, searching through local Hindi newspapers, I got a clipping of two dailies where a gathering in his memory was organised in Patna. I called up brother Musafir Baitha to find out and he informed me that Dr A K Biswas passed away on February 28th in Kolkata.

Though Dr Biswas was a bureaucrat who served in various positions in Bihar and last high appointment was Home Secretary Bihar but later he was appointed as Vice Chancellor, Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar University, Mujaffarpur, Bihar.

He is known outside more as an outstanding scholar on the issues of Dalits particularly in Bengal. We all know, for years, scholars and academics from Bengal guided rest of the country but never spoke about the caste system in their own backyard. Dr A K Biswas brought many hidden facts into mainstream. His writings are classic and deserved to be circulated widely.
He has written about how the Sawarna bosses in the UPSC played with the merit and gave the least marks to a topper from scheduled caste community.
Dr Biswas’s writings are are eye opening for all those who want to know the history of Dalits particularly Namoshudras in Bengal.

This conversation was recorded some time in January 2017 in which he explain to me what has the left front government in Bengal done to Dalits and how does Bengal’s Bhadralok manipulate the entire political discourse to deny Dalits their legitimate right.

Sharing this conversation in hope it will give way to better understanding of Bengal.

My sincere condolence on the demise of Dr A K Biswas. He will always be remembered for his forthright writings on Dalit issues.

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

March 6, 2025