Yesterdate: This day from Kolkata’s past, April 16, 1896

Harinath Majumdar, known as Kangal Harinath, passed away on this day. He was a pioneer journalist who wrote about the lives of impoverished villagers. He was born in 1833 in Kumarkhali village, now in Kushtia in Bangladesh. Majumdar grew up in poverty. He began by contributing to Samvad Prabhakar his articles on the conditions of Bengal villages. In April 1863, he started his own monthly journal, Grambarta Prakashika, to continue to highlight the exploitation of villagers by zamindars and colonial powers. He had set up a girls’ school in his village. In his later life, he turned to spirituality and to Lalan Fakir. Majumdar wrote many songs in the baul-fakir tradition as Kangal Harinath.