Historian Sumit Sarkar passes away

The passing of historian Sumit Sarkar marks the end of an era for academic scholarship at the University of Delhi and across South Asia. Born in Calcutta in 1939, Sarkar was a prominent figure who navigated various intellectual and political shifts throughout his career.

Sarkar’s work was defined by his resistance to several prevailing historical agendas, including a narrow Marxist economic view, post-modernist trends, and the rise of religious majoritarianism. He remained committed to analyzing social conflict, economics, and subaltern studies, often resisting the ideological pressures that have shaped contemporary academic discourse in India.