President Pranab Mukherjee today condoled the death of veteran Bengali journalist Ranen Mukherjee.
"I knew Ranen Mukherjee from the 1960s and he was a close family friend of me and my family in all these years.He was not only an eminent journalist but also a voracious reader and an author.
"His book on the liberation struggle of Bangladesh is well documented and narrates many important aspects of the freedom movement in Bangladesh culminating in its liberation in 1971," the President said in his condolence message.
The journalist died in Kolkata yesterday due to age-related illness. Before starting his journalistic career in 1952, Ranen Mukherjee came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi and actively participated in the freedom struggle. He was imprisoned many times since 1946.
As a journalist, he worked for many Bengali dailies like 'Basumati', where he was the chief reporter, and other newspapers like 'Satyajug', 'Bharatkatha' and 'Sambad Pratidin'. He was also the founder vice-president of the Indian Journalists' Union and an active member of the Indian Journalists' Association.
