Own correspondent: - Former finance minister of the state and an eminent leader of CPI(M) Ashok Mitra passed away today at the age of 90 years. He had been suffering from senile illness for a long time. He was admitted at a private hospital in central Kolkata for quite sometime. Today (Tuesday) around 9.15am he took his last breath there at the hospital. Under Jyoti Basu's reign, Ashok Mitra was the first Finance Minister of state from Left Front's Cabinet Ministry. He was in charge of the Finance Department from 1977 to 1987. On Sunday, April 1, when his condition deteriorated, his nephew Arindam Mitra admitted him to a private hospital in Alipore.
Despite of having several opportunity to reach at the peak of his career as an economist, he chose to remain as an core leftist. Highly paid salaries and honors had never fascinated him. Because of some disagreement with Jyoti Basu he had silently left Writer's Building. He used to say proudly," I'm not a gentleman, a communist". Mr. Mitra was also a Rajya Sabha member. During that time he had also developed a good understanding with PM Indira Gandhi. He had also been a member of Indira Gandhi's Financial Advisory council.
This economist had born in East Bengal in 1928. After graduating from Dhaka University, he came to India in 1947. He passed his Masters in Economics from Varanasi Hindu University. In 1953, he received a doctorate from Rotterdam University. He was associated with the Calcutta University for quite some time. This man of sharp logic had written a book "Apilla Chapila" which had became very famous. Ashok Mitra could write fluently in Bengali and English.
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