Amalendu De

Amalendu Dey (1929 - 16 May 2014) was a professor of Indian History at Jadavpur University, where he specialised in the history of the Indian independence movement and Muslim Politics. He served for some time as President and as General Secretary of the Asiatic Society and in 1992 was President of the Indian History Congress at its meeting in Aligarh.

A festschrift in honour of Dey was published in 2009, titled Reflections in History: Essays in Honour of Professor Amalendu Dey. He died on 16 May 2014; his wife died a few weeks later, on 3 June. His remains were donated to R. G. Kar Medical College.

Aside from his books, Dey contributed to scholarly journals. His 1994 monograph on the subject of the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in India, titled Prasanga Anuprabesh (Essays on Infiltration), was subject to much criticism from supporters of Communism and other left-wing ideologies, as well as from Islamic radicals. He argued that the rise of small pockets of jihadists around the border with Bangladesh might eventually lead to major security problems and he was in particular critical of the rise of unregistered madrassas. He had to settle for publication by a small publisher and was accused by his opponents of facilitating the Hindutva agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal. He continued to speak on the topic.

Dey served for some time as President and as Secretary of the Asiatic Society and in 1992 was President of the Indian History Congress at its meeting in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.

Dey wrote the first book documenting the 1938 visit of an Indian medical team to China. Among his other writings were books about the Anushilan Samiti, the origins of separatism in 19th-century Bengal, and a history of the Khaksar movement titled History of the Khaksar Movement in India, 1931–1947 (2009).

Prof. Dey was the son of a lawyer, born at Madaripur, Faridpur district, Bengal British India (now in Bangladesh) in 1929. From the age of 16 he was educated in Calcutta, ultimately studying at post-graduate level at the University of Calcutta. He taught at Uluberia College and Murlidhar College before joining the faculty at Jadavpur University.