3 December 1950 โ 10 October 2026
โBy Lalita Ramdas
โWe lost one more of our Doyens of Peace in Southasia, and a steadfast voice for a nuclear-free region and world, especially for building bridges and restoring dialogue between India and Pakistan as one of the key steps to restoring peace in Southasia.
โProfessor Kamal Aron Mitra Chenoy was an academic, an activist, and a tireless advocate for human rights and justice. The paeans of praise for Kamal are heartwarming, especially as a builder of institutions dedicated to taking forward this agenda of peace and cross-border friendship.
โKamal shared his life and commitment to peace with his wife, academic and scholar Anuradha Chenoy, who drafted the South Asia Peace Action Networkโs Statement on Ukraine Crisis, reflecting their shared lifelong dedication to global anti-war principles and diplomacy.
โKamal joined the anti-apartheid and anti-Vietnam War movements in 1968 and remained a dedicated peace activist ever since. He soon became a member of the All India Peace & Solidarity Organisation and the All India Studentsโ Federation. Kamal, whose mother was of Baghdadi Jewish origin, remained a fervent anti-Zionist all his life.
โHe completed his studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and eventually joined its faculty as Professor of Political Science. Deeply active in the teachersโ movement, he was elected President of the JNU Teachersโ Association in 1993.
โKamal was a founder member of two major peace initiatives that have stood the test of time despite all odds:
- โPakistan-India Peoplesโ Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD): In 1994, he was among the founder members who helped lay the groundwork for sustained, people-to-people dialogue between India and Pakistan.
- โCoalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP): In 1998, following the Pokhran nuclear tests, Kamal, alongside many intrepid individuals and groups, stood up to be counted in protest. Together, they formed CNDP, comprising a widespread, diverse, and formidable canvas of individuals and organizations across India.
โKamalโs range of talents and achievements were formidable. More importantly, the personal and the political found a perfect blending and expression in his persona.
โA small anecdote serves as a special personal tribute:
โThe way in which this professor at a premier university reached out to enable a blind student, the son of a construction worker, to gain admission for an MA and MPhil at JNU, and subsequently pursue a PhD at a US university in response to a request from an Admiral-turned-peacemonger, is just one example of a rare fusion of qualities. I later learned this was made possible due to the progressive admission policy at JNU that Kamal, among others, had helped shape.
โIt is an important reminder to us all that it was this deeper humanity which set him apart as truly unique.
โWe remember Kamal Aron Mitra Chenoy today as a humanist above all, who applied the same lens of compassion, courage, and commitment to every cause, big or small.
Lalita Ramdas is a peace activist, educator, and founding member of Sapan. She wrote this obituary for the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP).
*Why do we write โSouthasiaโ as one word? Because our histories are intertwined, our futures interlinked, and our struggles deeply connected.
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