Chittaprosad's 'Quit Kashmir'

This powerful depiction of the National Conference's 1946 'Quit Kashmir' campaign against the ruling Dogra dynasty is the work of Chittaprosad Bhattacharya (1915-1978). As far as we can make out, the drawing appeared in the CPI's weekly publication, People's War. Chittaprosad was a communist who used his exceptional artistic gifts for political purposes and is best known for his powerful depictions of the 1943 Bengal famine.
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Chittaprosad broke with the CPI in the late 1940s but continued to be acutely political in his art. Last year he was the subject of a retrospective exhibition in New York - a testament to his importance as an artist.

​The work below dates from 1947 - the year India gained independence - and reflects communist disdain for the Congress model of nation building.

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