Somnath Chatterjee (Bengali) (born July 25, 1929) is an
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n politician who had been associated with the
Communist Party of India (Marxist)The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2008, CPI is leading the state governments in these three states. The party emerged out of a split from the Communist Party of India in 1964...
for most of his life, though he is currently an independent. He was the
SpeakerThe is the presiding officer of the lower house of Parliament of India. His role is similar to that of Speakers elsewhere in other countries that use the Westminster system of government....
of the
Lok SabhaThe Lok Sabha is the directly elected lower house of the Parliament of India. As of 2009 there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
(House of the People) from 2004 to 2009.
Born in
TezpurTezpur is a city and a municipal board in Sonitpur in the Indian state of Assam. It is an ancient town on the banks of the river Brahmaputra and is the largest of the north bank towns...
,
AssamAssam ) is a northeastern state of India with its capital at Dispur located in the Guwahati city. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys and the Karbi Anglong and the North Cachar Hills with an area of 30,285 square miles...
, into an aristocratic Calcutta family, Somnath's father, Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, was a prominent lawyer and intellectual around the time of India's independence, and his mother, Binapani Debi ran the home.
Somnath Chatterjee (Bengali) (born July 25, 1929) is an
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n politician who had been associated with the
Communist Party of India (Marxist)The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2008, CPI is leading the state governments in these three states. The party emerged out of a split from the Communist Party of India in 1964...
for most of his life, though he is currently an independent. He was the
SpeakerThe is the presiding officer of the lower house of Parliament of India. His role is similar to that of Speakers elsewhere in other countries that use the Westminster system of government....
of the
Lok SabhaThe Lok Sabha is the directly elected lower house of the Parliament of India. As of 2009 there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
(House of the People) from 2004 to 2009.
Education and family background
Born in
TezpurTezpur is a city and a municipal board in Sonitpur in the Indian state of Assam. It is an ancient town on the banks of the river Brahmaputra and is the largest of the north bank towns...
,
AssamAssam ) is a northeastern state of India with its capital at Dispur located in the Guwahati city. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys and the Karbi Anglong and the North Cachar Hills with an area of 30,285 square miles...
, into an aristocratic Calcutta family, Somnath's father, Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, was a prominent lawyer and intellectual around the time of India's independence, and his mother, Binapani Debi ran the home. Somnath was educated at Mitra Institution School,
Presidency CollegePresidency College, Kolkata is a co-founding, semi-autonomous, general degree college affiliated to the University of Calcutta. Initially called Hindu College, it is the oldest college in India, set up in 1817. It continues to be one of the leading Indian educational institutions...
and then the
University of CalcuttaFormally established on the 24 January 1857, the University of Calcutta , , situated in the city of Kolkata , India, is the first modern university in the Indian subcontinent. It is a state-government administered urban-based affiliating and research university...
in
Calcutta, formerly , is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in eastern India on the east bank of the River Hooghly. When referred to as Calcutta, it usually includes the suburbs, and thus its population exceeds 15 million, making it India's third-largest metropolitan area and...
. He also attended
Jesus College, CambridgeJesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...
and graduating with a B.A. in 1952 and a M.A. in 1957, both in law, has been awarded an honorary fellowship by the college in 2007. He was called to the bar from the
Middle TempleThe Honourable Society of the Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. It is near the Royal Courts of Justice, within the City of London.In the 13th...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
and took up legal practice as an advocate at the
Calcutta High CourtThe Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It was established on July 2, 1862 under the High Courts Act, 1861. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court building is an exact replica of the Stand Hans...
before joining active politics.
Somnath's father N.C. Chatterjee at one time had been a Hindu revivalist, and was one of the founders and one-time president of the
Akhil Bharatiya Hindu MahasabhaAkhil Bhārat Hindū Mahāsabhā , a Hindu nationalist organization, was founded in 1915 to counter the Muslim League and the secular Indian National Congress. The president of Hindu Mahasabha was V.D. Savarkar. K.B...
, but he developed differences with the
Hindu nationalistHindu nationalism has been collectively referred to the expressions of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of India...
tone espoused by the party, which is a forerunner of today's BJP. In 1948, when the communist party was banned in India and party leaders arrested, he formed the All India Civil Liberties Union, and agitated for their release. In the process, he came close to
Jyoti BasuJyoti Basu is a politician belonging to the Communist Party of India from West Bengal, India. He served as the Chief Minister of Bengal from 1977 to 2000, was India's longest-serving Chief Minister...
. He eventually left the Hindu Mahasabha when he got elected to the Parliament with CPI(M) support.
Political career
Somnath Chatterjee was a member of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist)The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2008, CPI is leading the state governments in these three states. The party emerged out of a split from the Communist Party of India in 1964...
(CPI(M)) from 1968 to 2008. In 1971, he was nominated to contest an interim election caused by the death of his father, who had been elected from that constituency. He became a Member of the Lok Sabha in 1971 and was elected the first time as an independent candidate supported by the CPI(M). Subsequently he was re-elected 9 times, except once when he lost to
Mamata BanerjeeMamata Banerjee is an Indian politician from the State of West Bengal. She is the founder and chief executive of the Trinamool Congress political party. She is popular as "Didi" in West Bengal...
in the
JadavpurJadavpur is a southern neighbourhood of Kolkata, India. Several of India's major learning institutes are located in Jadavpur, around the Raja SC Mullick Road, including the Jadavpur University, the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, and the Regional Computer Centre.In Jadavpur,...
Lok Sabha constituency in 1984. From 1989 until 2004 he was the leader of his party in the Lok Sabha. He was elected for the tenth time in 2004 as a member of the present
14th Lok SabhaThe 14th Lok Sabha was convened after the Indian general election, 2004 held in four phases during 20 April - 10 May 2004, which lead to the formation of First Manmohan Singh Cabinet...
from
BolpurBolpur is a municipality in Birbhum District in the state of West Bengal, India. It is 145 km north of Kolkata and is best known for the proximity to Visva Bharati, the university set up by Rabindranath Tagore the Nobel laureate poet...
Lok Sabha constituency, which is considered to be a CPI(M) stronghold. Following the election, on June 4, 2004 he was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 14th Lok Sabha.
Expulsion from the CPI (M)
After the CPI (M) withdrew its support for the
United Progressive AllianceUnited Progressive Alliance is a ruling coalition of political parties heading the government of India. The coalition is led by the Indian National Congress , which is currently the single largest political party in the Lok Sabha...
-led government in mid-2008, the party included Chatterjee's name on its list of MPs who were withdrawing their support from the government, despite his non-partisan position as Speaker. Chatterjee, however, appeared unwilling to follow the party line to vote against the government in a crucial July 2008 confidence vote, as voting against the government would mean voting alongside the right-wing opposition BJP. Ignoring the party's instructions, he decided to stay on in his post as Speaker of the House, acting in this capacity during the confidence vote. Following the vote, which the government survived, on July 23, 2008, the CPI (M) expelled him from the party for violation of
party disciplineParty discipline is the ability of a parliamentary group of a political party to get its members to support the policies of their party leadership. In liberal democracies, it usually refers to the control that party leaders have over its legislature...
. A CPI (M) press release said, "The Politburo of the Communist Party of India-Marxist has unanimously decided to expel Somnath Chatterjee from the membership of the party with immediate effect. This action has been taken under Article XIX, clause 13 of the Party Constitution for seriously compromising the position of the party." Bengal secretary Biman Bose said "Chatterjee may have acted according to the Indian Constitution but the party constitution is supreme in [the] case of party members."
According to Chatterjee, the expulsion was "one of the saddest days" of his life. He suggested that future speakers should resign from their parties while serving in that office to help ensure its non-partisan standing. His constituency of Bolpur had already been reserved for the Scheduled Castes, meaning he would have been unable to contest the seat in the
next electionIndia held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009. With an electorate of 714 million , it was the largest democratic election in the world to date....
; he announced in August 2008, following his expulsion from the CPI(M), that he would retire from politics at the time of the next election in 2009. He was broadly respected in his constituency; the CPI(M)'s 2009 candidate, Ramchandra Dom, expressed admiration for Chatterjee and vowed to continue his work, while the Congress candidate, Asit Mal, said that the people of Bolpur were "hurt at the way [Chatterjee] was driven out of the CPI-M" and that their feelings would "be reflected in the results".
Awards and honors
In 1996 he won the
Outstanding Parliamentarian AwardThe Outstanding Parliamentarian Award is an award given by the Indian Parliamentary Group to an outstanding sitting Member of the Indian Parliament. It was instituted in 1995 by Shivraj Patil who was then the Speaker, Lok Sabha from 1991-96.-Past recipients:...
. During
Jyoti BasuJyoti Basu is a politician belonging to the Communist Party of India from West Bengal, India. He served as the Chief Minister of Bengal from 1977 to 2000, was India's longest-serving Chief Minister...
's tenure, he was the Chairman of WBIDC and in that capacity he made countless overseas trips to promote FDI in West Bengal. His penchant for signing
Memorandum of UnderstandingA memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action...
(MOU), many of which never came to fruition, earned him the nickname "Mou-da". After
Buddhadeb BhattacharyaBuddhadeb Bhattacharjee is an Indian Communist politician, who has served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal since November 6, 2000...
became the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Somnath's influence within the party and the state government waned considerably, although as Speaker of the Lok Sabha he held a constitutional position of importance.
Controversies
In 2005, he was caught in a controversy over his statement on the
Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of India is the highest court of the land as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India. According to the Constitution of India, the role of the Supreme Court is that of a federal court, guardian of the Constitution and the highest court of appeal.Articles 124...
orders related to the vote of confidence in the
JharkhandJharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar state on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east. of 28,833 sq mi...
Assembly. He said that the Supreme Court was encroaching on the right of the Legislature by issuing orders on the proceedings of the Jharkhand Assembly. He asked for a Presidential reference to the Supreme Court under Article 143 of the
Indian ConstitutionThe Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishing the structure, procedures, powers and duties, of the government and spells out the fundamental rights, directive principles and duties of citizens...
. This remark was criticised by BJP which supported the Supreme Court's decision.
The Opposition demanded his resignation because he held an office of profit as Chairman of Santiniketan Sriniketan Development Authority (SSDA). He argued that since he did not profit from the office, the demand was baseless.
Personal life
Chatterjee married Renu Chatterjee, who comes from the zemindar family in
LalgolaLalgola is a small town, community delevelopment bloc situated near the Bangladesh border in the sub-division of Lalbagh in the district of Murshidabad, West Bengal. It is situated on the top of the delta of Ganges....
, on February 7, 1950. The couple have one son, Pratap and two daughters, Anuradha and Anushila.
Somnath Chatterjee is known for his fiscal integrity. When in 2004, as speaker, he moved into the official residence at 20 Akbar Road, he discontinued the practice of paying for toiletries and tea from the national exchequer. On trips abroad, he bears the expenses of any accompanying family members.
External links