Former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee passed away on August 13, 2018 morning after suffering a heart attack at a hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal. He was 89. He is survived by a son Pratap Chatterjee and two daughters Anuradha and Anushila.
The 10-time parliamentarian was suffering from a kidney-related ailment; and had been in and out of hospital for the last two months. In July 2018, Chatterjee had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke.
| Chatterjee’s Contributions and Achievements |
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A glance at Chatterjee’s political career
• Chatterjee was the son of barrister Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, a prominent parliamentarian of the Hindu Mahasabha, the ideological forerunner of Bharatiya Janata Party.
• An advocate by profession, he actively joined the politics in 1968.
• He was a Central Committee Member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), which he had joined in 1968.
• A 10-time MP of the Lok Sabha, Chatterjee represented Burdwan, Jadavpur and Bolpur parliamentary constituencies of West Bengal from 1971 to 2009.
• He first contested for the Lok Sabha in 1971 from Burdwan constituency, a seat that fell vacant after his father, the incumbent, died. He went on to win nine more elections to the Lower House.
• He was first elected as the Member of Parliament in 1977 in the Lok Sabha from Jadavpur constituency and was reelected in 1980.
• He was once defeated in 1984 when he faced current West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, who was then in the Congress.
• From a by-election in 1985 to 2005, he won seven consecutive polls from Bolpur constituency in Birbhum district.
• He was awarded with the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 1994.
• He became the Speaker of Lok Sabha in 2004 when the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh came to power. He served the position till 2009.
• The veteran leader was expelled from the CPM in 2008 for refusing to resign as the Speaker after his party withdrew support to the UPA-I government.
• He retired from active politics in 2009.
| What led to Chatterjee’s expulsion from the CPM? |
| Somnath Chatterjee was expelled from the CPM in 2008 after the party, one of the biggest allies of the UPA, withdrew support from the government over the India-US nuclear deal. The party wanted Chatterjee to step down as the Speaker and vote against the government during the No-Confidence Motion. However, Chatterjee had refused to resign, maintaining that as Speaker, he was above party politics. He was the first key leader to defy the party. |
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