Somnath Chatterjee
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| Image:Somnath Chatterjee.jpg | ||
| Born | 25 July 1929 Tezpur, Assam |
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| Residence | Kolkata | |
| Office | MP | |
| Constituency | Bolpur | |
| Political party | CPI(M) | |
| Spouse | Renu Chatterjee | |
| Children | 1 son and 2 daughters | |
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As of September 17, 2006 |
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Somnath Chatterjee (Bengali: সোমনাথ চট্টোপাধ্যায়) (born July 25, 1929 in Tezpur, Assam) is a politician in India. He is currently the Speaker of the 14th Lok Sabha (House of the people).
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[edit] Political career
Chatterjee is a member of the Communist Party of India - Marxist. He joined the party in 1968. In 1971, he was given a ticket to contest an interim election caused by the death of his father who was 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 Banerjee in the Jadavpur constituency in 1984.
He now represents Bolpur parliamentary constituency which is considered a red bastion. He has been a member of Parliament of 10 different houses. In the 10th Lok Sabha he was elected leader of his party. In 1996 he won the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award. During Jyoti Basu'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 Understanding (MOU), many of which never came to fruition[citation needed], earned him the nickname Mou-da[citation needed]. With Buddhadeb Bhattacharya becoming the Chief Minister, Somnath's influence within the party and the state government has waned considerably[citation needed] although as Speaker of the Lok Sabha he has a constitutional position of importance.
Somnath Chatterjee began his career as a lawyer and joined active politics in 1968, when he became a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He has been one of the party’s leading spokesmen. His association with national politics began when he contested the elections to the Lok Sabha in 1971 and was elected the very first time. Since then, he has served as a member in all successive Lok Sabhas, except in 1984 when he lost to Mamata Banerjee , getting elected for the tenth time in 2004 as a member of the present 14th Lok Sabha.
[edit] Personal life
Chatterjee was educated at Mitra Institution School (Calcutta), Presidency College and then the University of Calcutta in Calcutta. He also attended Cambridge University and was called to the bar in England. He was a litigating barrister at the Calcutta High Court before joining active politics.
The father of Somnath Chatterjee, Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, was the president of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, an organization that championed Hindu causes and a forerunner of today's BJP. Later he left Hindu Mahasabha to join left politics and was elected to the Parliament with CPI (M) support.
[edit] Controversies
In 2005, he was caught in a controversy over his statement on the Supreme Court orders related to the vote of confidence in the Jharkhand Assembly. He said that the Supreme Court was encroaching the right of the Legislature by issuing orders on the proceedings of the Jharkhand Assembly[citation needed]. He asked for a Presidential reference to the Supreme Court under Article 143 of the Indian Constitution. This remark was not well taken by BJP which supported the Supreme Court's decisions.[1]
The Opposition has demanded his resignation because he holds an office of profit as Chairman of Santiniketan Sriniketan Development Authority (SSDA). He has argued that since he does not profit from the office, the demand is baseless.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Speaker to seek Kalam’s view on SC order, The Tribune India, 10 March 2006. Accessed 27 September 2006.
- ^ Not holding any office of profit, says Somnath, The Hindu, 25 March 2006. Accessed 27 September 2006.
