Somnath Chatterjee was born in a household which celebrated the Dharmik polity and he died a non-Communist. Between these two extremes, he remained a statesman who was beyond the ‘party-line’
Somnath Chatterjee was born and brought up in a nationalistic environment. In the history of Indian parliamentary democracy, he was the second unanimously nominated speaker after Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar, Speaker of the 1st Lok Shabha. He joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the year of 1968 and was expelled from the party in 2008. In their condolence message, the party has confirmed, Somnath Chatterjee breathed his last as a non-Communist patriotic Bharatiya.
He had always been a good debater, a wise mentor, an affectionate statesman. The elder Bengali parliamentarian became the guardian of the apex house of the largest democracy in the world. He was born in a nationalist family; he observed the sufferings of common men, he also knew the magnitude of the recurring flow of public fund to run the business in the houses of democracy.
In The Chair
On July 20, 2008, he occupied the office of Lok Sabha Speaker, and his party withdrew its support from UPA Government. CPI (M) sent him a clear instruction for resignation, and Chatterjee rejected the directive of his party altogether. He presided over the discussion in the house on the Indo-US nuclear deal. Somnath Chatterjee made history by becoming a true believer of parliamentary democracy yet being a Communist. He expressed the fundamental lessons of the democratic system, the position of Speaker is “independent and unbiased”, and the Speaker’s chair was above party politics.
Which Party he belonged to?
On the CPI(M)’s website, the party’s politburo posted a press release after Chatterjee’s death in which he was referred to as a veteran parliamentarian, eminent lawyer, former Speaker and ten-time member of the Lok Sabha. It did not say which party he belonged to.The press release was placed next to the link “related article: Somnath Chatterjee’s false assertions” that was posted in 2010, accusing Chatterjee of making “false statements” regarding his expulsion.
During his tenure as Speaker, the live telecast of the proceedings of Zero Hour was started due to his initiative from July 5, 2004. In July of 2006, a full-fledged 24X7 Lok Sabha television channel came into being. Somnathbabu was elected ten times to Lok Sabha. In 1971 he was elected as an independent candidate backed by CPI (M). In the aftermath of the assassination of Mrs Gandhi, he was defeated only once in 1984. Mamata Banerjee incidentally came to limelight by defeating Chatterjee in the sympathy tsunami. After Samar Mukherjee, Somnath Chatterjee was the leader of CPI (M) in Lok Sabha from 1989 to 2004. In 1996 he received the Best Parliamentarian award. He was elected for a record 10th time to the Lok Sabha from Bolpur in 2004.
Banishment and Pain
His expulsion from the party came in July 2008. Politburo of the CPI (M) expelled their 79 years old comrade for disobedience. “I tried to release the tension and said – you are now a free bird” weeping Anusheela Chatterjee, daughter, was recalling. Father listened to her and uttered, “Have they expelled me?” Later that day, Anusheela found him in his ante-chamber, sitting with head down. Tears came out of his eyes. Somnath described the day as “one of the saddest days of my life.”
August 13, 2018. Somnath Chatterjee passed away at a private hospital in south Kolkata at around 8 am. A meeting of the CPIM state committee was scheduled to be held on the day. There was a public announcement published in mid-July at ‘Ganashakti’ the Bengali mouthpiece of the party about the meeting. In the morning Suryakanta Mishra, State General Secretary of the party informed that the meeting would be held as per earlier schedule.
Nevertheless, the party Comrades didn’t follow his words. Most of the state committee members reached the hospital instead of meeting place Muzaffar Ahmad Bhawan, 31, Alimuddin Street, State headquarters of CPI (M). Finally, the state committee meeting was closed only after passing the condolence proposal.
CPI (M) Politburo took seven hours to issue the condolence message. As he was expelled from the party, Politburo didn’t refer to him as Comrade (friend). “An eminent lawyer by profession, he (Chatterjee) also took up the cause of the working class”- that much! The party did not mention him as CPI(M)”s longtime MP and party member for six decades in the message. Party refused to refer him as a member of a Communist party!
The reaction from the Chatterjee family was obvious. The request came from state headquarters, to bring the dead body to CPI (M) party office. Family members simply refused the proposal. They also didn’t allow wrapping the dead body with red cloth. At around 6 pm, Suryakanta Mishra, Sujan Chakraborty and Biman Basu went to the Chatterjee house at Basant Ray Road to pay respect. Pratap Chatterjee, Somnath’s son and high court lawyer lost his temperament seeing Biman Basu, Chairman of Left Front, “Show them the door. He was one among those who drove my father out of the party”. Wishes from around the West Bengal kept floating in social media, a tribute to their beloved leader.
An Unlikely Communist
Somnath was born on July 25, 1929, to Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee and Binapani Devi at Tezpur, Assam. NC Chatterjee was a close associate of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee. He became the president of All India Hindu Mahasabha and presided over its Gwalior session in 1947. In the first week of April 1947, a three-day-long Bengal Hindu Conference was convened at Tarakeswar, attended by over 400 delegates from all over Bengal. There was an assembly of 50,000 people in the valedictory session. In his presidential address on the first day of the conference, Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee said the British had resorted to the partition of the province in order “to cripple the greatest nationalist force working for Independence of the country by making the Bengal Hindus minorities in both the provinces”.
Somnath Chatterjee was born and brought up in a nationalistic environment. In the history of Indian parliamentary democracy he was the second unanimously nominated Speaker after Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar, the Speaker of 1st Lok Shabha He joined the CPI(M) in the year of 1968 and was expelled by the party in 2008. In their condolence message, the party has confirmed, Somnath Chatterjee breathed his last as a non-Communist patriotic Indian.
