Somnath Chatterjee's family snubs CPI(M) leaders

He was engaged in several battles within his own party. Be it against the central committee or against the young lobby to make Jyoti Basu the prime minister when the opportunity presented itself in 1996.

Somnath Chatterjee was snubbed every time by the CPI(M), the very party to which he belonged. In 2008, Prakash Karat conveyed to him the politburo's decision that he should resign as the Lok Sabha Speaker. He refused, and said that since he was not part of the central committee and was merely a party member, he was not obliged to obey the politburo's order. The politburo expelled him from the party. He never visited the party office while he was the Speaker.

Somnath Chatterjee later said it was the “saddest day” in his life. And it seems his children, too, haven't forgotten that eventful day. So much so that his daughter Anushila refused to have his body draped in the party's flag and taken to the CPI(M) office in Alimuddin Street, which her father had frequented for 40 years.

"Yes, my father was a communist and a Marxist. But how can I forget the treatment he received from his party for which he sacrificed his entire life? He could have got the topmost post in the state, but he chose not to," an angry Anushila told reporters.

Somnath Chatterjee's son Pratap, too, lost his temper upon seeing CPI(M) leader Biman Bose at their South Kolkata residence.

“Whenever this man (Biman Bose) was in Delhi, he used to stay at my father's house. People like him sucked my father's blood when needed, throughout his life. But at the critical time, they all deserted him,” Pratap said.

Pratap also named party leaders Mohammed Salim and “Mr and Mrs Prakash Karat (Prakash and Brinda Karat)”, calling them “uncivilised”. “They are opportunists. They have taken all help from my father. Now they have come to shed crocodile tears. I will not let them inside my house,” he said.

Though Sitaram Yechury came to pay his last respects, the Karat couple did not turn up. They also did not issue any statement.

Anushila recalled the moment when she broke the news of his expulsion from the party in 2008 to her father at his Delhi residence. “When I told him 'baba you have been expelled', he asked me whether he was expelled or suspended. I told him he was expelled. He was sitting in his anti-chamber. I saw tears rolling down his cheeks. I could never forget that day in my life,” said Anushila.

Pratap said his father's house was open to every CPI(M) worker to pay his or her last respects. “Why shouldn't they come? Ordinary party workers made my father and he loved them till his last day,” he said.

"But I would like all the leaders who criticised my father to leave our house. Who asked them to come?" Pratap said.

Bose refused to comment, saying, “He has lost his father and so he broke down. I should take it sympathetically.”

Bose was the state secretary of the CPI(M) and politburo member when Somnath Chatterjee was expelled. Bose and Salim had criticised him for refusing to resign as the Speaker. Chatterjee did not rebuke Bose but said, “Biman is like my brother. I don't know why he said like that.”

Shyamal Chakraborty, senior CPI(M) leader, said that Somnath Chatterjee's contribution to the party was unparalleled.

"Who would understand those days when our party was banned? We all were underground and Somnath da used to fight our case in High Court and Supreme Court. He never took money from anyone. He was a great lawyer and his contribution to the party is more than any of us. We had 72 trade union organisations, and he used to fight all legal cases free of cost," said Chakraborty.

The police and state government officials took Somnath Chatterjee's mortal remains to the SSKM hospital.