Former Lok Sabha speaker and veteran CPI(M) MP Somnath Chatterjee died at the age of 89 on Monday. He had been admitted at the Belle Vue Clinic in Kolkata after suffering a haemorrhagic stroke on June 27.
Though Chatterjee's condition improved, he was readmitted to hospital on August 10. He suffered a mild heart attack on Sunday and died of multiple organ failure.
Chatterjee had been a Lok Sabha MP 10 times for the CPI(M) before taking up the position of speaker in 2004 after the ascent of the UPA-1 government, which was supported by the Left.
For a CPI(M) member, Chatterjee's ascent could be described as uncharacteristic. He was born on July 25 1929, the son of N.C. Chatterjee, who was a Hindu revivalist associated with the Hindu Mahasabha and had been its president. The senior Chatterjee was a Lok Sabha MP for the Mahasabha. Chatterjee did his barrister-at-law from Middle Temple in the UK.
Chatterjee joined the CPI(M) in 1968 and won his first Lok Sabha election from Burdwan in 1971 after the seat fell vacant, ironically, after the death of his father, who was the sitting MP.
Chatterjee represented multiple constituencies from West Bengal in the Lok Sabha including Burdwan, Bolpur and Jadavpur. Interestingly, Chatterjee's only defeat in a Lok Sabha election was in 1984 when he lost to Mamata Banerjee of the Congress from Jadavpur, which was, incidentally, her first parliamentary win.
Chatterjee was considered as the 'face' of the CPI(M) nationally and acclaimed as a erudite parliamentarian, who was respected across party lines. He was part of several key parliamentary committees. Chatterjee won the 'Outstanding Parliamentarian Award' in 1996 and his election as Lok Sabha speaker was unanimous. As speaker, Chatterjee was praised for his adherence to procedure.
Chatterjee's tenure as speaker was momentous as it coincided with the CPI(M)'s 'peak' in Parliamentary numbers and, subsequently, the party's opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal being pursued by then-prime minister Manmohan Singh. Chatterjee was expelled from the CPI(M) in 2008 after he refused to resign and toe the line drawn by then-party general secretary Prakash Karat.
While he retired from active politics after his tenure as speaker, Chatterjee's perceptive and frank views on political issues continued to attract attention.
Chatterjee had warned against the rising popularity of the Trinamool Congress under Banerjee, which eventually ousted the CPI(M) in 2011, ending three decades of Left rule in West Bengal. Later, Chatterjee criticised the CPI(M) leadership under Karat for having lost its “touch with common people” after the party's disastrous performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Even as his health had weakened considerably by 2018, Chatterjee attacked Banerjee for the TMC's intimidatory tactics in the panchayat elections.