Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee Dies At 89

Noted Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee passed away at a private hospital this morning following multiple organ failure. He was 89.

Chatterjee was a 10-time Member of Parliament. His only loss in Lok Sabha elections was in 1984, when he suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of now West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Banerjee, who was then a fiery Congress youth leader and fighting her first election, defeated Chatterjee from Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat.

The veteran leader who joined the CPI-M in 1966 was, however, expelled by the Prakash Karat-led politburo in 2008 for his refusal to resign as the Speaker. The party has demanded that he quit from the post after it withdrew support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Chatterjee retired from active politics after his tenure as speaker. However, known for his acerbic tongue, he continued his tirade against CPI(M). He attacked Karat and the party leadership for having lost its “touch with common people” after the party's catastrophic performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha.

Chatterjee was often criticised for being too voluble during his tenure as speaker and irked many members for indulging in what they felt was a running commentary of the house proceedings.

Interestingly, the former speaker, a self-professed Marxist-Stalinist, was the son of N C Chatterjee, who was a founding ideologue of Hindu Mahasabha. N C Chatterjee was elected to the 1st Lok Sabha from the Hooghly Lok Sabha seat as a Hindu Mahasabha candidate.