more-in Born in the family of jurist and parliamentarians, the former speaker of Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee had learnt complex ropes of Indian politics from his father Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, a barrister, a judge and a parliamentarian. But above all Nirmal Chandra was the president of All India Hindu Mahasabha and one of the most influential politicians outside the Congress in his time. Nirmal Chandra was a Hindu nationalist and he won his first Lok Sabha election in south Bengal in 1951-52 with the help of his friend and Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee. However, he briefly aligned with centre-right Swatantra Party in 1959. He even won the 1963 Lok Sabha election with the support of the Communist Party of India (CPI). Nirmal Chandra managed his relationship well with leaders from right to left while being rooted in his Hindu nationalist ideology — a reason why the biographer of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, historian and American diplomat, Craig Baxter described Nirmal Chandra as one with "degree of moderation" among Mahasabhaites, usually considered hardcore nationalists compared to other groups. But, perhaps, in the process he made young Somnath understand that one should have friends in all circles in politics. Somnath Chatterjee, who joined Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in 1968, maintained an exceptionally cordial relationship with all, including members of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In a later interview, Mr. Chatterjee said that he could not be a “die hard” Communist in “style of living, thinking or targeting some A, B or C” or his political rivals. Also Read Reactions: Somnath Chatterjee 'was a glue that held progressive parties together' Born in Assam’s Tezpur in 1929, Mr. Chatterjee did his schooling in Kolkata. He completed his college and university in Calcutta and moved to Cambridge in the early fifties to do his B.A. Eventually, he studied law in England and returned to Calcutta. He practiced in Calcutta High Court before joining politics. In politics, Mr. Chatterjee was acceptable to all which is one of the reasons why BJP-led National Democratic Alliance backed him as the Speaker of the 14th Lok Sabha in 2004; Mr. Chatterjee was the unanimous candidate for the post. Writing for this paper soon after Mr. Chatterjee assumed office, essayist and DMK's MP Era Sezhiyan noted: "This is the first instance of a pro-tem Speaker himself being elected Speaker." He was the first Lok Sabha Speaker from CPI-M in its 50 years’ history. Sezhiyan was a close friend of Mr. Chatterjee. He compared him to Nirmal Chandra. “When we raised any debate on federalism, Centre-State relations, especially the imposition of one language as the official language, we got spirited support from N.C. Chatterjee…Somnath has been an able speaker in the House; hereafter he will be the Speaker of the House. Even in the tradition of the House of Commons, the Speaker is one who does not speak in the House, but one who speaks for the House,” noted Sezhiyan, who passed away last year. Mr. Chatterjee was elected 10 times to Lok Sabha from three south Bengal constituencies; Burdwan (1971) and Jadavpur (1977, 1980) and seven times from Bolpur between 1985 and 2004. He lost only once (in 1984 in Jadavpur) to Mamata Banerjee. But he maintained a cordial relationship with Ms. Banerjee, his arch rival. Also Read Somnath Chatterjee was above the party, says CPI(M) State Secretary Perhaps Mr. Chatterjee's flexibility and openness to his opposition is often interpreted within his party as one that is detrimental to the interest of the party. In Bengal, he has often been criticised for being close to “big business”, according to one of his party colleagues. “I may not meet with all the requirements [of a Communist] which…I should have,” Mr. Chatterjee said once. A decade back, in July 2009, the relationship between a Communist, who in his words was not a “die hard” one, and the Communist Party finally collapsed when Left parties withdrew support to the UPA government. Mr. Chatterjee, however, went against his party's wish and refused to resign from the post of the Speaker before the special session on July 21. The party's highest decision making body, the Polit Bureau, headed by the then general secretary Prakash Karat, eventually expelled him. Mr. Chatterjee's "friend, philosopher and guide" Jyoti Basu sided with the party's decision and did not protect him. In his personal circles, Mr. Chatterjee, who rarely spoke against the party in public, said that he was "disappointed" with Mr. Basu. He, however, never said that in any of his umpteen official interviews. But after the party's debacle in successive polls, he did criticise the highest leadership of the CPI-M in his declining years. The grand old man of Indian politics was unusually warm to people. After threatening legal action against a correspondent for a report about 10 years ago, he did not file one. "I wanted to warn him, not harm," he said when asked why he did not press charges. Mr. Chatterjee’s autobiography ‘Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a Parliamentarian' was reasonably successful, say publishers and book sellers in Kolkata.

Stay updated with all the Kolkata Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.