New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) His was the stentorian voice that effectively projected the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) view in parliament - and outside - for four decades. On Wednesday, just two days before Somnath Chatterjee's 79th birthday that link snapped when one of India's most skilful parliamentarians and now speaker of the lower house of parliament was expelled from the party.

The often pugnacious and sometimes avuncular Chatterjee found himself ousted from the party he has been representing in the Lok Sabha, almost without a pause since 1971, a day after his commanding performance as its presiding officer.

On Monday, Chatterjee defied his party's diktat to continue in the speaker's chair and preside over the two-day crucial trust vote that went against the CPI-M and was finally won by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

The CPI-M's swift move to sack him from the party the day after the vote was perhaps no surprise for the man, who had taken on the wrath of the leadership when he decided to stay on as speaker even after the Left parties had withdrawn support to the UPA.

Just as his many decades as MP stood out for their forceful articulation of the Left viewpoint, his four years as speaker have been remarkable. He has cajoled, rebuked and ranted - with many a one-liner thrown in - while taking on the job of steering the 545-member house.

Chatterjee may have often been criticised as a schoolmaster, but is acknowledged as one of India's more colourful and articulate speakers.

"Let them do what they want," a defiant Chatterjee told reporters shortly before the CPI-M announced his expulsion - marking his metamorphosis to a "rebel".

This "rebel", who gave up a promising career as a barrister, was not the homespun, grassroots comrade in the strict mould of a card holding member of the Communist party.

The son of Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, who was president of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, a forerunner of the current day Bharatiya Janata Party, had signed up with the CPI-M relatively late in life -- when he was 39.

There was little looking back after that for the graduate from the Kolkata, Cambridge and Glasgow universities. Since 1971, he has lost an election only once - in 1984 by Mamata Banerjee in Jadavpur, West Bengal.

The 10-time MP then moved to Bolpur constituency in the state and never went back to Jadavpur.

Bolpur too was being snatched away. The process of delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies implemented earlier this year made Bolpur into a reserved constituency.

The speaker, his colleagues in the CPI-M said, was not keen on contesting the next general elections scheduled in 2009.

All through the highs and lows of his years with the CPI-M, Chatterjee remained close to Jyoti Basu, former West Bengal chief minister and patriarch of the party.

He turned to Basu even during the last few days when he was under pressure from the CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat to give up the speaker's post.

During his long stint in parliament, Chatterjee has headed the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (1994-2004) - where he sought to channelise investment once again into West Bengal after big business fled the city following militant trade unionism of the seventies - won the best parliamentarian award (1996) and then had been unanimously elected Lok Sabha speaker in 2004.

In short, Chatterjee has had a good run with the CPI-M. A parting of ways at this juncture, insiders in the CPI-M say, was no longer so "traumatic".

Insiders recollected that Chatterjee had a close shave with the party's central committee in 1992 when it served show cause notices to him and his colleague Saifuddin Chowdhury (a former Lok Sabha MP) in 1992, for "hobnobbing" with the Congress.

The CPI-M's political line then was to treat both Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as "equal enemies."

In 2004, it was Karat's insistence that forced Chatterjee to quit the party's central committee. The CPI-M general secretary believed Chatterjee was not able to regularly attend regularly central committee meetings with his additional responsibilities as Lok Sabha speaker.

Chatterjee told Karat he was confident of combining both responsibilities - of the speaker's office and the central committee. But the CPI-M general secretary prevailed and Chatterjee stepped down from the central committee.

This time round, he did not oblige.

Somnath expulsion evokes mix responses in West Bengal

Kolkata, July 23 (IANS) The Communist Party of India-Marxist's (CPI-M) decision Wednesday to expel Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee evoked mixed reponses from West Bengal's political leaders.

While the Left leaders here justified the move and the Trinamool Congress said it was long overdue and the Congress termed it as the "darkest day in Indian parliamentary democracy", the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) described it as the first sign of the "the Red Fort crumbling".

The Left parties, ruling the state since 1977, were unanimous in their opinion that Chatterjee "deserved the punishment" as he had "breached party discipline".

In a direct attack on Chatterjee, CPI-M state secretary and ruling Left Front chairman Biman Bose said anyone intending to become a member of his party has to give in writing at the time of joining that he would abide by the party's constitution and policy.

"If anybody does not do so, then the party has the right to sever all connections with him according to clause 19 (13) of the party constitution.

"He did not relinquish the speaker's post despite the party's directive. He had breached party discipline," Bose said.

Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary Manju Kumar Majumdar told IANS: "In a Communist party, every member has to go by the party decision. Somnathbabu did not do so. So, the party has taken a decision."

Pointing out that nobody was above the party, Majumdar recalled that the CPI had even expelled its founding member S.A. Dange for violating party discipline in 1981.

Naren Chatterjee, leader of another Left Front constituent Forward Bloc, criticised Chatterjee's decision to cling to his post despite a directive from the CPI-M.

"He should have remembered that he was first a party member, then an MP and then finally the speaker. It was by virtue of being a CPI-M MP that he got the post," Naren Chatterjee told IANS.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee felt the CPI-M should have cracked the whip on Chatterjee days earlier.

"Chatterjee should have resigned when the CPI-M withdrew support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. He did not do so. The CPI-M should have taken action against him much earlier," she said.

State Congress vice president Manas Bhuniya, however, said: "It's the blackest day in India's parliamentary democracy. It's a shameful move of the CPI-m as it expelled a person like Somnath Chatterjee from the speaker's post," Bhuniya told IANS.

He said Chatterjee maintained utmost sanctity of the high office and always placed it above his political affiliation.

"The CPI-M might expel him for breaching their party guidelines, but people of the country will remember him as a great speaker of the world's largest democracy. He'll be embraced by people cutting across all sections of society," he said.

"The move at this critical juncture, once again, proved the CPI-M is a party of autocrats and it doesn't believe in parliamentary democracy at all," Bhuniya said.

BJP state general secretary Rahul Sinha could barely conceal his glee at the turn of events. "I am enjoying every bit of the drama. We are very happy with the move as we can see the eroding base of the communists in the country. It proves the CPI-M muscle power is gradually coming to an end," he said.

Sanjay Budhia, president of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, remembered Chatterjee's contribution to the state's industrialisation efforts as West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) chairman.

"This is a political move, and I don't want to comment on this. But I have highest regards for him. He had done a great job for the state when he was the WBIDC chairman," said Budhia.

The CPI-M Wednesday expelled Chatterjee after he refused to follow the party's advice to resign from the post.

Chatterjee had been under pressure to quit the constitutional post after the four left parties withdrew support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government following their differences over the India-US nuclear deal.

However, the 79-year-old veteran parliamentarian refused to toe the party line and steered the house during the crucial session Monday and Tuesday in which the government proved its majority.

IANS

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