Somnath Chatterjee, former Lok Sabha Speaker and veteran communist leader, passed away Monday morning following a multi-organ failure at a city hospital. He was associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), served as Lok Sabha Speaker from 2004 to 2009 during the UPA-I rule. Somnath Chatterjee was 89. According to the latest update, he was admitted at Belle Vue Clinic last Tuesday following a kidney related ailment and on Sunday he suffered a mild heart attack. Somnath Chatterjee was put on ventilator support. Pradip Tandon, the CEO of Belle Vue Clinic said, “Somnath Chatterjee passed away at 8.15 am today due to multi-organ failure.” He is survived by his wife, son and daughter.
Earlier on 25th June, Somnath Chatterjee was admitted to the nursing home when he suffered a haemorrhagic stroke.
India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, said, “Somnath Chatterjee made our Parliamentary democracy richer and was a strong voice for the well-being of the poor and vulnerable. Anguished by his demise. My thoughts are with his family and supporters.”
Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “I mourn the passing away of Shri Somnath Chatterjee, 10 term MP and former Speaker of the Lok Sabha. He was an institution. Greatly respected and admired by all parliamentarians, across party lines. My condolences to his family at this time of grief.”
Mamata Banerjee wrote on her Twitter, “Saddened at the passing away of former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath (Da) Chatterjee. My condolences to his family and admirers. This is a great loss for us all.”
Somnath Chatterjee was born in 1929 in Tezpur, Assam. He was the Speaker in the first five-year term (2004-2009) of the United Progressive Alliance government and was elected to the Parliament’s Lower House ten times since 1971. Mr. Chatterjee was expelled from the CPM in July 2008 for refusing to resign as Speaker after his party CPM withdrew support from United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.