Speaker Somnath Chattejee will walk out of Parliament on Thursday with mixed emotions. Happy he will be -- as he will be considered as one of the most efficient Speakers to have held the august office. Sad he is -- in all likelihood, he will never return to the house. Besides, he is not a Communist Party of India-Marxist member anymore. Towards the twilight of his career, the CPM expelled him.
Chatterjee has come a long way after entering the House in 1971.
Born in Tezpur, in Assam on 25 July 1929 to N C Chatterjee and Binapani Debi, Chatterjee had his education in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and the United Kingdom. He is MA (Cantab) and Barrister-at-Law from Middle Temple in the United Kingdom.
Image: Somnath Chatterjee | Photograph: Stringer/REUTERS
Also see: Why Somnath was expelled