Somnath Chatterjee: House arrest

BACKSTAGE

When Somnath Chatterjee entered the Speaker's residence at 20 Akbar Road in 2004, he found that even the phenyl and soap bills of the house were paid from the Lok Sabha accounts. The same applied for tea and snacks. Chatterjee called his officers and said, "I think I can afford my bathroom expenses. And I can also afford a cup of tea for my guests."

Chatterjee "" who had a flourishing legal career "" is a man of impeccable personal integrity. The tall, burly, sentimental septuagenarian is a food lover and an avid football fan who didn't renew his membership with Mohun Bagan club after it enrolled its first non-Indian footballer, Cheema Okerie. He also bears the expenses of his wife Renu whenever she accompanies him on foreign tours.

Chatterjee was nominated as a consensus candidate. Welcoming the new Speaker on his first day in office, leaders across political lines showered him with praises. But Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in his inimitable style, added words of caution: "Bolpur se aap nirvachit huye hain. Bolkar kaam nehin chalega. Chup rehne se kaam chalega." (You have been elected from the Bolpur constituency. But you won't be able to do work if you talk too much. You have to be silent). From his experience of a long parliamentary association with Chatterjee in the opposition benches, Vajpayee had anticipated what was coming.

During Chatterjee's regime, no serious allegation (except, of course, by Mamata Banerjee) has been levelled against him by the opposition, but almost everyone privately grumbles "" he talks much more than any of the previous speakers. Chatterjee earned the distinction of 'the headmaster' and once during a debate, a charged-up leader of opposition, Lal Krishna Advani, finally remarked, "I don't mind interruptions from them (the Left) but I don't want interruptions from the chair".

His style of functioning might be not very popular among MPs, but Somnath Chatterjee has definitely tried to change the style in which the Lok Sabha works. More questions are now getting answered during the Question Hour as Chatterjee has reduced the supplementaries and makes ministers give pointed replies. He has firmly followed the rules and many a times the house has been adjourned because Chatterjee would not allow parties to raise an issue without proper notice.

An ardent believer in the rights of the legislature, Chatterjee led the tussle with the judiciary when the Supreme Court gave directions regarding the floor test in the Jharkhand assembly. For the next few months, Chatterjee didn't lose a single opportunity to voice his opinion on judicial overreach and even convened a high-voltage all-party-meet on the subject. Now, heading towards the end of his illustrious political career, Somnath Chatterjee faces a dilemma about whether he should resign as Speaker since the Left parties have pulled out from the Government. Party insiders say that in 1998, when the CPI(M) was shaken over the question of Jyoti Basu's prime ministership, Chatterjee and others were ready to split the party to make him the prime minister of India. But Basu stopped them: "In my lifetime, I don't want to see any more division of the party."

A few years back, a furious Chatterjee wanted to quit, and there was as much speculation about his resignation as there is now. Jyoti Basu had then happened to come to Delhi to attend a party meeting and a few journalists asked him if Chatterjee would resign. "What resignation? I have spoken to him last evening," was the typical Basu answer. In other words, Chatterjee was not resigning.

This time too, perhaps the answer to whether the Speaker will quit lies with Jyoti Basu, Somnath Chatterjee's political idol.