Siddhartha Shankar Ray | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Union Minister of Education | |
| In office 18 March 1971 – 20 March 1972 | |
| Prime Minister | Indira Gandhi |
| Preceded by | V. K. R. V. Rao |
| Succeeded by | Saiyid Nurul Hasan |
| Indian Ambassador to the United States | |
| In office 1992–1996 | |
| Prime Minister | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Preceded by | Abid Hussain |
| Succeeded by | Naresh Chandra |
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 1971–1972 | |
| Preceded by | Chapala Kanta Bhattacharjee |
| Succeeded by | Maya Ray |
| Constituency | Raiganj |
| Chief Minister of West Bengal | |
| In office 20 March 1972 – 30 April 1977 | |
| Governor | Anthony Lancelot Dias |
| Preceded by | President's rule |
| Succeeded by | President's rule |
| Governor of Punjab Administrator of Chandigarh | |
| In office 2 April 1986 – 8 December 1989 | |
| Chief Minister | Surjit Singh Barnala President's rule |
| Preceded by | Shankar Dayal Sharma |
| Succeeded by | Nirmal Mukarji |
| Leader of Opposition, West Bengal Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 1969–1971 | |
| Preceded by | Khagendra Nath Dasgupta |
| Succeeded by | Jyoti Basu |
| Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 1991–1992 | |
| Preceded by | Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya |
| Succeeded by | Anil Chatterjee |
| Constituency | Chowranghee |
| In office 1972–1977 | |
| Preceded by | Mahammad Gafurur Rahman |
| Succeeded by | Shubhendu Chowdhury |
| Constituency | Maldaha |
| In office 1967–1971 | |
| Preceded by | Bidhan Chandra Roy |
| Succeeded by | Shankar Ghosh |
| Constituency | Chowranghee |
| In office 1957–1967 | |
| Preceded by | Mira Datta Gupta |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Constituency | Bhabanipur |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1920-10-20)20 October 1920 Calcutta,Bengal Presidency,British India |
| Died | 6 November 2010(2010-11-06) (aged 90) Kolkata,West Bengal,India |
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)[1] |
| Spouse | Maya Ray |
| Alma mater | Presidency College, Calcutta Inner Temple (Barrister-at-Law) |
| Profession | Lawyer,Politician,Diplomat |
Siddhartha Shankar Ray (20 October 1920 – 6 November 2010) was an Indian lawyer, diplomat andIndian National Congress politician fromWest Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices, includingChief Minister of West Bengal (1972–77),Union Minister of Education (1971–72),Governor of Punjab (1986–89) andIndian Ambassador to the United States (1992–96). He was, at one point, the main troubleshooter for the Congress Party.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
Ray was born in aBengaliBaidya[8] family. Ray's father, Sudhir Kumar Ray, was a well-known barrister ofCalcutta High Court and a member of the Indian National Congress and his mother Aparna Devi, was the elder daughter of the barrister and nationalist leaderChittaranjan Das andBasanti Devi grew up in England. Ray's sister isJustice Manjula Bose (1930–2016) who was a senior judge of theCalcutta High Court; along with Padma Khastagir, she was one of the first female judges of the Calcutta High Court. Ray was also related toSudhi Ranjan Das, a former Chief Justice of India andSatish Ranjan Das, a former Advocate General of Bengal and a Law Member of theViceroy's Executive Council.[citation needed]
Ray studied at,Mitra Institution,Bhowanipore Branch, Calcutta,Presidency College, Calcutta and University Law College, of theUniversity of Calcutta. In college and university, he was active in both sports and politics. In 1941, he was elected as student Under-Secretary in the Calcutta University Institute Elections and was put in charge from time to time of various departments including Students' Aid Fund, Debates, Sports and Socials. He was also the Debate Secretary and later the General Secretary of the Calcutta University Law College Union. As a sportsman he captained the Presidency College cricket team. He was the captain of the team that won the Inter Collegiate cricket Championship in 1944. He had scored three double centuries and 1000 runs for three consecutive seasons. He was also a keen footballer in Calcutta playing for the Kalighat Club. He was a University Blue in this sport and represented the Calcutta University in inter-varsity matches. In 1939, he was the captain of the victorious Presidency College football team which won both the Elliot and Hardinge Birthday Shields. He was also interested in lawn tennis and table tennis.[citation needed]
Later Ray was called to thebar by the Honourable Society ofInner Temple,London, in 1947.[9] While in London he played cricket for theIndian Gymkhana Club.[citation needed]
Upon his return from England in 1946, Ray joined the Calcutta Bar as a junior of Justice Ramaprasad Mukherjee, who later became a Judge and Chief Justice (Acting) of the High Court of Calcutta. In 1954 he became one of the three junior Central Government counsels inCalcutta.[citation needed]
In1957 he was elected as an MLA fromBhowanipore which he won by a large majority, becoming the youngest member of the West Bengal Cabinet under the leadership of Dr.Bidhan Chandra Roy. He was appointed Minister of Law & Tribal Welfare. However, after one year, he resigned from his ministerial portfolios and Congress party membership, citing differences with Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy. In1962, he was re-elected from the Bhowanipore seat as an Independent MLA. In 1967 he rejoined the Congress party & was elected as an MLA fromChowrangheethat year, which he retained in thenext state election. When the Congress split in 1969, Ray sided withIndira Gandhi's faction. From 1969 to 1971, he was the Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly during the SecondUnited Front Government. In1971 Indian general election, he won theRaiganj seat & became the Union Cabinet Minister of Education & Youth Services underIndira Gandhi. He was also the Union Cabinet Minister of West Bengal & Bangladesh Affairs & was actively involved with the matters of theBangladesh Liberation War.[10]
After the Congress(R) won theassembly election of 1972, he became theChief Minister of West Bengal from 20 March 1972 to 30 April 1977 after being elected from theMaldaha seat in a bypoll.[11] His administration was faced with the massive problem of resettling over a million refugees fromEast Pakistan fleeing war &the campaign of genocide of Bengalis launched by the Pakistani military in various parts of the state. He also undersaw thecrackdown onMaoist insurgents in the state.[12] His rule was characterised by widespread political violence against supporters ofCPI(ML) (which consisted of mostly students studying in colleges & universities) & other Communist parties, which often involvedpolitical murders &extra-judicial killings by thestate police force.[13][14] Under Section 47(c) of theCalcutta Municipal Act of 1951 Ray had the Governor let theCalcutta Municipal Corporation be superseded by the state government, effectively dissolving the Communist-led mayoral council of Calcutta from 22 March 1972.[15] No further election to the post of mayor was held during his tenure. Ray was instrumental in passing theWest Bengal Panchayat Act of 1973, which changed the pre-existing4-tier panchayat system [bn] into the current3-tier panchayat system. This system was implemented nationally as the 73rd Amendment to theConstitution of India in 1992. TheWest Bengal Panchayat Act of 1973 was one of his biggest achievements. However, he refused to hold election to the panchayats out of fear ofNaxalites and Communists escalating violence in rural areas. Ray had also instituted a commission headed byK. N. Wanchoo to investigate corruption allegations against his own Cabinet ministers[16] and had even sacked his own Power MinisterSuniti Chattaraj for accepting bribes.[17] During his tenure, a new Water Treatment Plant was set up at Garden Reach inSouth Kolkata and construction for theKolkata Metro began.
After the Congress(R) lost thenext elections in the state to theCPI(M)-led alliance of Communist parties, Ray was widely blamed for Congress' electoral defeat in the state. As Ray had stood against her nominated candidateKasu Brahmananda Reddy in the polls for the party's president in 1978, Indira Gandhi sidelined Ray from the party after coming back to powerin 1980. From 1982, he served as the head of theCricket Association of Bengal until 1986. AfterIndira Gandhi's murder, Ray tried to return to state politics by standing against veteran Communist leaderSomnath Chatterjee as the Congress(I) candidate in bypolls to theBolpur seat in 1985, but his unpopularity and enmity with a section of state Congress leaders caused him to lose by a margin of around 1 lakh votes.[10]
Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi appointed Ray as theGovernor of Punjab from 2 April 1986 where he played a pro-active role in suppressingSikh insurgents, however there too he was accused of conducting police brutalities while the state was underPresident's rule. Ray was removed as Governor on 8 December 1989 by Prime MinisterV. P. Singh for the former's insistence to use violence for neutralisingAISSF general secretary Harminder Singh Sandhu.[18]
Following thecollapse of the USSR,India's longtime strategic partner, Ray was sent by Prime MinisterP. V. Narasimha Rao asAmbassador of India to the United States to thawbilateral relations with the country that had been hostile towards India throughout theCold War. He remained in the United States from 1992 to 1996. Prior to that, he was the Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Assembly from 1991 to 1992, having been elected from the Chowranghee seat. In 1995, it was rumoured that Ray might return to contest theupcoming state elections, but it didn't happen due to opposition from the state Congress unit.[19] Ray contested his last election as the Congress candidate for theNorth West Calcutta seat in the1999 Indian general election, in whichcame third.[20]
Siddhartha Shankar Ray had a major role in the imposition ofThe Emergency from 1975 to 1977. He proposed to the prime ministerIndira Gandhi to impose an "internal emergency" and also drafted the letter for the PresidentFakhruddin Ali Ahmed to issue the proclamation and showed her how democratic freedoms could be suspended while remaining within the ambit of the Constitution.[21][22]
After his retirement in 1996 till 2010, Ray returned to his law practice as a Barrister of theCalcutta High Court.
Ray continued to remain close with his protégéMamata Banerjee, even after she left the Congress and formedher separate party.
Ray died ofkidney failure on 6 November 2010 at the age of 90.[23] The CPI(M)-led Left Front government of the state was criticised by the Congress for not according full state honours to Ray as it did to Ray's arch-nemesisJyoti Basu, who died 9 months before.[24][25]
A philanthropic society named "Siddhartha Shankar Ray Foundation"[26] was formed by Mr. Rajesh Chirimar in memory of Ray with the due consent ofMaya Ray. The society engages in various social activities and will be celebrating the Birth Centenary Year of Shri Siddhartha Shankar Ray.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Education Minister, Government of India 1967–1972 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Minister of West Bengal 1972–1977 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Punjab 1986–1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Indian Ambassador to the United States 1992–1996 | Succeeded by |
