Indian politician and lawyer (1920–2010)
Siddhartha Shankar Ray (20 October 1920 – 6 November 2010) was an Indian lawyer, diplomat and Indian National Congress politician from West Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices, including Chief Minister of West Bengal (1972–77), Union Minister of Education (1971–72), Governor of Punjab (1986–89) and Indian Ambassador to the United States (1992–96). He was, at one point, the main troubleshooter for the Congress Party.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Biography
Ray was born in a Bengali Baidya[7] family. Ray's father, Sudhir Kumar Ray, was a well known barrister of Calcutta High Court and a member of the Indian National Congress and his mother Aparna Devi, was the elder daughter of the barrister and nationalist leader Chittaranjan Das and Basanti Devi grew up in England. Ray's sister is Justice Manjula Bose (1930–2016) who was a senior judge of the Calcutta High Court; along with Padma Khastagir, she was one of the first female judges of the Calcutta High Court. Ray was also related to Sudhi Ranjan Das, a former Chief Justice of India and Satish Ranjan Das, a former Advocate General of Bengal and a Law Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council.[citation needed]
Ray studied at, Mitra Institution, Bhowanipore Branch, Calcutta, Presidency College, Calcutta and University Law College, of the University 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 the bar by the Honourable Society of Inner Temple, London, in 1947.[8] While in London he played cricket for the Indian Gymkhana Club.[citation needed]
Career
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 in Calcutta.[citation needed]
In 1957 he was elected as an MLA from the Bhowanipore seat 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 & Congress party membership, citing differences with Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy. In 1962, he was re-elected from the Bhowanipore seat as an Independent MLA. In 1967 he rejoined the Congress party & was elected as an MLA from Chowranghee that year, which he retained in the next state election. When the Congress split in 1969, Ray sided with Indira Gandhi's faction. From 1969 to 1971, he was the Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly during the Second United Front Government. In 1971 Indian general election, he won the Raiganj seat & became the Union Cabinet Minister of Education & Youth Services under Indira Gandhi. He was also the Union Cabinet Minister of West Bengal & Bangladesh Affairs & was actively involved with the matters of the Bangladesh Liberation War.[9]
After the Congress(R) won the assembly election of 1972, he became the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 20 March 1972 to 30 April 1977 after being elected from the Maldaha seat in a bypoll.[10] His administration was faced with the massive problem of resettling over a million refugees from East Pakistan fleeing war & the campaign of genocide of Bengalis launched by the Pakistani military in various parts of the state. He also undersaw the crackdown on Maoist insurgents in the state.[11] His rule was characterised by widespread political violence against supporters of CPI(ML) (which consisted of mostly students studying in colleges & universities) & other Communist parties, which often involved political murders & extra-judicial killings by the state police force.[12][13] Under Section 47(c) of the Calcutta Municipal Act of 1951 Ray had the Governor let the Calcutta Municipal Corporation be superseded by the state government, effectively dissolving the Communist-led mayoral council of Calcutta led by Shyam Sundar Gupta from 22nd March 1972.[14] No further election to the post of mayor was held during his tenure. Ray was instrumental in passing the West Bengal Panchayat Act of 1973, which changed the pre-existing 4-tier panchayat system [bn] into the current 3-tier panchayat system. This system was implemented nationally as the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India in 1992. The West Bengal Panchayat Act of 1973 was one of his biggest achievements. However, he refused to hold election to the panchayats out of fear of Naxalites & Communists escalating violence in rural areas.[15] During his tenure, the Garden Reach Water Treatment Plant was set up in South Kolkata & construction for the Kolkata Metro began.
After the Congress lost the next elections in the state to the CPI(M)-led alliance of Communist parties, Ray was widely blamed for Congress' electoral defeat in the state. As Ray had stood against her nominated candidate Kasu Brahmananda Reddy in the polls for the party's president in 1978, Indira Gandhi sidelined Ray from the party after coming back to power in 1980. From 1982, he served as the head of the Cricket Association of Bengal until 1986. After Indira Gandhi's murder, Ray tried to return back to state politics by standing against veteran Communist leader Somnath Chatterjee as the Congress(I) candidate in bypolls to the Bolpur seat in 1985, but his unpopularity & enmity with a section of state Congress leaders caused him to lose by a margin of around 1 lakh votes.[9]
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi appointed Ray as the Governor of Punjab from 2 April 1986 to 8 December 1989, where he played a pro-active role in suppressing Sikh insurgents, however there too he was accused of conducting police brutalities while the state was under President's rule. Ray was removed as Governor by Prime Minister V. P. Singh for the former's insistence to use violence for neutralising AISSF general secretary Harminder Singh Sandhu.[16]
Following the collapse of the USSR, India's longtime strategic partner, Ray was sent by Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao as Ambassador of India to the United States to thaw bilateral relations with the country that had been hostile towards India throughout the Cold 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 back to contest the upcoming state elections, but it didn't happen due to opposition from the state Congress unit.[17] Ray contested his last election as the Congress candidate for North West Calcutta seat in the 1999 Indian general election, in which he came third.
Role in the Emergency
Siddhartha Shankar Ray had a major role in the imposition of The Emergency from 1975 to 1977. He proposed to the prime minister Indira Gandhi to impose an "internal emergency" and also drafted the letter for the President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to issue the proclamation and showed her how democratic freedoms could be suspended while remaining within the ambit of the Constitution.[18][19] However he was vocal against the abuse of power committed during this time by fellow Congressmen like Sanjay Gandhi & Pranab Mukherjee[citation needed].
Retirement
After his retirement in 1996 till 2010, Ray returned to his law practice as a Barrister of the Calcutta High Court.
Ray continued to remain close with his protégé Mamata Banerjee, even after she left the Congress & formed her separate party.
Ray died of kidney failure on 6 November 2010 at the age of 90.[20] 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-nemesis Jyoti Basu, who died 9 months before.[21][22]
Legacy
A philanthropic society named "Siddhartha Shankar Ray Foundation"[23] was formed by Mr. Rajesh Chirimar in memory of Ray with the due consent of Maya Ray. The society engages in various social activities and will be celebrating the Birth Centenary Year of Shri Siddhartha Shankar Ray.
