KOLKATA: Former transport minister and CPM central committee member
Shyamal Chakraborty died at a Kolkata hospital on Thursday following a cardiac arrest. Chakraborty was aged 77 and has left behind his daughter and Tollywood actor
Ushashi
. The trade unionist was admitted to hospital after he was tested Covid positive on July 30.
Chakraborty was among the five young Turks handpicked by CPM state secretary Pramode Dasgupta — Biman Bose, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Anil Biswas, Subhas Chakraborty, the other four — to infuse fresh blood in party organization.
CM Mamata Banerjee
has condoled Chakraborty’s death. Political leaders from across party lines namely Subrata Mukherjee, Partha Chatterjee, Shobhandeb Chatterjee from Trinamool and BJP leader Rahul Sinha fondly recollected their association with this “amiable politician”.
Chakraborty had made an impression among the student community as part of the Subhas-Shyamal pair in Left student politics in the turbulent Sixties. There has been no looking back for Chakraborty since then. He served CPM, Left trade unions and the people at large as minister, trade union leader, a Rajya Sabha member and copiously wrote for the Left magazines and newspapers.
His admirers in CPM recalled “Shyamalda’s” ability to read a situation and take a pragmatic stand. Cutting his teeth in student politics during the Congress regime, Chakraborty was an excellent orator and became a mentor to most of the young generation leaders. Later, he groomed himself as an administrator, holding the state transport portfolio for nine years in the Jyoti Basu Cabinet.
A member of the undivided CPI in 1959, Chakraborty made it to CPM state committee in 1978 and became a state secretariat member in 1985. “Shyamalda was our guardian. He took avid interest in Indian history, its tradition and culture and tried to contextualise them in dealing with present problems with his feet set firm on the ground,” said CPM leader Shamik Lahiri. Chakraborty was also a loving father. “I lost my mother at a tender age. My father used to look after me and helped me in my studies despite his busy schedule. He was a dedicated party activist but never forced his views upon me,” said daughter Ushashi.
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