Biman Banerjee

Life and career

Born in Garden Reach, Banerjee graduated from the Goenka college and completed his master's degree in commerce and simultaneously in law from the University of Calcutta. His grandfather, Satish Chandra Banerjee, and his father, Pranotosh Banerjee, were reputed lawyers. He was employed in the Bank of India but subsequently left the job and joined the legal profession. He also served as a part-time lecturer in commercial & industrial law in Hari Mohan Ghosh College and was an examiner in the Calcutta University. He was elected as Councilor of Calcutta Municipal Corporation in 1985 from ward no. 136. He was also elected as a member of the West Bengal Bar Council.

In May 2011, the Trinamool MLA from Baruipur Paschim and practising lawyer was elected as Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly unopposed, as the Opposition did not nominate a candidate for the post. After the election, he took a decision to give more importance to the sensitivities of the opposition and promised to give them more time to speak, on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's advice, a decision which was welcomed by the Leader of the Opposition, Suryakanta Mishra. After Biman Banerjee was elected, he was taken to the Speaker's Chair by Mishra, Prabodh Chandra Sinha and Subhash Nashkar, where he engaged in the protocol of exchanging courtesies with the outgoing speaker, Hashim Abdul Halim.