Subhas Chakraborty

Early life

Chakraborty was born in 1942 in Dhaka, British India to Hemchandra Chakraborty and Labonyoprobha Debi. His political career began from his residence in Dum Dum. It was a refugee colony.

Subhas Chakrabarty studied at Dum Dum Motijheel College, which was then affiliated with the prestigious University of Calcutta. Thereafter, he was the Secretary of the Bengal Provincial Students' Federation, and after that served as the General Secretary of the SFI. In 1962 he joined the still undivided Communist Party of India (CPI) and in the 1964 party split, he aligned with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Chakrabarty was also the vice-president of the CITU's West Bengal branch.

Family

Chakraborty's wife, Ramala Chakraborty, is also a member of the CPI(M). She is now the Vice-President of the AIDWA West Bengal State Committee, the women's wing of the CPI(M). Apart from the that she was the convener of an NGO, Pather Panchali(which used to celebrate with Subhas's active participation the birthday of the former chief minister of West Bengal Mr. Jyoti Basu).

In the Left Front Ministry

In 1977 with coming of the first Left Front Government he became an MLA from the Belgachia East constituency, and in 1982 he became the state minister of Sports, Youth affairs and Milk development. In 1987 became a full (cabinet) minister of Sports, Youth affairs and Tourism department. In the assembly formed in 1991 also, he was the MIC of the same departments. In 1996 he became the MIC of Transport and Sports. In 2001 he became the additional MIC for HRBC also. Finally in 2006 he was the Honorable Minister of Transport, Sports and Youth Services. He served in those capacities until his death.

Throughout his life Subhas remained controversial, but was a down-to-earth person. He was more a mass leader than a political leader. But regarding his age it is confirmed that he was 67 years old during his death.

Death

Chakraborty died on 3 August 2009 at 11:35 AM (IST) at the AMRI Hospitals, Kolkata a week after being admitted with lung and kidney disorders, and severe heart problems. Sources differ upon his age at the time of his death, some citing his age as having been 68 while others presented it as having been 66.

At his death, the nonagenarian Communist leader Jyoti Basu, who was also his political idol expressed "It is my time to go. But the irony is I am alive, while Subhas is no more. He was a very capable leader." Basu died five months later, incidentally in the same hospital as Chakraborty died.

Former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly had said "I am shocked. I feel sad. I knew for the last few months that Subhasda was ill. He was a great personality. I knew him since my childhood as a family friend"

National Film Awards-winning actor Mithun Chakraborty said he was like an elder brother to him. "I loved him a lot. He helped everybody, irrespective of party affiliations. Every day 100-150 people would come to his residence for help. And nobody returned disappointed. He was a great lover of sports. He was always there when somebody was in crisis"—said the actor in a choked voice.

In Maidan, several clubs expressed their sorrow by flying their flags at half mast.