Jatin Chakraborty

Jatin Chakraborty at a 1992 protest against transfer of the Tin Bigha Corridor to BangladeshJatindra Chandra Chakraborty (1911 – 1996) was an Indian politician and trade unionist. Chakraborty played a prominent role in West Bengal politics and was often entangled in controversies. He was a founding leader of the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the United Trade Union Congress. Chakraborty was a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1957 to 1962, 1969 to 1970 and 1977 to 1991. He served in ministerial posts in the state governments of the United Front and the Left Front (1977–1988). After falling out with the Left Front in 1988, Chakraborty became a vocal critic of the state government.

Youth Jatindra Chandra Chakraborty was born on 10 September 1911 in Comilla. As a college student, he was a leader of the All-Bengal Students' Association, an organisation banned by the British colonial authorities, and a member of the Students' Radical Party. Chakraborty obtained Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from Calcutta University. He was again imprisoned by the British authorities in 1942 during the Quit India movement. In 1949, Chakraborty, K.T. Shahand, and Mrinal Kanti Bose founded the United Trade Union Congress (UTUC).

RSP fielded Chakraborty as its candidate in the Belgachia seat in the 1952 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. Chakraborty finished in seventh place with 571 votes (2.64%)

Chakraborty was part of a small group of RSP Central Committee members who dominated the party leadership after the departure of the ageing Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee from the helm of the organisation. Chakraborty was the foremost trade union leader and organiser of the RSP in West Bengal. In 1952, Chakraborty was part of a UTUC delegation visiting China for May Day. In 1953, he took part in a study visit to trade unions in the United Kingdom under the Colombo Plan, and in 1954, he was a delegate to the World Federation of Trade Unions congress held in the Soviet Union.

Legislator Chakraborty contested the Muchipara seat in the 1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. Muchipara was a constituency located in three central Calcutta wards (wards number 30, 43 and 45). He won by a margin of 511 votes. Chakraborty was one of the secretaries of UTUC. Chakraborty became a member of the Governing Body of the National Productivity Council when it was founded in 1957. In 1961, Chakraborty visited Czechoslovakia as a member of a National Productivity Council delegation. He lost the seat to Congress candidate Pratap Chandra Chunder, who won by a margin of 545 votes. Chakraborty and other UTUC leaders played an important role in shaping left unity for the 1967 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. In the 1969 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, Chakraborty won the Sealdah seat. He obtained 27,797 votes (55.32%). Chakraborty became one of two RSP ministers in the United Front state government formed after the 1969 election. He held the post of Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and served as the Chief Whip in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly since February 1969. He attended the seventh congress of the World Federation of Trade Unions, held in Budapest in 1969.

1971 and 1972 elections In the 1971 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, Chakraborty contested the Balurghat seat instead. He finished in second place with 22,941 votes (42.11%). In the 1972 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, RSP fielded him in the Dhakuria seat, finishing in second place with 20,550 votes (38.63%). During the election campaign, he survived an assassination attempt, as a bomb exploded on 27 February 1972.

Left Front minister Chakraborty won the Dhakuria seat in the 1977 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, obtaining 32,029 votes (48.92%). He was appointed Minister-in-Charge of the Public Works Department (excluding the Metropolitan Development Branch) and the Department of Housing in the first Left Front state government. In the midst of the post-electoral frenzy, the incoming minister, Chakraborty, had the dome of the Shaheed Minar monument painted red. The move proved unpopular in the city, and Chakraborty was forced undo the colour change of the monument.

He retained the Dhakuria seat in the 1982 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, obtaining 51,151 votes (60.60%). He retained his ministerial portfolios in the second Left Front government.

In mid-1983, Chakraborty was embroiled in a dispute with pop singer Usha Uthup. The controversy lasted for about two months. Chakraborty decried Uthup's performances as "apasanskriti" (decadent). Chakraborty publicly argued that he wanted to protect Bengali society from "cheap, disco, perverted culture". Chakraborty and RSP workers disrupted Uthup's shows.

He again won the Dhakuria seat in the 1987 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, with 53,361 votes (53.10%). Chakraborty retained his role as Minister of the Public Works Department in the third Left Front state government formed after the 1987 election.

Bengal Lamps controversy In 1988, Chakraborty was at the centre of a major political controversy, which almost brought down the state government. On 18 September 1988, the Bengali daily Ananda Bazar Patrika published a note attributed to Chakraborty, which alleged that he had received instructions from the Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to favour the Jadavpur based loss-making firm Bengal Lamps company (where Jyoti Basu's son Chandan was employed at that time) with bulk orders from the Public Works Department. Chakraborty was expelled from RSP. After the rupture with the Left Front, he emerged as a vocal critic of the government. He publicly criticized the installation of a statue of Ho Chi Minh, instead calling for a Jayaprakash Narayan statue to be raised at the same spot.

He contested the 1991 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election with Congress(I) support. Chakraborty ran as an independent candidate in the Dhakuria seat, finishing in second place with 40,426 votes (34.14%) and losing the seat to the RSP candidate Kshiti Goswami. Chakraborty died in August 1996.

Legacy Popularly known as "Jakie Da", Chakraborty played a major role in West Bengal politics. A controversial figure, he was described variably as "sharp-tongued, witty, vigorous, courageous - but somewhat lacking in decorum", "a man of colourful personality" and "ebullient". In 1966, the Economic and Political Weekly commentator Flibbertigibbet stated that "Jatin Chakraborty has never been known to be an easy person to accommodate in any alliance". He was known to be a cigar smoker.