Atish Chandra Sinha

Atish Chandra Sinha
Former Minister, MP, MLA
Constituency Kandi, Baharampur
Personal details
Born 11 July 1940
Kolkata
Died 4 March 2010
Kolkata
Nationality Indian
Political party Indian National Congress, Trinamool Congress
Spouse(s) Archana Sinha
Children Anindita Sinha, Aninda Sinha
Religion Hindu

Atish Chandra Sinha was a former minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Indian state of West Bengal. Physicist Bikash Sinha is his cousin.

Contents

Early life

The son of Bimal Chandra Sinha, scion of the Kandi Raj family and a minister in the Bidhan Chandra Roy cabinet, Atish Chandra Sinha was born in the Kandi Raj family on 11 July 1940. A brilliant scholar of Presidency College, Kolkata, he specialized in Geophysics from the Imperial College in London.[1][2][3]

In politics

He joined politics in the turbulent years of the 1960s. He was elected to the state assembly as a Congress candidate from Kandi in 1971, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1991, 1996 and 2001.[4].[5] He was elected to the Indian Parliament from Baharampur (Lok Sabha constituency) in 1984.[6]

He was minister of small scale and cottage industries from 1972 to1977. He was Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 2001 and was leader of the Congress legislative party in the West Bengal assembly from 2001 to 2006.[2][3] As a result of differences with Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury within the Congress Party, he joined Trinamool Congress in 2008.[1][2]

From 2002 onwards, he was ill off and on but did not give up active politics[2][3]. He was involved in many social activities. He started the Bimal Chandra College of Law in Kandi in the memory of his father, Bimal Sinha. He died at his Kolkata residence on 4 March 2010. He is survived by his wife, daughter and son.[1][2]

Other spheres

He was an active member of Calcutta South Club. The club's touching obituary [7] reads "A member of the Royal family of Kandi in West Bengal, he was a very active politician of the Congress party. He was a cabinet minister in the Government of West Bengal when Shree Siddhart Shankar Ray was the Chief Minister, Member of Parliament and leader of opposition in the State Assembly of West Bengal. He lived like a simple commoner without any ostentation and pride. As a tennis player, he played regularly at the club in spite of his busy political schedule. Being soft spoken, helpful, honest, friendly and forthright, he was admired by every one. He has been an Executive Committee Member and Vice President of the club for several years. He had been on the Davis Cup Working Committees of the club. "

References

  1. ^ a b c "Former minister Atis Sinha dies at 70". Indian Express, 5 March 2010. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/former-minister-atis-sinha-dies-at-70/587156/. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
  2. ^ a b c d e "Former Leader of Opposition Atish Chanda Sinha dead". webindia123. http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20100304/1457561.html. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
  3. ^ a b c "About Atish Sinha". Atish Chandra Sinha Memorial Career & Education Fair. http://www.atishsinha.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=27. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
  4. ^ "Statistical Reports of Assembly Elections". General Election Results and Statistics. Election Commission of India. http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/statisticalreports/electionstatistics.asp. Retrieved 2010-09-26. 
  5. ^ "65 - Kandi Assembly Constituency". Partywise Comparison Since 1977. Election Commission of India. http://eci.nic.in/archive/ElectionAnalysis/AE/S25/Partycomp65.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-26. 
  6. ^ "10 - Berhampore Parliamentary Constituency". Partywise Comparison since 1977. Election Commission of India. http://www.eci.nic.in/eci_main/electionanalysis/GE/PartyCompWinner/S25/partycomp10.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
  7. ^ "Calcutta South Club". Calcutta South Club. http://www.southclub.co.in/obituary.php.