Kolkata: Pankaj Banerjee, one of the founders of Trinamool Congress, passed away on Friday. He was 71-years-old and is survived by his wife and daughter. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted: "Saddened at the passing away of one of Trinamool's founder member Pankaj Banerjee."
Banerjee was the leader of Opposition from 2001-06. A marine engineer by profession, Banerjee joined Congress in the mid 1960s. He was first elected from the Tollygunge Assembly constituency in 1972, when he defeated CPI-M heavyweight Prasanta Sur. He was again elected from Tollygunge Assembly constituency in 1996.
Banerjee single-handedly fought against the CPI-M from Tollygunge, which was considered a red bastion. In 1957, Haridas Mitra of Praja Socialist Party was elected from the constituency. From 1962 to 1995, CPI-M had retained the seat, except in 1972 and 1996, when Banerjee was elected.
Tollygunge was a colony and CPI-M leaders like Prasanta Sur, Haridas Malakar and Jayanta Dasgupta used to lead the refugee movement.
"It was really a tough job to do Congress politics in Tollygunge in those days," said Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Banerjee's long time political associate. "CPI-M had unleashed a reign of terror in vast areas surrounding Tollygunge and Pankaj, along with some Congress workers, had put up stiff resistance," he said.
Chattopadhyay, who was the Opposition chief whip in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly between 2001-06, said: "Pankaj never lost his cool and could tackle political issues very intelligently."
Banerjee was one of the founder members of Trinamool Congress and had joined the party from Congress. He had travelled extensively in the districts in the formative years of Trinamool.
After the news of Banerjee's death spread, Trinamool Congress leaders including Saugata Roy, Partha Chatterjee, Aroop Biswas and Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay went to his house. WBPCC president Somen Mitra condoled his death, while Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi also expressed grief and condoled the death of the Trinamool veteran.
Banerjee was a thorough gentleman and had very cordial relation with the leaders of the Left parties. After retiring from politics, he was involved with an NGO.
Banerjee was taken to a private nursing home in South Kolkata, where he was declared dead. When his mortal remains reached his house, a local examined him and said that he could hear heartbeat. He was soon taken to another nursing home, where the doctors confirmed his death.