Ajoy Mukherjee

Ajoy Mukherjee Biography

Ajoy Mukherjee was an Indian politician and social worker from the state of West Bengal, who served as CM of Bengal thrice. He was the 4th Chief Minister of West Bengal who served his brief term during 1 March 1967 – 21 November 1967. He served his second term as CM during 25 February 1969 - 16 March 1970. He also served as the sixth Chief Minister of West Bengal. As a politician he was first associated with Indian National Congress, followed by Bangla Congress, affiliated to Communist Party of India (Marxist). He represented Indian National Congress during his first term as CM and Bangla Congress, during his second term, indeed a unique achievement. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan award in 1977 by government of India.

Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee was born in the year 1901 on Tamluk, Bengal Presidency, British India. In the pre-independent era he was affiliated to Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar during Quit India Movement, and also became a member of the Indian National Congress. He was associated with Congress till late 1960s and served his first term as CM representing the same. However he switched to Bangla Congress later. Many of his family members and close relatives were associated with Communist Party. In 1967 Mukherjee defeated Prafulla Chandra Sen to become Chief Minister for the first time.

He is related to Kumaramangalam political family of Tamil Nadu, with members practising different types of political ideologies. Noted politician Lalitha Kumaramangalam is the grand-niece of Ajoy Mukherjee. Lalitha's mother, Kalyani Mukherjee was his niece. Thus he is related to Mohan Kumaramangalam and his son Rangarajan Kumaramangalam. His brother Biswanath Mukherjee was also a politician and MLA. Well-known politician and parliamentarian Geeta Mukherjee was his sister-in-law (Biswanath Mukherjee’s wife).

Published: January 07, 2019

Updated: January 07, 2019