Vajpayee persuaded Somnath not to quit

A day after he exited office, Somnath Chatterjee bared his heart to the media, saying he almost quit as speaker the day the NDA sent a letter signed by AB Vajpayee accusing him of being biased. “Atalji paid me a visit and talked me out of it. He explained he had not signed the letter voluntarily,” Somnath said.

He described his expulsion from the CPI(M) as one of the most painful moments of his life, “The other being the death of my parents.”

The parting of ways not withstanding, Somnath continues to assert his communist identity. “I remain a communist. Communism is not the monopoly of a political party,” he said.

Somnath will retire to Shantiniketan after spending close to 39 years as a parliamentarian in Delhi. His term officially ends only once a pro term speaker is appointed, but he has already begun the process of shifting his belongings. He has decided to gift most of his law books to the local library in Bolpur. He plans to visit the capital occasionally to be with “my weakness, my two grandchildren”.

His immediate post-retirement plans include completing his autobiography, which will be out in July. 

Somnath maintained he scrupulously cut himself off all political activity once he took over as speaker and said political parties must evolve a consensus on keeping the speaker out of politics.