Som Nath Chatterjee will retire at the end of his term
Friday, 15th August, 2008
Retirement Bringing every kind of speculations to a halt Lok Sabha Speaker Som Nath Chatterjee has said that he will retire after the end of his term. It must be recalled that he is the veteran communist leader who had won ten times as a MP. But he had declined to resign as Lok Sabha Speaker after his parties’ decision of withdrawal of support to the UPA government. This issue had triggered a wave of discussions not in political circles but in public also. It is considered that when ever a MP is elected as a Speaker of Lok Sabha he becomes a neutral leader and distances himself from his political party.
Tradition Though there are very few examples when any Speaker had followed the tradition but Som Nath Chatterjee has set an example. It is a pity that he has been treated badly by his own party. There are very few arguments as his party is following its ideology and on the other hand Chatterjee is following the tradition, a character that is rarely shown the political leaders especially in India. During the trust motion it was being expected that Chatterjee will resign before the voting following the party whip. But it did not happened and UPA succeeded in winning the trust move.
Public According to the latest reports Chatterjee has decided that he will retire from the active politics after the end of his term as a Lok Sabha Speaker. Public of India had overwhelmingly supported him though his party has expelled him. He has sacrificed his political career but has made every Indian proud the way he has kept the prestige of the chair and followed the tradition in true sense.
Issue Chatterjee had followed his own agenda of not taking part in the affairs of his party during his term as a Speaker and has distanced himself from his party. Though he had done it on his own but had kept on renewing his party membership. But his expulsion from his party and his retirement has caused an issue to arise that there should be some kind of rule that if a MP is selected as a Speaker he should resign temporarily from his party for his tenure

