Chatterjee’s room at his Raja Basanta Roy Road residence in Kolkata

KOLKATA: The anguish that was building since 2008 when CPM expelled Somnath Chatterjee got an unfettered expression on Monday when party veteran Biman Bose and CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra went to the Chatterjee residence in south Kolkata to pay respects. Somnath’s son and high court lawyer Pratap Chatterjee lost his cool on seeing Bose.

“Just show him the door. He was one among those who drove my father out of the party,” said Pratap from inside. CPM politburo member and MP Md Salim also faced the embarrassment minutes ago. Pratap had come up to Salim and said: “May I ask you to leave the room?” Bose, however, didn’t want the bitterness to continue. “I heard something from inside. It was a loud noise, but I couldn’t make out what it was all about,” Bose said while stepping out of Chatterjee’s residence.

“We didn’t want Baba’s body to be taken to the party office or wrap his body with a red flag. Why should we? Was he a party member?” Chatterjee’s daughter Anushila said. She said even her mother didn’t want the body to be taken to the CPM headquarters on Alimuddin Street. She also recounted how her father loved the party.

Another thing that might have fuelled the outburst was the CPM politburo statement on Somnath Chatterjee’s demise issued in the afternoon. It doesn’t mention him as a former CPM member. It remembered him as former Speaker and 10-time member of the Lok Sabha.

