Atish Chandra Sinha (11 July 1940 – 4 March 2010) was a minister and Leader of the Opposition in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

. Physicist

Bikash Sinha Bikash Sinha (born 1945) is an Indian physicist, active in the fields of nuclear physics and high energy physics. Bikash Sinha was the director of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre and the chairman of th ...

is his cousin.

Early life

The son of Bimal Chandra Sinha, scion of the Kandi Raj family and a minister in the

Bidhan Chandra Roy Bidhan Chandra Roy (1 July 1882 – 1 July 1962) was an Indian physician, educationist, and statesman who served as Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1948 until his death in 1962. Roy played a key role in the founding of several institutio ...

cabinet, Atish Chandra Sinha was born in the Kandi Raj family on 11 July 1940. A brilliant scholar of Presidency College, Kolkata, he specialized in Geophysics from the

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

in London.

In politics

He joined politics in the 1960s. He was elected to the state assembly as a

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

candidate from Kandi in 1971, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1991, 1996 and 2001. He was elected to the Indian Parliament from

Baharampur (Lok Sabha constituency) Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency (earlier known as Berhampore) is one of the 543 parliamentary constituencies in India. The constituency centres on Baharampur in West Bengal. All the seven assembly segments of No. 10 Baharampur Lok Sabha consti ...

in 1984. He was minister of small scale and cottage industries from 1972 to 1977. He was Leader of the Opposition in the

West Bengal Legislative Assembly The West Bengal Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian states and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is located in the B. B. D. Bagh area of Kolkata, the capital of the state. Members of the Legislative as ...

from 1996 to 2001 and was leader of the Congress legislative party in the West Bengal assembly from 2001 to 2006. As a result of differences with

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (born 2 April 1956) is an Indian politician serving as the leader of the Indian National Congress in the 17th Lok Sabha and the Member of Parliament from Berhampore. He is also the current president of West Bengal Pradesh ...

within the Congress Party, he joined

Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West Bengal. The party is led by Mamata Banerjee, the cur ...

in 2006. From 2002 onwards, he was ill off and on but did not give up active politics. He was involved in many social activities. He established the

Bimal Chandra College of Law Bimal Chandra College of Law is a college of legal education in Kandi, Murshidabad, West Bengal. It was established in the year 2002. The college is affiliated to University of Kalyani and also approved by the Bar Council of India (BCI), New ...

in Kandi in the memory of his father, Bimal Sinha. He died at his Kolkata residence on 4 March 2010.

Other activities

He was an active member of Calcutta South Club, whose obituary says of him "A member of the Royal family of Kandi in West Bengal, he was a very active politician of the Congress party. He was a cabinet minister in the

Government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal also known as the West Bengal Government, is the subnational government of the Indian state of West Bengal , created by the National Constitution as the state's legislative, executive and judicial authority. The ...

when Shri Siddhart Shankar Ray was the Chief Minister, Member of Parliament and leader of opposition in the State Assembly of West Bengal. ...He has been an Executive Committee Member and Vice President of the club for several years. He had been on the Davis Cup Working Committees of the club."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinha, Atish Indian National Congress politicians Trinamool Congress politicians from West Bengal People from Murshidabad district 2010 deaths 1940 births University of Calcutta alumni West Bengal MLAs 1971–1972 West Bengal MLAs 1972–1977 West Bengal MLAs 1977–1982 West Bengal MLAs 1982–1987 West Bengal MLAs 1991–1996 West Bengal MLAs 1996–2001 West Bengal MLAs 2001–2006 India MPs 1984–1989 Lok Sabha members from West Bengal State cabinet ministers of West Bengal Leaders of the Opposition in West Bengal Bengali Hindus