Ashoke Kumar Sen
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Ashoke Kumar Sen (10 October 1913 – 21 September 1996) was an Indian barrister, a former Cabinet minister of India, and an Indian parliamentarian. He also holds the record for winning a
Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
seat the most times and also the record for being not only an MP for the most years, but also a cabinet minister – serving more than 7 prime ministers. For decades, he was the inevitable Union Law Minister.


Background

Ashoke Kumar Sen was born in 1913 in a well-known
Baidya Baidya or Vaidya is a Hindu community located in Bengal. Baidyas, a caste (''jāti'') of Ayurvedic physicians, have long had pre-eminence in society alongside Brahmins and Kayasthas. In the colonial era, the Bhadraloks were drawn primarily, b ...
-Brahmin family. His father was a district magistrate. Both Ashoke Kumar Sen and Sukumar Sen were students of Sambalpur High School, Odisha wherein Late Mr. Suryamani Jena of village Kusupur was the Principal. His elder brother,
Sukumar Sen Sukumar Sen may refer to: *Sukumar Sen (civil servant) Sukumar Sen (2 January 1898 – 13 May 1963) was an Indian civil servant who was the first Chief Election Commissioner of India, serving from 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958. Under his le ...
ICS (b. 1899), who went on to become India,
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
and
Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
's first Chief Election Commissioner, funded his education in England, at the
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...
. Ashoke Sen went on to study for the Bar at
Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...
. Upon his return, he started teaching law at the
City College, Kolkata City College is a composite fully state government-aided public college, affiliated to the University of Calcutta. Established in 1881, it is one of the heritage institutions of Kolkata, and played a prominent role in the wake of the Bengal ...
a constituent college of the
University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...
Memorial references by the Speaker
Eleventh Lok Sabha Debates, Session II (Budget) Monday, 2 September 1996. Retrieved 13 January 2008.
He then began practising in the
Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located in B.B.D. Bagh, Kolkata, West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court buildi ...
. At the age of 26, he had already written a book about
Commercial Law Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...
, which was endorsed by Mr. Sen's then senior
Sudhi Ranjan Das Sudhi Ranjan Das (1 October 1894 – 18 September 1977) was the 5th Chief Justice of India, serving from 1 February 1956 to 30 September 1959. Das also served as chairman of ''The Statesman''. Background and education S.R. Das was born in ...
, the future
Chief Justice of India The chief justice of India (IAST: ) is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India as well as the highest-ranking officer of the Indian Judiciary. The Constitution of India grants power to the president of India to appoint, in consultation w ...
. Some years later, in February 1943, Ashoke Kumar Sen married Anjana Das, his senior's only daughter. They had two sons and two daughters.


Legal career

Within five years of practice, Sen became regarded as one of the top lawyers in the Calcutta High Court and gained wide acclaim. He published many books and articles, and was the Editor of Calcutta Law Journal. Sen was a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court, and President of the Supreme Court Bar Association several times.


Parliamentary career

Because of his legal acumen,
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 ...
,
Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
of
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 ...
, recommended him to the Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
. Nehru wanted Sen in his cabinet, and asked him to contest elections for the Lok Sabha. In 1957, the Calcutta North West seat for the Lok Sabha was a communist stronghold. Sen had tried in 1956 to win the election, but fell short by only a few votes. However, in the following year, he triumphed and won by over 100,000 votes. He retained that seat from 1957 to 1977, and again held the Calcutta North West seat from 1980 to 1989, being defeated in 1989 by Debi Prosad Pal. Sen was a Member of the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Lok Sabhas. He was later made a Rajya Sabha member and remained in the Upper House until April 1996, a few months before his death.


Ministerial career

Ashoke Sen became the Union Law Minister under
Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
. It is this post for which he became famous worldwide. He was Union Minister of Law, but he also held other portfolios such as Communications. He was Minister of Steel and Mines in
Chandra Shekhar Chandra Shekhar ( 17 April 1927 – 9 August 2015) was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with ...
government from November 1990 to June 1991. Over the next years, Sen was India's representative to foreign countries and the United Nations. According to Deve Gowda (1996), Sen led the Indian delegations to the United Nations Conference on Law, the United Nations Conference on Human Rights and several other conferences. He was Law Minister lastly under
Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...
and resigned in 1989 after his party's debacle in state elections in his home state West Bengal." Minister in India Quits In Election Aftermath"
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' 29 March 1987


Other activities

During his lifetime, Sen started the ''Paschim Banga Seva Samiti'' – a charitable organisation. He also served as the president of the
Indian Football Association The Indian Football Association, abbreviated as IFA, is the organisation that administers association football in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the oldest Football Association in India and was founded in 1893. Among the founders was form ...
. During his lifetime, Mr Sen also amassed a large law library with many rare collections. This library is considered to be among the largest private law libraries in the world.


Memorials

There is a block in the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
named after him. A portrait of him also hangs there. A town, Ashoknagar Kalyangarh in West Bengal is named after him. Several documentary films have also been produced on Sen.


Family

Ashoke Kumar Sen was survived by his widow, Anjana (whom he married in 1943), and by his four children, and seven grandchildren. Besides his brother
Sukumar Sen Sukumar Sen may refer to: *Sukumar Sen (civil servant) Sukumar Sen (2 January 1898 – 13 May 1963) was an Indian civil servant who was the first Chief Election Commissioner of India, serving from 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958. Under his le ...
, Ashoke Kumar Sen had another brother Amiya Kumar Sen, an associate of
Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
. Amiya, author of a book about the Tagore family newspaper, was formerly a lecturer at Calcutta University and Principal of the City College, Kolkata. Mr Sen is also uncle to Nobel Laureate Economist
Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, econom ...
.


References


Sources


Profile from India's Rajya Sabha (Upper House) website
* ''The Hindu'' 27 January 2002, magazine section. Later reprinted a
"Democracy''s biggest gamble: India''s first free elections in 1952. (Reconsiderations)."
(partly available online) ''World Policy Journal'' 22 March 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Ashoke Kumar Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics University of Calcutta alumni University of Calcutta faculty Bengali people Brahmos Das family of Telirbagh Indian barristers Members of the Cabinet of India Rajya Sabha members from West Bengal 1913 births 1996 deaths Law Ministers of India Lok Sabha members from West Bengal India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1962–1967 India MPs 1967–1970 India MPs 1971–1977 India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1984–1989 City College, Kolkata faculty 20th-century Indian lawyers Politicians from Kolkata Steel_Ministers_of_India