Siddhartha Shankar Ray (20 October 1920 – 6 November 2010) was an Indian lawyer, diplomat and

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

politician from West Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices, including Union Minister of Education (1971–72),

Chief Minister of West Bengal The Chief Minister of West Bengal is the representative of the Government of India in the state of West Bengal and the head of the executive branch of the Government of West Bengal. The chief minister is head of the Council of Ministers and ap ...

(1972–77), Governor of Punjab (1986–89) and

Indian Ambassador to the United States The Indian Ambassador to the United States of America is the chief diplomatic representative of India to the United States, housed in the Embassy of India, Washington, D.C. The current ambassador is Taranjit Singh Sandhu who succeeded Harsh Vard ...

(1992–96). He was at one point the main troubleshooter for the Congress Party.

Biography

Ray was born in a

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 ...

family. Ray's father, Sudhir Kumar Ray, was a well known barrister of

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 ...

and a member of the Indian National Congress and his mother Aparna Devi, was the elder daughter of the barrister and nationalist leader

Chittaranjan Das Chittaranjan Das (5 November 1870 – 16 June 1925), popularly called ''Deshbandhu'' (Friend of the Nation), was an Indian freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian independence movement and founder-leader of the Swar ...

and

Basanti Devi Basanti Devi (23 March 1880 – 7 May 1974) was an Indian independence activist during the British rule in India. She was the wife of activist Chittaranjan Das. After Das' arrest in 1921 and death in 1925, she took an active part in various po ...

grew up in England. Ray's sister is

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

Manjula Bose (1930–2016) who was a senior judge of the

; along with Padma Khastagir, she was one of the first female judges of the Calcutta High Court. Ray was also related to

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 ...

, a former Chief Justice of India and

Satish Ranjan Das Satish Ranjan Das (1870–1928) was the Advocate-General of Bengal and later the Law Member of the Executive Council of the Viceroy; he was sometime treasurer of the Boy Scouts of Bengal and the Lodge of Good Fellowship, and a prominent memb ...

, a former Advocate General of Bengal and a Law Member of the

Viceroy's Executive Council The Viceroy's Executive Council was the cabinet of the government of British India headed by the Viceroy of India. It is also known as the Council of the Governor-General of India. It was transformed from an advisory council into a cabinet consistin ...

. Ray studied at, Mitra Institution,

Bhowanipore Bhowanipore (also Bhowanipur; bn, ভবানীপুর) is a neighbourhood of South Kolkata in Kolkata district of West Bengal, India. History In 1717, the East India Company obtained the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their s ...

Branch, Calcutta,

Presidency College, Calcutta Presidency University, Kolkata (formerly known as Presidency College, Kolkata) is a second major public state aided research university located in College Street, Kolkata. Considered as one of best colleges when Presidency College was affili ...

and University Law 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 ...

. In college and university, he was active in both sports and politics. In 1941, he was elected as student Under-Secretary in the Calcutta University Institute Elections and was put in charge from time to time of various departments including Students' Aid Fund, Debates, Sports and Socials. He was also the Debate Secretary and later the General Secretary of the Calcutta University Law College Union. As a sportsman he captained the Presidency College cricket team. He was the captain of the team that won the Inter Collegiate cricket Championship in 1944. He had scored three double centuries and 1000 runs for three consecutive seasons. He was also a keen footballer in Calcutta playing for the Kalighat Club. He was a University Blue in this sport and represented the Calcutta University in inter-varsity matches. In 1939, he was the captain of the victorious Presidency College football team which won both the Elliot and Hardinge Birthday Shields. He was also interested in lawn tennis and table tennis. Later Ray was called to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

by the Honourable Society of

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, in 1947. While in London he played cricket for the

Indian Gymkhana Club Indian Gymkhana Cricket Club Ground is a cricket ground in Osterley, London (formerly Middlesex). which was founded in 1916. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1932, when Indian Gymkhana played the touring Indians. The ground has a ...

Career

Upon his return from England in 1946, Ray joined the Calcutta Bar as a junior of Justice Ramaprasad Mukherjee, who later became a Judge and Chief Justice (Acting) of the High Court of Calcutta. In 1954 he became one of the three junior Central Government counsels in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. In 1957 he was elected to the Bhowanipore Assembly seat which he won by a large majority, becoming the youngest member of the West Bengal Cabinet under the leadership of Dr.

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 ...

. He was appointed Minister of Tribal Welfare and

Law Department, West Bengal Department of Law is a department under the Government of West Bengal in West Bengal, India. This is the main legal policy making and advisory authority of State Government. History Initially the works of Legal policy making and legislative d ...

. In 1962, he was re-elected to the state's Legislative Assembly as an Independent Candidate. In 1966, he became the Union Cabinet Minister of Education & Youth Services for the Government of India. He was also the Union Cabinet Minister of West Bengal Affairs of the Government of India. After the Congress won the General Election of 1972, he became the

from 19 March 1972 to 21 June 1977. He took office shortly after the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

, and his administration was faced with the massive problem of resettling over a million refugees in various parts of the state. The crackdown on Naxalites also took place during this period. Later, he had the distinction of serving as the Governor of Punjab from 2 April 1986 to 8 December 1989. When the Congress came back to power once again in Delhi in 1991, Ray was sent as India's Ambassador to the United States. He remained in the United States from 1992 to 1996. Prior to that, he was the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1991-1992.

Role in the emergency

Siddhartha Shankar Ray had a major role in the imposition of The Emergency from 1975 to 1977. He proposed to the prime minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

to impose an "internal emergency" and also drafted a letter for the President to issue the proclamation and showed her how democratic freedom could be suspended while remaining within the ambit of the Constitution.

Retirement

During his retirement between 1996 and 2010, Ray returned to his law practice as a Barrister of the

. Ray died of

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...

on 6 November 2010 at the age of 90.

Legacy

A philanthropic society named "Siddhartha Shankar Ray Foundation" was formed by Mr. Rajesh Chirimar in memory of Ray with the due consent of

Maya Ray Maya Ray was a lawyer and an Indian politician from West Bengal. She was elected in a Bye election to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India from Raiganj, West Bengal, in 1972. Career The Bye election was necessitated afte ...

. The society engages in various social activities and will be celebrating the Birth Centenary Year of Shri Siddhartha Shankar Ray.

References

External links

Official Biographical Sketch in Lok Sabha Website

S.S. Ray - an administrator par excellence

Indo-Asian News Service Indo-Asian News Service or IANS is a private Indian news agency. It was founded in 1986 by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju as the "India Abroad News Service" and later renamed. Their main offices are located in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The se ...

, 7 November 2010
S.S. Ray accorded a state funeral

, 7 November 2010
Ray, Bengal's last aristocrat politician, departs
''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'', 7 November 2010
A leader of many hues
''

'', 7 November 2010 * Sukharanjan Sengupta
Misunderstood for role in Naxal period
''

'', 6 November 2010
Legal eagle with excellent court etiquette
''

'', 7 November 2010
Ray: The Left’s whipping boy till the end
''

The Statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...

'', 6 November 2010
Punjab's friendly troubleshooter
''

The Tribune ''The Tribune'' or ''Tribune'' is the name of various newspapers: United States Daily California *''Oakland Tribune'' * ''The Tribune'' (San Luis Obispo) *'' San Gabriel Valley Tribune'' Indiana *''Kokomo Tribune'' *'' Peru Tribune'' * ''The Trib ...

'', 7 November 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Siddhartha Shankar 1920 births 2010 deaths Bengali Hindus Politicians from Kolkata Alumni of the Inns of Court School of Law Presidency University, Kolkata alumni University of Calcutta alumni Ambassadors of India to the United States Chief Ministers of West Bengal Das family of Telirbagh Deaths from kidney failure Governors of Punjab, India Indian barristers Members of the Cabinet of India Education Ministers of India Leaders of the Opposition in West Bengal People of the Emergency (India) Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Indian cricket administrators Presidents of the Cricket Association of Bengal 20th-century Indian lawyers People from Kolkata Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal India MPs 1971–1977 Lok Sabha members from West Bengal People from Uttar Dinajpur district Indian National Congress (U) politicians