A self-serving account

Somnath Chatterjee served as a member of the Indian Parliament for most of the period from 1971 to 2009, having been elected on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) symbol every time. It was on the basis of an understanding between the CPI (M) and the United Progressive Alliance in 2004 that he was elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Five years later, he has, in his autobiography titled Keeping the Faith, vented his ire on the party that nurtured him and was instrumental in his holding the constitutional post that he so obviously relished. But that is not the real problem with his self-serving account. It is his tirade against Prakash Karat, the General Secretary of the CPI(M), that is in poor taste, subjective, and over the top.

DETAILED
In a long parliamentary career, Chatterjee made several speeches in Parliament, some of which have been reproduced in this book. He spoke forcefully against communalism and the tragic happenings in Ayodhya in 1992 and Gujarat in 2002. He was sharply critical — and rightly so — of the infamous Emergency regime of 1975-77 and of the authoritarian tendencies of the Congress party. As Speaker, he introduced measures intended to enhance the visibility of Parliament and improve the efficiency of its functioning. Chatterjee's parliamentary contributions do merit appreciation. Chatterjee is very conscious of his contributions, especially as the Speaker, and treats the reader to detailed accounts of practically each and every one of them. In a book of about 400 pages, appendices take away nearly 140 , with his speeches in Parliament occupying most of this space. One can take a generous view of all this as being appropriate in an autobiography. It is in his treatment of the events (inside and outside Parliament) related to the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal and the vote of confidence the UPA government sought in 2008 that Chatterjee becomes enormously subjective and departs from even elementary norms of courtesy and civil language.

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