A demonstration at Visva-Bharati in Somnath’s support on Thursday. Picture by Indrajit Roy

Bolpur, July 24: Somnath Chatterjee has lost party affiliation but not his voters.

The people of Bolpur, 190km from Calcutta, who have sent Chatterjee to the Lok Sabha since 1985, held a march today in support of “Somnathbabu”.

Chatterjee was expelled from the CPM yesterday for not resigning as Lok Sabha Speaker before the trust vote — an action housewife Nanda Basu of Bolpur finds hard to digest.

“I watched the live telecast of the Lok Sabha session (for the trust vote) and saw how Somnath Chatterjee conducted the House and managed the MPs,” the 30-year-old said.

“The CPM may have its own rules but the way it treated Somnathbabu is shameful. He was elected Speaker unanimously and has proved to be one of the best so far. The country needs him,” Nanda said.

Satinath Ganguly, 29, a medical representative and resident of Trishulapatty in Bolpur town, described Chatterjee as “an erudite and efficient leader” and said he was an asset to the CPM.

“Why was he expelled? He did nothing wrong. The entire exercise by CPM leaders like Prakash Karat in asking Somnath Chatterjee to resign from the post of Speaker was meaningless,” said Satinath.

Nurul Sheikh, 46, a farmer in Nanoor, which falls under the Bolpur Lok Sabha constituency, felt the CPM had taken a harsh decision.

“We are hurt that a leader of the stature of Somnath Chatterjee was dismissed from the party. The decision also throws up questions about the Speaker’s chair,” he said.

“The Speaker is above politics and I think Somnathbabu took the right decision by not resigning. The CPM leadership in Delhi should have realised that he has a long history of party loyalty behind him.”

This afternoon, nearly 200 teachers, non-teaching employees and students of Visva- Bharati held a silent march under the banner of Amra Sabai to protest the expulsion. They carried placards saying “We are proud of you Mr Speaker” and “Love India, Respect Constitution”.

Amra Sabai had earlier agitated against Chatterjee, who was chairman of Sriniketan-Santiniketan Development Authority, accusing him of damaging the khoai, the natural landscape on the outskirts of Santiniketan, by allowing construction near it.

But today Kishore Bhattacharya, a Patha Bhavan teacher and a marcher, said: “He (Chatterjee) has proved that the country is above party. We are proud of him.”