If I remember correctly, around July 15-16, 2008, Sitaram Yechury came to my residence and talked to me about the developing political situation, without mentioning any decisions that might have been taken by the party in my case. Yechury possibly wanted to ascertain what was on my mind. I informed him about what had transpired during my meeting with Jyoti Basu, who, as I was told by a reliable source, had himself sent a handwritten note to the general secretary in this regard. I do not know whether this note was formally placed at the politburo meeting or circulated among the members or not. I presume it was done. While leaving my house, Yechury vaguely indicated that I might receive a communication from the party. This convinced me that the party had taken or would take the decision to ask me to resign.

Significantly, after July 9, 2008, [Prakash] Karat did not speak to me but as mentioned, he more than once publicly mentioned that the decision [to resign or not] had been left to me. It was only on July 20, 2008 that Biman Bose, secretary of the West Bengal state committee of the party and a member of the politburo, contacted me. He came to my residence around 1pm and informed me that both the central committee and the politburo had decided that I should not continue as Speaker and that I should resign and vote against the government. I realised that the media speculation about the party having taken a decision, contrary to its repeated public pronouncements, had a solid basis. By then I had already made up my mind, as advised by the most important leader of the CPI(M), Jyoti Basu, not to tender my resignation until the debate on the trust vote was over.

Accordingly, I told Biman Bose that I could not accept the party’s directive since I did not wish to make the office of the Speaker a victim of political manoeuvrings. I told him that no Speaker could or should be at the mercy of the dictates of his party, even though he or she had been elected as an MP as its candidate and remained committed to its ideologies. I reminded him that throughout the fourteenth Lok Sabha, since my election as Speaker, I had disassociated myself from all political activity… obviously, Biman Bose was not pleased but he did not enter into any argument with me. About an hour later, I got a telephone call from him that I need not cast my vote on the confidence motion but that I must resign from the office of Speaker. I told him clearly that I could not accept his suggestion.

On July 21 and 22, 2008, the motion of confidence moved by the Prime Minister was debated and approved. The first thing the party did the following day was to hold a meeting of five local members of the politburo which has a total membership of 17. I presume that no notice was given to the others of the meeting. On July 23, 2008, the following statement was issued by the party: “The Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has unanimously decided to expel Somnath Chatterjee from the membership of the party with immediate effect. This action has been taken under Article XIX, Clause 13 of the party constitution for seriously compromising the position of the party.”

Later, I understood that even among those five members, the decision had been taken by a majority. Of course, I cannot vouch for it…

I had not thought it possible for the party to give me any directives. If I had any inkling of this, I would have formally given up my ordinary membership for the period I remained Speaker. Against this backdrop, I feel that a convention should evolve that during one’s tenure as Speaker, a member may temporarily resign from the membership of his or her party, so as not to be faced with the unenviable situation I was confronted with.

It was most surprising and unbecoming of a principled party like the CPI(M), which I always believed never misled the people, that its general secretary and some of his close colleagues would take a totally misleading position for public consumption, while at the same time confabulating among themselves to force me as a Speaker to accept a subservient role to the party, even if such a step transgressed all principles of constitutional propriety.

Although I had anticipated that the party would take some disciplinary action against me, I never thought it would be in such haste. What happened was nothing short of arbitrary. I had believed that at least a show-cause notice would be given or an explanation would be asked for, especially since I had served the party for nearly 40 years with all sincerity and devotion. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

* * *

In the Lok Sabha election in May 2009, the Left parties, as I had apprehended but never desired, suffered a major debacle, both in West Bengal and Kerala, which greatly reduced its strength not only in the House but in the country as a whole. Thanks to the disastrous policies and misguided actions of the current leadership, the Left parties, particularly, the CPI(M), and the left and progressive forces have become extremely weak. The leftist movement in the country as a whole has become almost irrelevant and comrades who made immense sacrifices to build the party have become victims of political marauders. I thought that the leadership would accept its responsibility for bringing the party to such a pass and would make amends by voluntarily stepping down in favour of a new, active and effective leadership. Shockingly, this was not to be.