Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee (15 April 1901 – 27 May 1986) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served three short terms as the

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 ...

. He hailed from

Tamluk Tamluk () is a town and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Purba Medinipur district. Though there is some controversy, scholars have generally agreed that present-day Tamluk is the site of the an ...

Purba Medinipur district Purba Medinipur (English: ''East Medinipur'', alternative spelling ''Midnapore'') district is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the southernmost district of Medinipur division – one of the five administrativ ...

, West Bengal. Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee, born in

, West Bengal, India in 1901, was one of the leaders of

Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar The Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar (Bengali : তাম্রলিপ্ত জাতীয় সরকার) or Tamluk National Government was an independent parallel government established in the areas of Tamluk and Contai subdivisions, now in Pur ...

(Tamrlipta National Government), which came into effect on 17 December 1942 during the

Quit India Movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule ...

, a programme of civil disobedience launched in India in 1942. He was greatly influenced by

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...

. Earlier a member of the

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 ...

, he later became founded the

Bangla Congress The Bangla Congress was a regional political party in the Indian state of West Bengal. It was formed through a split in the Indian National Congress in 1966 and later co-governed with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) in two United F ...

, which co-governed with the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...

in two

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political a ...

governments in 1967-1971. He held the chief ministerial position in both these governments, from March to November 1967, and again from February 1969 to March 1970. In the year 1967 Ajoy Mukherjee defeated

Prafulla Chandra Sen Prafulla Chandra Sen (10 April 1897 – 25 September 1990) was an Indian politician and freedom fighter. He was the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1962 to 1967. Background Prafulla Chandra Sen was born in the village Senhati in the Khulna ...

, another Gandhian, at Arambagh assembly constituency and became chief minister of West Bengal after Sen. Architect of Ajoy Mukherjee's victory at Arambagh was Narayan Ch Ghosh, the then students leader at Arambagh. Narayan Ghosh accompanied Ajoy Mukherjee in a boat for several days to see several flood affected areas in Arambagh & Ghatal subdivision in 1968. People of flood affected areas were enthused by Ajoy Mukherjee for his tireless move to stand for them. In 1971, Ajoy Mukherjee with some of his closed colleagues, viz.

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the Indi ...

etc., joined

Indian National Congress (R) Indian National Congress (Requisitionists) was created in 1969; it was created and led by Indira Gandhi. Initially this party was known as Congress (R), but it soon came to be generally known as the New Congress or Syndicate. The letter 'R' st ...

leaving Sushil Dhara – his long term associate. He was offered ministerial post at Centre by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, but Ajoy Mukherjee declined, citing his age and health condition and recommended Pranab Mukherjee for the post, who became State Minister in the Indian Cabinet. He was awarded the

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons without ...

award in 1977 from

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

. His brother

Biswanath Mukherjee Biswanath Mukherjee is an Indian-American Distinguished Professor of computer science at University of California, Davis and a fellow of IEEE. Early life Mukherjee obtained his bachelor's degree in technology with honors from Indian Institute ...

& sister-in-law

Geeta Mukherjee Geeta Mukherjee (8 January 1924 – 4 March 2000) was an Indian politician and social worker and a four times MLA from Panskura Purba, from 1967 to 1977. As a Member of Parliament, she was elected seven times from the Panskura constituency, ...

were both members of the Communist Party of India. Ajoy's niece Kalyani (daughter of another brother) was married to

Mohan Kumaramangalam Surendra Mohan Kumaramangalam ( ta, சுரேந்திர மோகன் குமாரமங்கலம்) (1 November 1916 — 30 May 1973) was an Indian politician and communist theorist who was a member of the Communist Party of ...

and was the mother of

Rangarajan Kumaramangalam Phanindranath Rangarajan Kumaramangalam (12 May 1952 – 23 August 2000) was a prominent politician of the Indian National Congress and later the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Member of parliament, Lok Sabha from the Salem constituency from 1 ...

and

Lalitha Kumaramangalam Lalitha Kumaramangalam (born 1958) is an Indian politician who is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former chairperson of the National Commission for Women. She was previously the National Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJ ...

. Mukherjee died on 27 May 1986 in Calcutta.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukherjee, Ajoy Politicians from Kolkata Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in public affairs Chief ministers of West Bengal 1901 births 1986 deaths 20th-century Bengalis Bengali Hindus People from Purba Medinipur district University of Calcutta alumni Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal Bangla Congress politicians People from Tamluk West Bengal MLAs 1951–1957 West Bengal MLAs 1957–1962 West Bengal MLAs 1962–1967 West Bengal MLAs 1967–1969 West Bengal MLAs 1969–1971 West Bengal MLAs 1971–1972 West Bengal MLAs 1972–1977