Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya (; born 27 November 1951) is an Indian politician and lawyer. He is currently serving as a

Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha A Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (abbreviated: MP) is the representative of the States and union territories of India, Indian states to the upper house of the Parliament of India which is known as "Rajya Sabha" (constitutionally "Cou ...

from the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

. He is serving as the

CPI(M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electoral seats, and one of the six national parties of India. ...

parliamentary party leader in

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

since 3 July 2024. He served as

Mayor of Kolkata The Mayor of Kolkata is the chief executive of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, one of the civic authorities in the Indian city of Kolkata. He is the ''First Citizen'' of the city of Kolkata. There have been 38 mayors of Kolkata in total ti ...

from 2005 to 2010, heading the

Kolkata Municipal Corporation Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is the local government of the Indian city of Kolkata, the List of Indian state and union territory capitals, state capital of West Bengal. This civic administrative body administers an area of . Its motto, ' ...

, led by the

Left Front (West Bengal) The Left Front (Bengali language, Bengali: ) is an alliance of Left-wing politics, left-wing political parties in the Indian state of West Bengal. It was formed in January 1977, the founding parties being the Communist Party of India (Marxist), ...

in the state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

Early life

Bhattacharya hails from the

Kalighat Kalighat is a locality of Kolkata (Calcutta), in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India. One of the oldest neighbourhoods in South Kolkata, Kalighat is also densely populated — with a history of cultural intermingling with the various foreig ...

region of

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. He was born into a

Bengali Brahmin Bengali Brahmins are the community of Hindu Brahmins, who traditionally reside in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, currently comprising the Indian state of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh. The Bengali Brahmins, along wi ...

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

family to Nityaranjan Bhattacharyya and Avarani Bhattacharyya. He went to Kalighat High School, and then joined Ashutosh College for his Bachelor of Science degree. He completed his LL.B. from

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

. He was later recruited as a school teacher, however, he left that job to join the legal profession.

Legal career

Bhattacharya is a Senior Advocate and leads various notable cases like " Saradha", "

Narada sting operation The Narada sting operation was a sting operation carried out by Mathew Samuel targeting high-ranking officials and politicians of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). It showed several politicians and a high-ranked police officer accepting B ...

", " Teachers Recruitment Scam" among other cases. He is practicing in

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located at Esplanade Row West, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. T ...

and other courts. He has served as the Advocate General of

Tripura Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...

for 5 years between 1998 and 2003. He was once offered the position of a justice at

but he passed on that appointment. He also acts as the principal legal mind of his party and defends party members implicated in political cases.

Political career

He joined the

as a student and was active

Students' Federation of India The Students' Federation of India (SFI) is a left-wing student organization in India that upholds ideology of independence, democracy, and socialism. History The origin of Indian students movement in its organised form can be traced to th ...

. He was arrested in the 1970s for participating in students' movement and spent some time in prison. He took over the reins of the

in 2005 and continued as Mayor of Kolkata in 2010. He was elected from Ward No. 100, Kolkata Municipal Corporation in 2005, defeating influential

Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (; AITC), simply known as Trinamool Congress, is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the Federated state, state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a Lis ...

leader Partha Chatterjee. As Mayor of Kolkata, he undertook several projects including sewerage systems in the city and took initiative to provide birth certificates to street children. Being a senior advocate he has become the poster-boy of TMC government opposition by his cascading eloquence and fiery oratory. He fought from the

Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 543 Parliamentary constituencies in India. The constituency centres on Jadavpur in West Bengal. In All of the seven legislative assembly segments of No. 22 Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency, 5 ...

2019 Indian general election in West Bengal Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

for CPI(M) in which he faced defeat and received third position behind Mimi Chakraborty of

party and Anupam Hazra of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. He was the only of candidate of his party in West Bengal to retain his security deposit. He has been elected to

from

in 2020 and took oath on 22 July. Earlier in 2017, he contested for a

seat in West Bengal, however, his nomination was disqualified due to technical issues. He was elected as the President of All India Lawyers' Union, lawyers' organisation of

in 2017. He currently serves as a special invited member of CPI(M) West Bengal State Committee. He is the

parliamentary party leader in

Personal life

Bhattacharyya married to Ibha Bhattacharyya on 31 May 1976 and the couple has a son. Ibha Bhattacharyya is a consultant dietician. He has five brothers and one sister. Bhattacharya, in spite of hailing from a

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

family, is a avowed atheist. In 2015, Bhattacharya generated news by publicly consuming

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

in a event held in

Dharmatala Dharmatala (archaic spelling Dharmotola) is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Dharmatala Street has been renamed after Lenin as Lenin Sarani but the neighbourhood up to Wellington Square ...

to protest the Dadri lynching incident.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhattacharya, Bikash 1951 births Living people 21st-century mayors of places in India Politicians from Kolkata Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from West Bengal University of Calcutta alumni Mayors of Kolkata Senior advocates in India Rajya Sabha members from West Bengal Members of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation