Dia Sudeshna Chakravarty (; born 1984) is a Bangladeshi-born British

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

activist, former political director of the

TaxPayers' Alliance The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom which was formed in 2004 to campaign for a low-tax society. The group had about 18,000 registered supporters as of 2008 and claimed to have 55,000 by September 2010. Howeve ...

, singer, and

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

Editor of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

''.

Early life

Chakravarty was born in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

to parents of two different faiths. Her

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

mother, Sultana Kamal, is a lawyer and human rights activist who runs a legal aid organisation in Bangladesh. Her

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

father, Supriyo Chakravarty, is also a lawyer. Her parents both decided to keep their respective religions after marriage. She is her parents' only child. Her maternal grandmother is poet Sufia Kamal. Because of Chakravarty's parents' and grandparents' activism and anti-fundamentalist stance, her family have been under threat on and off her whole life. She has grown up with threatening telephone calls and her home has been firebombed twice. Chakravarty attended a school in

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

her parents set up which taught the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

-regulated O-level curriculum and examination syllabus. The school took students up to the age of 14, after which her schooling was mostly tutorial-based. Later, she entered the mainstream education system to continue with her O-levels. She achieved seven O-levels. She then got a partial scholarship to sixth-form college in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, to board and sit her

A-levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

, after her parents remortgaged their family home, she left for the UK in 2001. Her lawyer mother, who had spent most of her life doing voluntary work until then, moved to

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

, to take up a full-time job. Chakravarty studied

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and became a

Barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

in 2008.

Political activism

Chakravarty started her career as a tax consultant in London before moving into communication and public affairs. From July 2012 to December 2013, she was a deputy director at The Freedom Association where she advocated for freedom of the press, free speech, and freedom of expression. In January 2014, she was appointed political director of the

. Chakravarty moved into communications and public affairs. She worked for Banking on Change, a global partnership between

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

Bank and two international charities seeking to extend access to basic financial services through savings-led microfinance. In August 2014, Chakravarty appeared on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

's ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' is the BBC's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. It is broadcast weeknights at 10:30 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel; it is also avail ...

'', discussing consultancy culture in the public sector. In November 2014 and March 2015, and October 2016, she appeared on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's '' Question Time''. In January 2015, she contributed on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''

Any Questions? ''Any Questions?'' is a British topical discussion programme "in which a panel of personalities from the worlds of politics, media, and elsewhere are posed questions by the audience". It is typically broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Fridays at 20: ...

'' In July 2017, Chakravarty, a prominent Leave campaigner during the UK EU membership Referendum campaign, was appointed

Editor of ''

''. In September 2017, Chakravarty appeared on ''Question Time''. In October, Chakravarty appeared on ''Newsnight'', discussing Brexit. In the same month, she was listed at Number 100 by commentator Iain Dale in his '100 Most Influential on the Right'.

Singing career

Chakravarty took her first music lesson from Prateek Enda in Sylhet and had an early start in her musical training in

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

songs. Although she specialises in

Bengali music Bengali music () comprises a long tradition of religious and secular song-writing over a period of almost a millennium. Composed with lyrics in the Bengali language, Bengali music spans a wide variety of styles. History The earliest mus ...

, since moving to the UK she has added

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

songs to her repertoire. She now takes lessons from London-based singer-master Anuradha Roma Choudhury. Chakravarty performs in London and abroad. In August 2014, her debut album '' A Bloom in Vain and Other Songs'' was released.

Personal life

In October 2007, Chakravarty married Duncan Hall. She met her husband while at school and decided to settle in England after completing her university and Bar examinations. Chakravarty is also involved with Udayan, a Bengali cultural group.

Discography

A Bloom in Vain and Other Songs

''A Bloom in Vain and Other Songs'' () is the debut studio album by Dia Chakravarty, released on 22 August 2014. Chakravarty, having studied law at the

, chose songs of composers, who, except for Dwijendralal, studied law, including Tagore who eventually dropped out; and except for Rajanikanta, every one of them went to England for higher studies. In August 2014, Chakravarty told ''

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

'', "Music is my passion and runs through my blood. I love to sing Bangla songs of almost every genre." The album consists of four pairs of tracks by a quartet of composers –

, Atulprasad Sen, Dwijendralal Ray, and Rajanikanta Sen from the late 1800s to early 1900s. It was arranged by Prattyush Banerjee and recorded by Goutam Basu in

Usha Uthup Usha Iyer Uthup (born 8 November 1947) is an Indian singer known for her deep contralto voice and her versatility across genres and languages. A prominent figure in Indian music since the 1970s, she has received a Filmfare Award, and was honoure ...

's music studio "Studio Vibrations" in Kolkata. The album was released by Laser Vision on 22 August 2014. at Sufia Kamal Auditorium at Bangladesh National Museum. Mosabber Rahman of the ''

Dhaka Tribune The ''Dhaka Tribune'' is a major Bangladeshi English-language daily newspaper based in Dhaka, the country's capital and largest city. It also operates an online portal ( Bengali version) known as the '' Bangla Tribune''. The newspaper has a stron ...

'' said of Chakravarty, "Her voice lacks pretension, and she has the sincerity of a schoolgirl preparing for the final exam".

Track listing

References

External links

* *
Dia Chakravarty
on '' City A.M.''
Dia Chakravarty
on The Freedom Association
Dia Chakravarty
on Last.fm * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chakravarty, Dia Living people 1984 births Date of birth missing (living people) Bangladeshi emigrants to England Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom British women activists British political commentators British activists British free speech activists 21st-century Bangladeshi women singers 21st-century Bangladeshi singers British women singers Bengali-language singers Hindi-language singers British barristers Bangladeshi women journalists British newspaper editors The Daily Telegraph people 21st-century British journalists Singers from London People from Sylhet Division Alumni of the University of Oxford Laser Vision artists Women newspaper editors 21st-century Bangladeshi journalists