Madan Mitra Explained

Madan Mitra
Birth Date:3 December 1954
Birth Place:Bhowanipore, Kolkata
Residence:Bhowanipore
Office3:Chairman of the West Bengal Transport Corporation
Term Start3:2021
Office2:Cabinet Minister, Government of West Bengal
Governor2:M. K. Narayanan
D. Y. Patil
Keshari Nath Tripathi
1Blankname2:Chief Minister
1Namedata2:Mamata Banerjee
2Blankname2:Ministry and Departments
2Namedata2:
  • Sport and Youth Affairs
  • Transport
Term Start2:20 May 2011
Term End2:18 November 2015
Predecessor2:Kanti Ganguly (from Sport and Youth Affairs)
Ranjit Kundu (from Transport)
Successor2:Aroop Biswas (from Sport and Youth Affairs)
Mamata Banerjee (from Transport)
Office:Member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly
Term Start:2 May 2021
Constituency:Kamarhati
Predecessor:Manash Mukherjee
Term Start1:2011
Term End1:2016
Constituency1:Kamarhati
Predecessor1:Manash Mukherjee
Successor1:Manash Mukherjee
Office4:Member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly
Term Start4:2009
Term End4:2011
Constituency4:Bishnupur Paschim
Predecessor4:Rathin Sarkar
Party:Trinamool Congress
Otherparty:Indian National Congress
Alma Mater:Calcutta University
Occupation:Politician, Actor

Madan Mitra (born 3 December 1954) is an Indian politician, actor from West Bengal. Madan Mitra started his career with party Indian National Congress. He held many positions of Indian Youth Congress, the party's youth wing. In 1998, he joined Trinamool Congress party, founded by his colleague Mamata Banerjee, and his movie debut was in the 2023 Bengali film Oh! Lovely. In 2011, he was elected to the legislative assembly and became a state minister. He was arrested for the Sarada Chit Fund conspiracy case and got bail after 22 months.

Early life

Mitra hails from an aristocratic family of Bhowanipore, Kolkata.[1] In 1971, he passed out from South Suburban School. He received an under-graduate degree in History from Calcutta University in 1976.[2]

Political career

Early years

In 1973, Mitra entered politics and became the president of the students' union of Ashutosh College. He later became the south Kolkata president of the Indian Youth Congress. Initially, he belonged to the Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi faction. However, in 1976 he first switched to the Somen Mitra faction and then to the Mamata Banerjee faction. In 1990, he was appointed general secretary of the West Bengal unit of the Indian Youth Congress.[1] He launched a taxi drivers' union the 1990s and also wrested control of the union of the SSKM Hospital.[3]

Mamata Banerjee founded the Trinamool Congress in 1998. In 2000, he was appointed general secretary of the party. Four years later, he became the president of the Trinamool Youth Congress.[1]

Electoral politics

In 2011 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, Mitra was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the Kamarhati constituency.[4] He became the sports minister and transport minister in the First Mamata Banerjee ministry.[5] [6] On 18 November 2015, he resigned from the cabinet after being named as an accused in the Saradha Group financial scandal.[7]

Mitra lost the 2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election from his constituency. He was defeated by Manash Mukherjee of Communist Party of India (Marxist) by a margin of 4,198 votes.[8] Following the defeat, he was relegated to the fringes of the party. On 26 April 2019, Mamata Banerjee announced that Mitra would contest the upcoming by-election for Bhatpara constituency which had become vacant due to the defection of Arjun Singh to the Bharatiya Janata Party, but he was defeated by Pawan Kumar Singh.[9] [10]

Personal life

Madan Mitra is married to Archana Mitra. They have two sons, Swarup Mitra and Subhorup Mitra. While Swarup is a businessman, Subhorup is a youth politician.[11] [12] Swarup's son Maharup was born in 2015.[13] Mitra debuted his acting career with Haranath Chakraborty's film Oh! Lovely in August 2023.

Filmography

Year Film Language Notes
2023Oh! LovelyBengaliDebut movie
2024MentaalBengaliCo-actor: Yash Dasgupta

Controversies

In 2012, Mitra questioned the morals of Suzette Jordan, the Park Street rape victim for befriending strangers at 2 am.[14]

On 13 December 2014, Mitra was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for his alleged role in Saradha Group financial scandal. Mamata Banerjee claimed that the arrest was an example of political vendetta of the Bharatiya Janata Party.[15] While in jail, he was admitted to a hospital in November 2015 after he complained of "uneasiness".[16] In September 2016, he was granted bail[17] and hasn't been admitted to the hospital since.

Mitra was interrogated by the Enforcement Directorate in September 2017 following the Narada sting operation.[18]

On 17 May 2021, he along with senior minister in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, Subrata Mukherjee, MLA and minister Firhad Hakim and former Mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee has been arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation from their house in connection with the Narada sting operation.[19] .He was granted bail on 28 May 2021.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bandyopadhyay . Krishnendu . Saradha scam: The fall of a fierce Mamata loyalist . . 26 April 2019 . 13 December 2014.
  2. Web site: Madan Mitra . My Neta . 26 April 2019.
  3. News: Bagchi . Subhojit . The rise and fall of Madan Mitra . . 26 April 2019 . 15 December 2014.
  4. News: Sengupta . Tamal . Jailed Trinamool Cong MLA Madan Mitra to contest assembly polls this time too . . 27 April 2019 . 23 January 2016.
  5. Web site: 10 crorepatis in Mamata's ministry . . 27 April 2019 . 27 May 2011.
  6. News: Sengupta . Tamal . How West Bengal transport minister Madan Mitra's countered bandhs and strikes in the state . The Economic Times . 27 April 2019 . 24 September 2012.
  7. News: Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra steps down . . 27 April 2019 . 18 November 2015.
  8. Web site: 8 ministers, Madan Mitra among heavyweight losers . . 27 April 2019 . 20 May 2016.
  9. Web site: Election Commission of India.
  10. Web site: Snehamoy Chakraborty . Kaushik Sen . Bypoll stage for Madan Mitra comeback . . 27 April 2019 . 26 April 2019.
  11. Web site: The rising son of the Mitra clan . . 27 April 2019 . 21 November 2015.
  12. Web site: Dutta . Soumen . CBI to quiz Mitra's son for wedding costs . . 27 April 2019 . 11 November 2015.
  13. Web site: Banerjee . Tamoghna . Happy but cautious: Madan Mitra's family over his release . . 27 April 2019 . 10 September 2016.
  14. Web site: TMC MP insinuates Park Street victim is sex worker . Hindustan Times . 27 April 2019 . 29 December 2012.
  15. Web site: Saradha scam: CBI arrests Mamata's close aide and Bengal minister Madan Mitra . . 27 April 2019 . 13 December 2014.
  16. Web site: West Bengal Minister Madan Mitra Admitted to Hospital in Kolkata . . 27 April 2019 . 3 November 2015.
  17. News: Former TMC minister Madan Mitra granted bail . . 27 April 2019 . 10 September 2016.
  18. Web site: CBI Interrogates Ex-Bengal Minister Madan Mitra In Narada Case . . 27 April 2019 . 13 September 2017.
  19. Web site: Narada bribery case: 2 ministers, 1 MLA arrested, Mamata rushes to CBI office. Indian Express. 17 May 2021. 17 May 2021.