Ajoy Mukherjee

For the communist politician, see Ajoy Mukhopadhyay.

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. He hailed from Tamluk, Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal.

Ajoy Mukherjee
Ajoy Mukherjee commemorated on Indian postage in 2002
3rd Chief Minister of West Bengal
In office 1 March 1967 – 21 November 1967
Preceded by	Prafulla Chandra Sen
Succeeded by	Prafulla Chandra Ghosh
In office 25 February 1969 – 30 July 1970
Preceded by	President's rule
Succeeded by	President's rule
In office 2 April 1971 – 28 June 1971
Preceded by	President's rule
Succeeded by	President's rule
Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly
In office 1951–1967
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Ajoy Malakar
Constituency	Tamluk
In office 1967–1968
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Prafulla Chandra Sen
Constituency	Arambagh
In office 1969–1977
Preceded by	Ajoy Malakar
Succeeded by	Biswanath Mukherjee
Constituency	Tamluk
Personal details
Born	(1901-04-15)15 April 1901 Tamluk, Bengal Presidency, British India (present-day West Bengal, India)
Died	27 May 1986(1986-05-27) (aged 85) Calcutta, West Bengal, India
Political party	Indian National Congress (R)
Other political affiliations	Bangla Congress Indian National Congress
Alma mater	Tamluk Hamilton High School
Awards	Padma Vibhushan (1977)

Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee, born in Tamluk, West Bengal, India in 1901, was one of the leaders of Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar (Tamrlipta National Government), which came into effect on 17 December 1942 during the Quit India Movement, a programme of civil disobedience launched in India in 1942. He was greatly influenced by Swami Vivekananda. Earlier a member of the Indian National Congress, he later founded the Bangla Congress, which co-governed with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in two United Front 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, 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 etc., joined Indian National Congress (R) 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 award in 1977 from Government of India.^[1]

His brother Biswanath Mukherjee & sister-in-law Geeta Mukherjee were both members of the Communist Party of India. Ajoy's niece Kalyani (daughter of another brother) was married to Mohan Kumaramangalam and was the mother of Rangarajan Kumaramangalam and Lalitha Kumaramangalam.

Mukherjee died on 27 May 1986 in Calcutta.^{[citation needed]}