Siddhartha Shankar Ray

Siddhartha Shankar Ray ( born October 20, 1920 in Kolkata, † 6 November 2010) was an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress. He was a noted Barrister, Education Minister of the Indian Union, Chief Minister of West Bengal, Governor of Punjab and Ambassador to the United States.

Background and education

Ray's father, Sudhir Kumar Ray, barrister at Calcutta High Court was His mother Aparna Devi was the eldest daughter of Chittaranjan Das and Basanti Devi. He is married to the grown in England Maya Ray.

He was educated at Presidency College in Calcutta and later in England.

Political career

Ray was also first barrister at Calcutta High Court Later he was with the support of Ashoke Kumar Sen justice minister in the cabinet of Bidhan Chandra Roy in West Bengal. In the 1960s, he was finally Minister of Education and Youth Affairs in the Government of India under Indira Gandhi.

After the elections in 1972, he was on 19 March 1972 to 21 June 1977 Chief Minister of West Bengal. He resigned the office shortly after the end of the Bangladesh war and his term was dominated by the issue of repatriation of more than one million refugees.

Governor of Punjab, he was on April 2, 1986 to December 8, 1989. When the Congress Party in 1991 again came to power, he was appointed Indian Ambassador to the United States. That he remained until 1996. His dedication in Washington will be quite successfully viewed.

November 6, 2010 Ray died at the age of 90 years.