• Born on March 1, 1944 at Kolkata
  • Passed out from Sailendra Sarkar Vidyalaya, Kolkata and B.A. Hons in Bengali from Presidency College, Kolkata
  • Joined Party in 1966
  • Secretary West Bengal State Committee of Democratic Youth Federation – June 1968
  • Member, West Bengal State Committee, CPI(M) – 1971, Member Secretariat 1982
  • Permanent Invitee to Central Committee – 1984
  • Member Central Committee in 1985; Member Polit Bureau – 2000
  • Minister West Bengal Cabinet as Minister of Information and Public Relations – 1977; minister of Information and Cultural Affairs etc. 1987; Minister of Home– 1996; Deputy Chief Minister – 1999; Chief Minister – 2000
  • Was an important functionary of the Vietnam Solidarity Committee in the late sixties.
  • Translated famous poem of Le Duc Tho composed in 1975, just after the liberation of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City); visited Vietnam on the occasion of the birth centenary of Ho Chi Minh; visited China in 1982 as companion of Promode Dasgupta.
  • Married, one daughter.
  • Currently member of the Polit Bureau of the CPI(M)