Surjya Kanta Mishra

Surjya Kanta Mishra is an Indian politician, belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He served as Minister of Health and Minister in-charge of Land & Land Reforms, Panchayats & Rural Development in the Left Front governments of West Bengal[1][2] and is the Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), West Bengal State Committee. After the 2011 assembly election he was elected as Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in May 2011.[1] He was inducted into the politburo of the CPI(M) following the death of veteran leader M.K. Pandhe in 2011.[3][4] In 2015, he was elected as the state secretary of CPI(M) in West Bengal, succeeding Biman Bose.

Surjya Kanta Mishra
Member of Polit Bureau, Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Incumbent
Assumed office April 2012
West Bengal State Secretary of the CPI(M)
Incumbent
Assumed office 2015
Preceded by	Biman Bose
Cabinet Minister, Government of West Bengal
In office 16 May 1996 – 13 May 2011
Chief Minister	Jyoti Basu Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
Ministry	Health, Biotechnology, Panchayat Affairs & Rural Development
Preceded by	Prasanta Chandra Sur
Succeeded by	Subrata Mukherjee
Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly
In office 1 June 2011 – 19 May 2016
Preceded by	Partha Chatterjee
Succeeded by	Abdul Mannan
Member of Legislative Assembly, West Bengal
In office 1991–2016
Preceded by	Bibhuti Bhusan De
Succeeded by	Pradyot Kumar Ghosh
Constituency	Narayangarh
Personal details
Born	18 April 1949 Narayangarh, West Bengal, India
Nationality	Indian
Political party	CPI(M)
Spouse(s)	Usha Misra
Residence	Narayangarh, West Midnapore, West Bengal
Alma mater	SCB Medical College (MBBS) Midnapore College (BSc)
Profession	Politician, social worker, Doctor

Political career

Surjya Kanta Misra became a member of CPI(M) in 1973. He unsuccessfully contested the 1977 assembly election from the Narayangarh. He was elected as the Chairperson of the Medinipur Zila Parishad in 1978 and served until 1991. In 1991 he was elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. In 1991, he was inducted into the state cabinet as a cabinet minister. Within his capacity as a cabinet minister he served in the Land & Land Reforms, Panchayats & Rural Development departments. He has also served as Minister-In-Charge of Health and Family Welfare, Biotechnology. He remained in the state cabinet till 2011. After the defeat of the CPI(M) in the 2011 assembly election he was elected as Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in May 2011. He became a state committee member in 1988 and a state secretariat member in 1995. He was elected to the Central committee of the party in 2002. He was elevated to the Politburo of the party in 2012. In 2015, he succeeded Biman Bose as the secretary of the West Bengal state committee. He is also a member of the all India working committee of All India Kisan Sabha. He was defeated in the 2016 assembly election as a candidate in Narayangarh.

Personal life

Mishra is a qualified doctor. He received his MBBS degree from Srirama Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack in 1971 and then a Diploma in Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases in 1974.[5] He is married to Usha Misra. The couple has two daughters. He participated as an Indian medical volunteer at the time of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

References

1. The Hindu. Surjya Kanta Mishra elected Leader of the Opposition
2. Chaturvedi, Pradeep. Food Security and Panchayati Raj. New Delhi: Published for Indian Association for the Advancement of Science and Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations by Concept Pub. Co, 1997. p. 289
3. The Telegraph. Rising sun in CPM's cloudy sky
4. tripurainfo.com. Surja Kanta predicts 7th Left Front government
5. "Surjyakanta Mishra(Communist Party of India (Marxist)(CPI(M))):Constituency- NARAYANGARH(PASCHIM MEDINIPUR) - Affidavit Information of Candidate:". myneta.info. Retrieved 6 February 2021.