The Calcutta Seniors Part II: Senior Advocate and Trinamool Congress MP, Kalyan Bandopadhyay

In the second of a four-part series on Senior Advocates in the Calcutta High Court, we speak to Member of Parliament, Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay. In this interview with Bar & Bench, the lawyer politician talks about his early days at the Bar, why the legal profession may not be for everyone and what makes a successful lawyer..Bar & Bench: Could you talk us through your initial years?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: My father was a victim of the Emergency in the sense that he was compulsorily retired from the State government. In 1975, he moved a writ petition before the High Court and eventually succeeded. After I joined the LLB program, it was my father’s lawyer who told me to join the profession. So I joined under him in 1981..Bar & Bench: What were the kinds of matters you were doing?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: I fought a number of employment and service cases. All of them were against the State. Of course the initial days were quite difficult financially. I had to stay in a mess where breakfast and lunch was one meal. In the night, three days a week, I used to take a plate of rice that used to cost five rupees. On other nights, there was a stall nearby where I would buy four rotis and some vegetables for a rupee. That used to be my dinner..Bar & Bench: What kept you motivated?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: My senior was a very nice man who taught me that in this profession, you only need to do two things – one, read and read, and two put in hard labor. This is the only path to success..Eventually I had the occasion to work with some very respectable seniors of the country. I worked with Pranab Sen who was a barrister, [former West Bengal Chief Minister] Siddhartha Shankar Ray and others. During that time, Bengal was a completely different picture with the CPI (M) being the ruling party. So many people were tortured, harassed and murdered. By then I became a person who was really fighting for the rights of the affected people. Through that process I met Mamata Banerjee and in 1990, she asked for my legal assistance..In 1993 there was a very big case in West Bengal where a laborer was taken in custody by the police and murdered. I fought that matter against the government and it went up to Supreme Court where I succeeded. It was a huge moment..Bar & Bench: Was this when you got the offer of being elevated to the Bench?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: After a few years I had the privilege of being invited to become a judge. But Mamata di asked me to remain with her, to fight for the people of Bengal.Bar & Bench: But as a judge, you can do so much more-.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: No, no. I did not accept the invitation to the Bench. And I am a man not fit to be a judge..Bar & Bench: Why?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: Because I live with the people, I cannot spend my life alone. Leaving aside everything, the salary was so meager at that time that it would have been impossible for me to look after my children, my house etc..Bar & Bench: When the CPI(M) was in power, weren’t you targeted by the State authorities?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: Yes. In 1993 my car was stolen. There was a threat that my son would be kidnapped. So many things were there but Mamata di was behind me so naturally I was not worried. She said that, “If the car is not found in twenty-four hours I will stop Calcutta.” Within twelve hours I got the car..Another time there was an attempt to kill me but God saved me. One of my clients, whose matter I handled in 1986 or so, called me one night and said, “Until knock on your door the next morning, don’t leave your house.” He was a police officer whose suspension orders I had gotten revoked. The next day, he came and told me that there was plan to kill me. Then I asked for some protection and Mamata Di wrote a letter to the Home Ministry. I was eventually given some protection..That was the time when I was tarnishing the image of the CPI (M) government. Everyone knew it. I would appear in all matters, be it the Singur land acquisition, Nandigram etc. I moved at least two thousand bail applications in the Singur and Nandigram matters. Every day the government was rebuked by the High Court and some times by the Supreme Court as well..Bar & Bench: Didn’t your family ever ask you not to appear in such sensitive matters?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: My wife never said anything. In fact, she used to encourage me and because of her, I am here today. She never demanded an hour’s time during my early days. She never said, “Give me an hour and let us go to the movies”, she never once demanded that I give her a saree or anything like that..Bar & Bench: In 2009, you were elected to the Lok Sabha. How do you balance your work as a lawyer and politics?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: Hard labor. Those who work with me know what I am. Today I was in the Supreme Court, another day I will be in the Calcutta High Court and then some other High Court. I am doing so many constitutional matters. I have twice argued before Constitutional Benches of the Supreme Court and those judgments have set the present law. .Bar & Bench: Do you think a lawyer should be politically active?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: See, our Constitution’s Preamble states that we are a socialist nation. To achieve this object a lawyer must do something for the people of this country. It is not that everybody has to be in politics but a lawyer can do a lot of things for the country. You have to do something for the poor people, for the people who are not in the position to engage lawyers..Bar & Bench: But what can a lawyer do?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: A lawyer can give speeches and he can lead the people. A lawyer knows the people’s rights and should tell the people about them. In Indian politics, lawyers have always played an important role..Bar & Bench: Do you think lawyers should boycott courts as well?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: No, that is not something I appreciate. Listen, this is a profession where you are not required to spend money. It is a government establishment you are going to and earning money. In every other profession you have to spend money, here you are not required to spend money. The government provides the infrastructure..You may invest in your chambers but that is a different part. But otherwise in the workplace you don’t have to make a single investment. And if you haven’t made a single investment how can you block the courts? Strikes and dharnas are extremely bad. I think closing courts for even five minutes is completely unacceptable..Bar & Bench: What do you think about the current system of judicial appointments?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: It is one of the most non–transparent systems prevailing in our country. Nobody knows who will be appointed as High Court judges. There are no criteria, nothing. If the Chief Justice likes you he will call you, otherwise he will not call. A 2001 Guwahati High Court judge has become a Supreme Court judge but a 1996 Kerala High Court judge has not. These appointments are totally non-transparent..Bar & Bench: With respect to the allegations against Justice AK Ganguly-.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: I said that he should resign..Bar & Bench: But nothing has been proved..Kalyan Bandopadhyay: But it was right of him to resign. He is holding such a high post, why should such allegations be made against him. Why did he not file a case against that lady? Why he did not sue for defamation? Why would a judge call a lady to his hotel room at 9:30 in the night for a discussion? Is this in good taste? And then offer wine? We are not Americans, we are not Europeans..Bar & Bench: What you enjoy the most about your profession?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: Reading and arguing a matter in the court. Today I cited a judgment in a matter where I was the amicus. I found out a case that I had recorded in my diary entry made in 1984-85..(Points to a pile of notebooks) Look, these are my diaries. I write all the case law in these books. Subject wise. I don’t need a computer..Remember, if you want to be a lawyer, you have to read, read and read. You may find out a case by using a computer but then you are not a lawyer. It will not go into your head. When you are arguing a matter, the arguments may go from one angle to another. At that time you will not have a laptop in front of you. You will have to speak from here [points at his head]..So today, the judge asked me, “When I was working in your chamber, you had this judgment in 1989”-.Bar & Bench: But isn’t it unfair for you to appear before a judge who was a junior?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: It doesn’t matter at all. Before an honest judge this is nothing. I am arguing a matter and he has to decide on merit whether it is correct or incorrect..Bar & Bench: But the presumption is that –.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: No. That is absolutely wrong. For a professional, it is immaterial who is the judge. And for an honest judge it is immaterial who is the lawyer. In the case of a tout it may matter but not in the case of a lawyer..Bar & Bench: Why do you think anyone should join the profession?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: This is not for everybody. This is a place where a person needs to devote time, for people who believe this profession is a noble one. It is not for minting money..This profession has given me lot. I never thought I will come here and this is only because of my profession. Today I am a member of Parliament because of [the profession]. I am Chairman of a Standing Committee on Coal and Steel. I submitted the first report saying that all coal block allotments from 1996 to 2009 were unauthorized and illegal and they should be scrapped..I have said that wherever coal production has started, it should immediately be scrapped because this country has not got any revenue at all from the allocations. How can I say this? Because of my legal background, my knowledge of law..Bar & Bench: Do you have any advice for young lawyers?.Kalyan Bandopadhyay: You have to fight it out. You have to put in hard labor. You have to read and read – there is no other substitute. There is no specified route to success in this profession; that if you go here and there you will succeed. You don’t know when that chance will come but you have to be ready for that chance..(This interview was conducted on January 31, 2014 in Calcutta. The previous interview in this series was that of Senior Advocate Ashok Banerjee)