{{Short description|Indian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use Indian English|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Atish Chandra Sinha | image = Atishsinha.jpg | image_size = 180 px | caption = | birth_date = 11 July 1940 | birth_place = Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India | death_date = 4 March 2010<br>(aged 69) | death_place = Kolkata, West Bengal, India | constituency = Kandi | office = Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly | term = 1971-1987, 1991-2006 | predecessor = Kumar Jagadish Chandra Sinha | successor = Syed Wahid Reza,<br/>Apurba Sarkar | office1 = Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | term1 = 1984-1989 | predecessor1 = Tridib Chaudhuri | successor1 = Nani Bhattacharya | constituency1 = Baharampur | office2 = Minister for Small Scale and Cottage Industry | term2 = 1972-1977 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | constituency2 = Kandi | party = Indian National Congress (1964-2006)<br/>Trinamool Congress (2006-2010) | spouse = Archana Sinha | children = Anindita Sinha, Aninda Sinha | website = | date = | year = | source = }} '''Atish Chandra Sinha''' (11 July 1940 – 4 March 2010) was a minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Indian state of West Bengal. Physicist Bikash Sinha is his cousin.
==Early life== The son of Bimal Chandra Sinha, scion of the Kandi Raj family and a minister in the Bidhan Chandra Roy cabinet, Atish Chandra Sinha was born in the Kandi Raj family on 11 July 1940. A brilliant scholar of Presidency College, Kolkata, he specialized in Geophysics from the Imperial College in London.<ref name=express>{{cite web| url = http://www.indianexpress.com/news/former-minister-atis-sinha-dies-at-70/587156/ | title = Former minister Atis Sinha dies at 70| date = 5 March 2010| access-date = 2010-10-01 | publisher = Indian Express, 5 March 2010 }}</ref><ref name=web>{{cite web| url = http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20100304/1457561.html| title = Former Leader of Opposition Atish Chanda Sinha dead | access-date = 2010-10-01 | publisher = webindia123}}</ref>
==In politics== He joined politics in the 1960s. He was elected to the state assembly as a Congress candidate from Kandi in 1971, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1991, 1996 and 2001.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/statisticalreports/electionstatistics.asp |title=Statistical Reports of Assembly Elections |access-date=2010-09-26 |work=General Election Results and Statistics |publisher=Election Commission of India |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005110118/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/ElectionStatistics.asp |archive-date=5 October 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://eci.nic.in/archive/ElectionAnalysis/AE/S25/Partycomp65.htm | title = 65 - Kandi Assembly Constituency | work = Partywise Comparison Since 1977 | publisher = Election Commission of India | access-date = 2010-09-26 | archive-date = 27 September 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120927223429/http://eci.nic.in/archive/ElectionAnalysis/AE/S25/Partycomp65.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref> He was elected to the Indian Parliament from Baharampur (Lok Sabha constituency) in 1984.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.eci.nic.in/eci_main/electionanalysis/GE/PartyCompWinner/S25/partycomp10.htm | title = 10 - Berhampore Parliamentary Constituency | access-date = 2010-10-01 | work = Partywise Comparison since 1977 | publisher = Election Commission of India | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110721165818/http://www.eci.nic.in/eci_main/electionanalysis/GE/PartyCompWinner/S25/partycomp10.htm | archive-date = 21 July 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
He was minister of small scale and cottage industries from 1972 to 1977. He was Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 2001 and was leader of the Congress legislative party in the West Bengal assembly from 2001 to 2006.<ref name=web/><ref name=sinha>{{cite web | url = http://www.atishsinha.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=27 | title = About Atish Sinha | access-date = 2010-10-01 | publisher = Atish Chandra Sinha Memorial Career & Education Fair | url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110725022321/http://www.atishsinha.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=27 | archive-date = 25 July 2011}}</ref> As a result of differences with Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury within the Congress Party, he joined Trinamool Congress in 2006.<ref name=express/><ref name=web/>
From 2002 onwards, he was ill off and on but did not give up active politics.<ref name=web/><ref name=sinha/> He was involved in many social activities. He established the Bimal Chandra College of Law in Kandi in the memory of his father, Bimal Sinha. He died at his Kolkata residence on 4 March 2010.<ref name=express/><ref name=web/>
==Other activities== He was an active member of Calcutta South Club, whose obituary says of him "A member of the Royal family of Kandi in West Bengal, he was a very active politician of the Congress party. He was a cabinet minister in the Government of West Bengal when Shri Siddhart Shankar Ray was the Chief Minister, Member of Parliament and leader of opposition in the State Assembly of West Bengal. ...He has been an Executive Committee Member and Vice President of the club for several years. He had been on the Davis Cup Working Committees of the club."<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.southclub.co.in/obituary.php | title = Calcutta South Club | publisher = Calcutta South Club | access-date = 19 October 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110110051024/http://www.southclub.co.in/obituary.php | archive-date = 10 January 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{West Bengal Legislative Assembly5}} {{First to Tenth Lok Sabha, West Bengal}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinha, Atish}} Category:Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal Category:Trinamool Congress politicians from West Bengal Category:Politicians from Murshidabad district Category:2010 deaths Category:1940 births Category:University of Calcutta alumni Category:West Bengal MLAs 1971–1972 Category:West Bengal MLAs 1972–1977 Category:West Bengal MLAs 1977–1982 Category:West Bengal MLAs 1982–1987 Category:West Bengal MLAs 1991–1996 Category:West Bengal MLAs 1996–2001 Category:West Bengal MLAs 2001–2006 Category:India MPs 1984–1989 Category:Lok Sabha members from West Bengal Category:State cabinet ministers of West Bengal Category:Leaders of the opposition in West Bengal Category:Bengali Hindus