Mohammed Salim (politician)

Born on 5 June 1957 in the Kidderpore area of South Kolkata to Azizul Haque, an employee of Kolkata Port, and Ladly Haque, Salim was one of nine siblings. He did his schooling from St. Barnabas High School, Calcutta. Afterwards he studied Humanities. During this time, he was saved from drowning in a village in Uluberia by a woman, with whose family he still maintains contact.

He joined Maulana Azad College to study philosophy. During his college days, he became a part of the contemporary student's movement in West Bengal and became an active member of the Students' Federation of India. He was elected general secretary of the students' union of his college immediately after re-imposition of democracy post the Indian Emergency. He has claimed that the Emergency was the most influential event in his life, which made him opt for politics. After passing out from Maulana Azad College, he enrolled in Jadavpur University to obtain his master's degree in philosophy. During his days of student activism in Jadavpur, he met up with his future colleagues at CPI(M) Nilotpal Basu and Manab Mukherjee. He also served as the general secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (D.Y.F.I.) from 1991 to 2001. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal in 1990 and served two terms till 2001. In the West Bengal assembly elections held in 2001, he was elected from the Entally. He served as the Minister for Technical Education and Training, Youth Welfare, Minority Development and Welfare, Self Employment till 2004. In the 14th General Elections held in 2004, he won the Calcutta North East constituency of West Bengal and served as the deputy leader of the CPI(M) Lok Sabha group. After delimitation, in the 2009 Lok Sabha election Salim contested the new Calcutta North constituency, and lost to Sudip Bandyopadhyay of the Trinamool Congress.[3][4] He was a member of the 16th Lok Sabha, representing Raiganj constituency.[2] He was also elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was inducted in the politburo of C.P.I.(M.) in the 21st party congress organised at Visakhapatnam in 2015. He also served as the deputy leader of the CPI(M) Lok Sabha group.