Somnath Chatterjee has had one of the longest innings of any MP in the Lok Sabha, being elected to it for the first time in 1971. Since then, he has been a Member of Parliament in all successive Lok Sabhas, getting elected for the tenth time in 2004 to the fourteenth Lok Sabha. From 1989 till 2004, he was the leader of the CPI(M) in the Lok Sabha, and was its Speaker from 2004 to 2009. In this candid, heartfelt memoir, Chatterjee looks back on his eventful three-and-ahalf decades in the Indian Parliament, capturing all the highs and lows as a nation’s history was shaped, and revealing many behind the-scenes stories for the first time. Among other things, Chatterjee discusses why he chose not to resign as Speaker of the Lok Sabha when his party, the CPI(M), withdrew support from the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government in 2008 over the Indo-US nuclear deal. He also discusses the subsequent confidence vote that he presided over and how he was treated by the party for which he had worked all his life.

Elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1971, Somnath Chatterjee has served as a Member of Parliament in all successive Lok Sabhas till 2004, making him one of its longest-serving members in the history of independent India