Prafulla Chandra Ghosh

• Name — Prafulla Chandra Ghosh • Born — 24 December 1891 • Birthplace — Maliakanda, Bengal Presidency, British India • Died — 18 December 1983 • Place of death — Calcutta, West Bengal, India • Office1 — Premier of West Bengal • Order1 — 1st • Term Start1 — 15 August 1947 • Term End1 — 22 January 1948 • Subterm1 — Cabinet • Suboffice1 — Ghosh ministry • Governor1 — Chakravarti Rajagopalachari • Predecessor1 — office established (Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy as Prime Minister of Bengal) • Successor1 — Bidhan Chandra Roy • Order2 — 4th • Office2 — Chief Minister of West Bengal • Term Start2 — 21 November 1967 • Term End2 — 20 February 1968 • Subterm2 — Cabinet • Suboffice2 — Second Ghosh ministry • Governor2 — Dharma Vira • Predecessor2 — Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee • Successor2 — president's rule (Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee as Chief Minister) • Office3 — Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly • Constituency3 — Mahisadal • Term Start3 — 1957 • Term End3 — 1962 • Predecessor3 — Kumar Deba Prosad Garga • Successor3 — Sushil Kumar Dhara • Constituency4 — Jhargram • Term Start4 — 1967 • Term End4 — 1968 • Predecessor4 — Mahendranath Mahato • Successor4 — Panchkari De • Party — Independent (post-1967) • Other Party — PSP (1950–1967) INC (pre-1950) • Alma Mater — University of Calcutta • Relatives — Priyanka Yoshikawa (great-granddaughter)

Prafulla Chandra Ghosh was born on 24 December 1891 at a remote village, Malikanda, in Dhaka district, British India (now Bangladesh) as a son of Purna Chandra Ghosh and Binodini Devi. Prafulla Ghosh was a brilliant student throughout his academic life and always stood first with scholarship. Prafulla had a rural upbringing and enjoyed cultural festivals such as Jatra, Kirtan, Padavali Gan, and also participated in agricultural activities. In 1920, he was awarded a doctorate in Chemistry by the University of Calcutta.

• Illustration — P. C. Ghosh, Member, Congress Working Committee and External Affairs-Premier, West Bengal broadcasting a talk on Indo-Pakistan Agreement from AIR. Calcutta on 26 July 1950. Ghosh developed an interest in the Swadeshi Movement early on, but was most impressed and inspired by the ideas of armed revolution propagated by the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti, which he joined in 1909. However, the methods of the Samiti for raising money through theft and then defending the same in Court eventually alienated him, and he finally quit in 1913 to focus on academia. During the same time, while working for the Damodar flood relief, he met Surendranath Banerjee and other moderate leaders. Yogendra Nath Saha introduced him to the non-violent principles of Mahatma Gandhi. At the beginning, Gandhian principles did not impress him but he was moved by Gandhi's speech at Dhaka in December 1920 and soon afterwards met with him in Calcutta. In January 1921, he resigned from his position at the Calcutta Mint and along with other members of the Anami Sangh joined the Freedom Struggle.

His great-granddaughter is Priyanka Yoshikawa, who won the 2016 Miss World Japan contest, and his only grandson was Saumya Ghosh, Supreme Court and Inner Temple Bar-at-Law.