Haider Aziz Safwi

Haider Aziz Safwi or 'Safwi Sahab' was an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer turned politician. He was the Deputy Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 2016 until his death in December 2018, and previously a cabinet minister in the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) government's first term in office. He had held the portfolios of Minister for Cooperation and Inland Water Transport and Minister for Correctional Administration.

Safwi retired from the IPS in 2005 as Director General of Police (Fire and Emergency Services) in West Bengal.[1] He held many other offices during his IPS career and was a recipient of both the President's Police Medal for distinguished service and the Police Medal for Meritorious Service. Owing to his specialisation in law and order management, Safwi was appointed as the first-ever Inspector General of South Bengal with an aim to control the rising crimes in the state.However, despite his accomplishments, many felt that his differences with the then Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, resulted in him being unfairly denied a chance to serve as Police Commissioner of Kolkata.

After retiring from the IPS, Safwi entered politics. He was inspired to join the TMC in 2009 by Mamata Banerjee's honesty and the service she had rendered to the people, especially the farmers in Singur. He had publicly stated his desire to defeat 'Buddhababu" from his home turf of Jadavpur, in the 2011 Assembly Elections, as the main aim of his political career. However, following an intervention by TMC Supremo, Safwi was alloted a different constituency owing to his rapport with TMC MP Sultan Ahmed. The move turned out to be a masterstroke as not only was he was elected for that party as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA] from the Uluberia Purba constituency in the 2011 West Bengal state assembly election, with a margin of over 19,000 votesbut the election also witnessed his closest friend for over four decades, Retired IAS Officer Manish Gupta, defeating Buddhababu from his own seat of Jadavpir. Safwi was inducted as a cabinet minister in the Mamata Banerjee government on 20 May 2011.

In 2016, Safwi was renominated by the TMC from the Uluberia Purba seat and retained it by a margin of 16,269 votes. Owing to his seniority and experience in administration, he was elected unanimously as the Deputy Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.

On 12 December 2018, Safwi died following a cardiac arrest, being declared dead on arrival at hospital

• Positions Held*

•Superintendent of Police(SP), 24 parganas( Undivided) •Superintendent of Police, Burdwan • Deputy Commissioner(DC) of the Eastern Suburban Division(ESD) of Kolkata Police • Deputy Commissioner of the Central Division of Kolkata Police • Deputy Commissioner of the Detective Department(DD) of Kolkata Police with additional charge of DC Headquarters. • Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Presidency Range • Inspector General (IG) South Bengal • Director General (DG) of the Enforcement Branch( EB) of West Bengal Police • Director General of Fire and emergency services in the rank of DGP.

Post Retirement from IPS • Minister for Cooperation and Inland Water Transport. • Minister for Correctional Administration, Govt of West Bengal. • Deputy Speaker of West Bengal Legislative Assembly.