Dia Chakravarty

Chakravarty was born in Bangladesh to parents of two different faiths.[1] Her Muslim mother, Sultana Kamal, is a lawyer and human rights activist who runs a legal aid organisation in Bangladesh. Her Hindu father, Supriyo Chakravarty, is also a lawyer.[2] Her parents both decided to keep their respective religions after marriage.[1] She is her parents' only child.[2] Her maternal grandmother is poet Sufia Kamal.[3]

Because of Chakravarty's parents' and grandparents' activism and anti-fundamentalist stance, her family have been under threat on and off her whole life. She has grown up with threatening telephone calls and her home has been firebombed twice.[1]

Chakravarty attended a school in Sylhet her parents set up which taught the British Council-regulated O-level curriculum and examination syllabus. The school took students up to the age of 14, after which her schooling was mostly tutorial-based.[2] Later, she entered the mainstream education system to continue with her O-levels.[1] She achieved seven O-levels.[2]

She then got a partial scholarship[1] to sixth-form college in Oxford, to board and sit her A-levels,[2] after her parents remortgaged their family home, she left for the UK[1] in 2001.[3] Her lawyer mother, who had spent most of her life doing voluntary work until then, moved to Dhaka, to take up a full-time job.[1] Chakravarty read Law at the University of Oxford[2] and became a barrister in 2008.[3]

Chakravarty started her career as a tax consultant in London before moving into communication and public affairs.[2] From July 2012 to December 2013, she was a deputy director at The Freedom Association where she advocated for freedom of the press, free speech, and freedom of expression.[2][4] In January 2014, she was appointed political director of the TaxPayers' Alliance.[2][5]

Chakravarty moved into communications and public affairs.[6] She worked for Banking on Change, a global partnership between Barclays Bank and two international charities seeking to extend access to basic financial services through savings-led microfinance.[7]

In August 2014, Chakravarty appeared on BBC Two's Newsnight, discussing consultancy culture in the public sector.[8] In November 2014[9] and March 2015,[10][11] and October 2016,[12] she appeared on BBC One's Question Time. In January 2015, she contributed on BBC Radio 4's Any Questions?[13]

In July 2017, Chakravarty, a prominent Leave campaigner during the UK EU membership Referendum campaign, was appointed Brexit Editor of The Daily Telegraph.[6][7][14][15]

In September 2017, Chakravarty appeared on Question Time.[16] In October, Chakravarty appeared on Newsnight, discussing Brexit.[17] In the same month, she was listed at Number 100 by commentator Iain Dale in his '100 Most Influential on the Right'.[18]

Chakravarty took her first music lesson from Prateek Enda in Sylhet[19] and had an early start in her musical training in Rabindranath Tagore songs.[3] Although she specialises in Bengali music,[2] since moving to the UK she has added Hindi songs to her repertoire.[3] She now takes lessons from London-based singer-master Anuradha Roma Choudhury.[19]

Chakravarty performs in London and abroad.[2][3] In August 2014, her debut album A Bloom in Vain and Other Songs was released.[3][19][20]

In October 2007, Chakravarty married Duncan Hall. She met her husband while at school and decided to settle in England after completing her university and Bar examinations.[2] Chakravarty is also involved with Udayan, a Bengali cultural group.[3]

• British Bangladeshis
• List of British Bangladeshis
• Music of Bengal