Jyoti Basu

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For other uses, see Jyoti Basu (disambiguation).

Chief Minister of West Bengal
In office
21 June 1977 – 5 November 2000
Governor
See list
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
Other state Ministry offices
Minister of Planning and Development
In office
21 June 1977 – 5 November 2000
Minister of Finance
In office
1982–1984
Succeeded by
Nirupam Sen
Personal details
Born
Jyotirindra Basu

(1914-07-08)8 July 1914
British India
Died17 January 2010(2010-01-17) (aged 95)
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Cause of deathPneumonia
Political partyCommunist Party of India (Marxist) (1964–2010)
Communist Party of India (1940–1964)
Spouses
Basanti Basu
​
​
(m. 1940; died 1942)​
Kamala Basu
​
​
(m. 1948; died 2003)​
ChildrenChandan Basu
University College, London
London School of Economics
Middle Temple
SignatureJyoti Basu signature
Websitehttps://jyotibasu.net/

Jyoti Basu (born Jyotirindra Basu; 8 July 1914 – 17 January 2010)

Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000.[5][6][7] He was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was the member of Politburo of the party since its formation in 1964 till 2008. He was also the member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly 11 times.[8] In his political career, spanning over seven decades, he was noted to have been the India's longest serving chief minister in an elected democracy, at the time of his resignation.[9][a] He was proposed for the post of Prime Minister of India
for four times.

Early life and education

Paternal house of Jyoti Basu at Barudi in Narayanganj, Bangladesh[10]

Jyotirindra Basu was born on 8 July 1914 to a middle-class

joint family and was the youngest of three siblings.[14][10] He had an affectionate nickname called Gana.[5] One of his elder uncles, Nilinkanta Basu was a judge in the High Court.[15] His family also retained ancestral lands in Barudi where Jyoti Basu is described to have spent part of his childhood.[10] The Barudi home of Basu was later turned into a library after his death, reportedly on his wishes.[10][16]

Basu's schooling began in 1920 at

University College, London (UCL) to study Law and became a barrister at Middle Temple on 26 January 1940.[11][20] He had already left for India by the time he acquired his barristerial qualification which he received in absentia.[20]

During his stay in

Snehangshu Acharya.[15]

In 1938, he had also become a founding member of the London Majlis and subsequently its first secretary.

Krishna Menon and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.[14][15]


Before 1947 and independence movement

On returning to

Meerut conspiracy in 1929, the Communist Party had also been made illegal by British authorities,[11][27] as a result Basu was initially involved in providing liaison and safe houses for underground Communist leaders in the Independence movement.[18][15] However soon afterwards, he also became involved in organising railway workers, planning strikes and is described to have preferred direct action over ballot box in the initial years.[26][28]

In 1941, Basu was appointed as the party secretary of the

Calcutta, Kanchrapara, Mymensingh, Rangpur and Assam.[31]

In the following

railway unionist.[35]

By 1944, Basu had started leading the

Bengal Delhi Railroad Worker's Union in the same year, Basu was elected the general secretary of the new combined union.[2][14] He would also be elected as the secretary of the All India Railwaymen's Federation.[37]

In 1946, Basu was appointed by the Communist Party to contest as the candidate for the Railway Employee's constituency in the

1946 Royal Indian Navy ratings revolt,[42][34] and later secured the release of various political prisoners on 24 July 1946.[28][30]

Communist Party of India (1947–1964)

Interim government in West Bengal (1947–1952)

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Following the

civil unrest from the onset;[44] hartals, civil disobedience and demonstrations had soon become the order of the day in the face of a Congress government that was seen as unresponsive to the social and economic distress that was widespread in the state at the time.[43]

The new assembly therefore instituted the

reasonable grounds, which was justified on the grounds of maintaining the law and order situation.[44][15] The bill was inordinately criticised and opposed by Basu who declared that "it seeks to perpetuate (the undemocratic rule)".[44] In 1948, the government sought to extend the act through the West Bengal Security Ordinance which would remove the restriction of "reasonable grounds" for imprisonment.[45] According to Basu, the new ordinance had made it clear that the Congress intended to establish a police state in West Bengal.[45] By this time, the state of West Bengal had already been declared as a "problem province" by the Congress administration and Bidhan Chandra Roy replaced as the new chief minister.[44][43]

During the presentation of the ordinance as a bill in the assembly, Basu attempted to oppose it on a clause by clause basis but in vain due to the dominance of the Congress in the assembly, only the two communist legislators

socioeconomic conditions and the employment of repressive tactics against agitations.[47]

In the following period the Communist Party was made illegal by the government on allegations of trying to incite on open rebellion and Basu repeatedly arrested as a result;

socialist leadership of the federation to whom the government had shown a reconciliatory attitude but the communist members under the leadership of Basu insisted on proceeding with the strike which resulted in disciplinary action being taken against the communists.[49][50] Subsequently, the government also decided to crack down on the communist leadership by arresting 118 leaders involved in the railway sector in West Bengal including Basu. In the aftermath, the strike was a failure as the administration mobilised troops and police force to prevent any disruption from communist influenced union members.[49]

After the adoption of the

Gandhian Congress members including from the former chief minister and architect of the bill, P. C. Ghosh, all of whom had resigned from the party and formed their own Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party by the time of voting.[46] In same year, the Bengali daily organ Swadhinata of the Communist Party was resumed and Basu appointed as the president of its editorial board.[18][15] The legislative assembly elections for 1951 were also held by the Election Commission in March 1952 instead.[51]

First Assembly and agitations (1952–1957)

In the

mass movements,[53] in which Basu is described to have played a key role.[54]

Even after the

disobedience to pay the new prices and caused severe losses for the company, culminating into police deployment and arrests of hundreds of disobedient passengers.[56]

Basu was arrested on 4 July alongside

hunger strikes from imprisoned agitators and even violent confrontations between the police and agitators on the streets. In the end, the five committee leaders including Basu were released on 26 July, the fare hike scrapped by the Chief Minister Bidhan Chandra Roy on 31 July and the remaining imprisoned agitators released by 2 August.[56]

In January 1954,

West Bengal Legislature. The police force who were trying to arrest him through the Preventive Detention Act were reluctant to enter the assembly to arrest a legislator. In Basu's testimony, he states that it was easier for him support the agitation from inside the assembly by projecting the police action on the movement without getting arrested.[7]

During the presentation of the recommendation of the

press statement calling the merger proposal to be "antidemocratic and reactionary".[59]

Basu is noted to have opposed the proposal from both within and outside the assembly, he presided over the mass meeting at

Khejuri constituency, defeating their Congress counterparts by a margin of over 20,000 in both constituencies which caused the Chief Minister Bidhan Chandra Roy to scrap the merger proposal.[59]

Jyoti Basu was one of the leading member of Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Beginning of the food movements (1957–1962)

In the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1957, Basu was re-elected as the representative of the Baranagar constituency and the Communist Party returned as the second largest party with an increased representation.[61] As a result, Basu formally became the Leader of Opposition in the assembly.[52] This platform enabled the Communist Party under the leadership of Basu in West Bengal to exacerbate agitations against the prevalent food crisis in West Bengal by acting as the principal opposition on the floor of the assembly, increasing public awareness and providing a united front for agitators to rally around.[62]

Since the beginning of the

adjournment motions and participation in heated debates.[62]

By the end of 1958, the Communist Party initiated the formation of the

price control, redistribution of state lands and organising agitations with that in retrospect.[65][64]

On 10 February 1959, Basu and other leaders of the PIFRC met with the Chief Minister,

Zamindars (trans: Landlords); these were presented in parallel with general strikes and organised direct action endorsed and supported by the committee to locate and force the sale of hidden stocks of rice.[65][64]

On 25 June, the PIFRC and over 100 trade unions called a statewide hartal (general strike) to protest against the "anti–food" policies of the government.[64] The agitators held an open mass meeting near the Chief Minister's residence where Basu was present among the speakers alongside Siddhartha Shankar Ray, Tridib Chaudhuri and Bankim Mukherjee, who demanded that the government should meet the conditions presented by the PIFRC or resign, otherwise they would organise a mass civil disobedience movement.[62][66] On 9 July, the Swadhinata gave a clarion call through an editorial which stated that "People of West Bengal know quite well that the Congress Government and its food policy are responsible for their destitute condition. They also know that only by hitting hard, time and again, they could be forced to do at least something…" Earlier on 6 July, the PIFRC had issued a press release stating intent to begin the civil disobedience movement by taking preparations to organise volunteers; Basu was among the list of signatories that included Niranjan Sengupta and Nihar Mukherjee.[62] The committee further set the date of 20 August for the beginning of the civil disobedience movement.[66]

In August, the police arrested 35 prominent leaders of the committee including 7

authoritarian and ruthless" and reasoned that there was no space for the continuation of a democratic mass movement.[67] In light of the violence, the PIFRC formally withdrew the agitation by 26 September and the committee was disbanded.[62]

In the aftermath and over the course of the following years, Basu condemned the "police barbarism" against the agitators, engaging in fiery criticisms against the government and even brought a

political activism in the following decade.[62][68][67] The food movement would also go on in the form of a number of localised spontaneous agitations over the following years till the next large scale flare up in 1966.[69][64]

Jyoti Basu

Communist Party of India (Marxist) (1964 afterwards)

Split from the Communist Party of India (1962–1966)

In the

border disputes between India and China.[15][71] These debates were further exacerbated by the food movement in West Bengal and brought to the forefront by the rising border tensions between India and China.[69][72] The Communist Party had also become the second largest party in the Lok Sabha following the 1962 Indian general election with nearly 10% vote share which is described to have brought prominence to the internal divisions of the party.[73][72]

The party was broadly divided into two sections namely the National Front (referred to as the "rightist section") and the Democratic Front (referred to as the "leftist section").

Nehruvian policies while denouncing the "revisionist position" taken by the former to support Jawaharlal Nehru on certain issues.[74][72] The militant food movement in West Bengal also emboldened the leftist anti-Congress section to overwhelm the rightist section which sought tactical cooperation with the Indian National Congress.[69] On the other hand, with the flare-up of the Sino-Indian War, the leftist section of the Communist Party was portrayed as "pro–china" by their opponents from both within and outside the party.[75][76] Before the outbreak of the war, the section had taken the stance that dialogue and diplomatic partnership with the Chinese would resolve the disputes, however Basu himself was more sceptical and advocated for the adoption of a twin strategy of maintaining the border outposts inside Tibet and then engaging in talks using the outposts as a form of leverage ahead of any commencement on a new treaty.[77][78]

The leftist section continued to oppose the Chinese stand on the India-China frontier but was also opposed to providing unconditional support to the

Telangana revolutionaries, Puchalapalli Sundarayya and Makineni Basavapunnaiah as well as some members of the rightist section such as the trade unionist A. B. Bardhan.[80][72][15] Basu reportedly received the news of his father's death during this time in prison.[15] Although, the war ended in November 1962, the detainees were only released in December 1963 after an order from the Supreme Court of India.[79]

On 11 April 1964, in a landmark incident, 32 members from the "Leftist faction" in the CPI national council including Basu walked out of a meeting in Delhi with the stated intent of forming the "real communist party".[81][71] The section organised their conference in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh which concluded with a resolution to form a new party and in the seventh congress held between 31 October to 7 November in Calcutta, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was formally founded. Basu was elected to the first politburo of the new party being one of the nine founding members commonly referred to as the Navaratnas (trans: nine gems).[81] On 27 June 1965, Basu also became the founding editor of the English language organ of the new party called People's Democracy.[82][74]

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Manik Sarkar, V. S. Achuthanandan & K. Satyanarayana

Coalition Governments in West Bengal (1966–1972)

Between February–March 1966, a second and more spontaneous food movement flared up across West Bengal.

deputy chief minister of West Bengal in the following year.[69][83] Civil unrest also peaked during the ensuing period which led to a succession of unstable governments, the establishment of armed political cadres, Naxalbari uprising and widespread spontaneous agitations against prevailing conditions of extreme poverty.[84]

In the

United Front government in West Bengal. During the negotiations between the two alliances, Basu was denied the position of chief minister due to opposition to the idea from the CPI and Bangla Congress,[87] all of whom eventually settled for Ajoy Mukherjee of the Bangla Congress as the consensus candidate for the position while Basu became the deputy chief minister and in-charge of the finance department.[11][15] The government however collapsed within a year when the food minister, P. C. Ghosh resigned from the government after facing persistent agitations led by the CPI-M (both part of the same government) against his policy of seeking voluntary measures from landlords and middlemen which were ineffective in resolving the food crisis.[88]

For the mid-term West Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1969, the United Front Committee was formed consisting of all the coalition partners of the previous government which agreed upon a pre-poll alliance to contest the election together under a 32-point programme.[85] Under terms of the agreement, if the alliance were to attain a majority then Mukherjee would become the chief minister while Basu would become the deputy chief minister.[85][89] In addition during the negotiations Basu was able to secure the portfolios of fisheries, food, excise, labour, civil defence and education for the CPI-M as well as the department of general administration and police from the home ministry forsaking the finance ministry which he had previously held.[90][89] In the election, the United Front won an overwhelming victory with 214 out of 280 seats and as a consequence, the CPI-M stood as the first party other than the Congress party to become the largest party in the assembly.[91]

In the subsequent

state repression on the movement which continued under succeeding governments.[92][94] According to Basu, "(The Naxalites), forgetting everything else that the country stood for, followed the China model with disastrous consequences which had no relation to Marxist philosophy."[71]

In August 1969, Basu was also faced with a protest from the police department itself after the death of a policeman in a clash with the

Socialist Unity Centre, one of the member parties of the United Front.[95] The agitation was notably defused by him in person, who permitted a group of dissident police personnel to enter his office in the assembly house during a demonstration and negotiated with them, reprehending them for disorderly behaviour while taking into consideration the grievances raised.[7][95] The second United Front government however too fell within a short period of time, on this occasion the chief minister Ajoy Mukherjee resigned in March 1970 after facing an aggravated and dysfunctional government where smaller member parties were in confrontation with the CPI-M, the largest among them on various issues.[43][92] There was also an assassination attempt on Basu on 31 March while he was on a party visit to Patna which resulted in the death of one accompanying party worker;[96][97] the identity of the assailant has remained unknown til date.[98] The government continued to be operational until the dissolution of the assembly by presidential proclamation on 30 July.[43]

In the following

no confidence motion which stood at exactly 141 in support of the government out of 141 required. Despite surviving the initial motion, the new government too fell within 3 months when the assembly was dissolved on the recommendation of the chief minister.[85]

Press conference at the book release of "Memoirs - 25 Communist Freedom Fighters" by Sitaram Yechuri at the 18th Congress of Communist Party of India (Marxist), Delhi, 2005. From the left, Harkishan Singh Surjeet (general secretary), Jyoti Basu (former Chief Minister of West Bengal), and Sitaram Yechuri (politburo member).

Boycott of Assembly & Emergency rule (1972–1977)

In the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1972, Congress (I) won an overwhelming majority and Siddhartha Shankar Ray who was previously in the Bangla Congress and later appointed as a specialised union cabinet ministry called West Bengal Affairs Minister became the new chief minister of the state.[100][87] The CPI-M was only able to secure 14 seats and Basu for the first time lost his seat in the Baranagar constituency to his former associate Shiba Pada Bhattacharjee, who had remained in the CPI after the split in the party.[101][87] Before the election, the Communist Party of India allied with Congress (I) while a section of the Bangla Congress had also merged with the Congress.[87] The opposing alliance was led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which included the previous members of the United Left Front alongside the Biplobi Bangla Congress, a splinter of the Bangla Congress.[87]

The election was marred widespread instances of violence against opposition parties, electoral discrepancies, irregularities in process and consequent allegations of rigging from both Congress (O) and the CPI-M,

section 144 and violent clashes throughout the day which had resulted in the death of one its workers.[87] Basu refused to accept the results and declared that the new assembly was an "assembly of frauds".[101] He also published an open editorial to the "world press" regarding terming the incidents of violence to be "semi-fascist terror".[104][105] The CPI-M boycotted the assembly for the remaining term of the seventh assembly taking the stance that a "massive rigging" had occurred.[106][107]

In 1975, the

authoritarian measures and political repression, which was particularly severe in West Bengal.[112] The members of the CPI-M's labour union became the first subject to political repression and mass arrests while the rest of the members of the CPI-M went underground.[113][107]

With the initiation of the Jayaprakash Narayan (JP)'s movement, the CPI-M began providing support to it and went on to participate in discussions for the creation of a united front under the umbrella of the Janata Party. Several of the leaders of the CPI-M were also influenced by JP with Basu noted to be one of his prominent admirers having worked under him in the All India Railwaymen's Federation during the 1940s.[113] The involvement of the Hindutva movement however complicated matters, according to JP the formal inclusion of the Marxists who had undergone a splintering and whose organisation was localised in a particular region would have been detrimental to the movement as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh members would switch sides if they joined.[113][114] JP and Basu eventually agreed that the CPI-M would not formally join the Janata Party as it would weaken the movement.[113] After the revocation of the emergency, the CPI-M joined an electoral alliance with the Janata Party in the 1977 Indian general election which resulted in an overwhelming victory for the Janata Alliance.[115]

Chief Minister of West Bengal (1977–2000)

For the

Satgachhia constituency from 1977 to 2001.[117]

Jyoti Basu in his office.

First term (1977–1982)

In the first term of the coming to power, the Left Front government under Basu initiated a number of agrarian and institutional reforms which resulted in reduction of

political polarisation.[118][119][120] It also enabled the large scale adoption of technological advancements which had earlier been brought in through the Green Revolution in India in the 1960s.[118][119] The agricultural growth jumped from an annual average of 0.6% between 1970–1980 to over 7% between 1980–1990 and the state was described as an agricultural success story of the 1980s.[119][121] During this period, the state of West Bengal moved from being a food importer to a food exporter and became the largest producer of rice outstripping the states of Andhra Pradesh and Punjab which had previously held the status.[121] The Human Development Index was also noted to have improved at a much faster rate than in other states, growing from being the lowest in the country in 1975 to above the national average in 1990.[122]

Between 1977 and 1980, Basu oversaw the identification of nearly 1 million

acres of ceiling surplus land and its subsequent redistribution.[123] The number of landless rural households decreased by 35% during this period.[124]

The Basu government began the process of "democratic

panchayat raj in the state is also noted to have played an integral part in the identification and redistribution of ceiling surplus land,[123] and played a significant part in the rise of agricultural growth through the 1980s.[128]

Among the more prominent measures initiated by the new government was that of

output share concessions towards bargardars to increase from 10% to over 50% among registered bargardars and over 33% for unregistered bargardars.[130][132] The implementation of the operation is noted to have improved the social status and security of tenancy of bargadars as well as decreased economic inequality.[131][130] In addition it accounted for approximately 36% of agricultural growth during the period as a consequence of greater production incentives due to a lack of eviction threat and increased output stake.[132] The operation is also credited to have created a cushion against farmers' suicides in West Bengal by improving the economic stability of farmers.[133]

The Left Front government also identified 247,000 acres of readily reclaimable lands mostly in the Sundarban area (Ganges Delta) for the resettlement of 136,000 agriculturist refugees from East Pakistan.[134][135] Under the tenure of Bidhan Chandra Roy, many of the refugees had been relocated to refugee camps in Dandakaranya and the Left Front government had taken up their cause for resettlement in West Bengal.[134] Initially Basu and the Left Front government approved voluntary resettlement in the identified lands by the refugees from the Dandakaranya camps to the extent of actively encouraging them to do so,[135][136] however the implementation of the resettlement process turned lackluster and was bottle-necked with revised priorities for environmental protection in the Sundarbans.[134][135] In a significant development between 1978 and 1979, a large group of these impoverished refugees who had returned to Bengal seeking resettlement from Dandakaranya had illegally occupied land on the remote island of Marichjhanpi and refused eviction.[136][135] In January 1979, following an economic blockade, the government conducted a forcible eviction leading to the death of several refugees in the consequent abuse by police personnel.[135] The incident led to sharp criticism of the government and raised controversy in the media, the opposition as well as from within members of the Left Front coalition.[134] The demand for a formal investigation into the eviction was however denied by the government with Basu convinced that it was greatly exaggerated by the media;[135][134] in the end the official figure put the deaths at 2 but the lack of an investigation led to various other estimates to circulate on the killing years afterwards.[135][134]

In 1981, a new amendment was introduced to the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1951 (previously amended in 1953, 1967 and 1970) which sought to plug loopholes in the former legislation; the amendment introduced ceilings on non-agricultural lands such as

religious institutions as raiyats (trans: land tenure) with a maximum of 7 standard hectares irrespective of any number of declared branches or centers of any such institution.[124]

Jyoti Basu with former Vice President of India, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

Second Term (1982–1987)

The reforms initiated by the Basu government in its first term were continued into its second term, Operation Barga was officially completed in 1986. Basu's front won 174 seats in

1971 Bangladeshi refugees
his popularity decreased.

In the Second term as the Chief Minister of state he gained popularity for his work for the landless peasants and providing them land and also among intelligentsia.

Gorkha[disambiguation needed], especially in Darjeeling and near by regions.[124] Whilst an accord had been struck between Gandhi and Gorkha National Liberation Front leader Subhash Ghisingh ahead of the polls, violence escalated in the Darjeeling hills. In the run-up to the polls, several policemen were killed in the area which made Basu a great chances being a choice of people of Darjeeling.[b]

Third Term (1987–1991)

In 1987 West Bengal Election in West Bengal, Basu held the office for the third time as the Chief ministers of West Bengal after the win of CPM and their allies.[5] The election was mainly a clash between the Left Front led by Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and the Indian National Congress(I) led by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to make a win in the state.[27] The governing Left Front denied tickets to 62 sitting legislators. In many cases CPI(M), the dominant force in the Left Front, was seeking to rejuvenate the legislature and fielded 35 student leaders as new candidates. The star campaigner was himself Chief Minister Jyoti Basu who had pledged to visit all constituencies where CPI(M) had fielded candidates. During the campaign Basu claimed that the Delhi government discriminated against West Bengal in allocation of resources.[145] Basu's party made the third win by securing a complete majority for third time in Bengal's history, and the Left front secured 187 in the election and defeating Indian National Congress and made his mark to Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.[146]

After being sworn in as the Chief Minister Basu continued his work in the major work for which he was elected was that to change the Land Reform and he is said to be one of the best administrators in the history of

CPI(M). Earlier also he gave a notable number of tickets to student leaders and also worked for the Gurkhas who also voted him for his opposition to the Indian National Congress.[147] In 1989, Basu led Left government in a controversial decision, halting the teaching of English language for Primary schools.[148] The controversial decision received protests from intellectuals.[149] The move was later termed as another "historic blunder".[150]

In the 1990s when the government of

CPI (M) supported the verdict.[151]

Fourth Term (1991–1996)

Even after the controversy of

Chief Minister of West Bengal
, a record which he has held ever since at 23 years, 144 days.

Fifth Term (1996–2000)

In the year 1996 he was elected as Chief Minister five times consecutively in the 1996 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.[153] Basu seemed all set to be the consensus leader of the United Front for the post of Prime Minister of India.[154] This was Basu's last tenure as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. Basu resigned in the year 2000 forming a legacy as the longest serving Chief Minister of any Indian state, until Pawan Kumar Chamling surpassed his record in 2018.[155]

Proposal for Prime-ministership

Jyoti Basu was proposed for the post of prime minister for four times.[156] In 1990, following the arrest of

Lal Krishna Advani, BJP declined support to the National Front Government led by V. P. Singh. During the political crisis, INC chief Rajiv Gandhi sent proposal to Jyoti Basu to be the Prime Minister of India. But CPI(M) declined it.[156]

After 7 months, INC declined support to the Chandrasekhar Singh Government. Again Rajiv Gandhi sent a proposal to Jyoti Basu, which was declined for second time.[156]

In the Indian general election in 1996, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee emerged as the largest party, with 161 of 543 seats but the government fell 13 days later,[157] due to unavailability of majority at the parliament. The Indian National Congress (INC), with a substantial 140 seats, declined to head the government. Consequently, along with

Chief Minister of Karnataka and Janata Dal accepted the offer and he was elected as the Prime Minister of India.[161]
H.D Deve Gowda personally wrote a letter to Jyoti Basu to be the prime minister which Basu declined again due to party choices.

In 1999, the BJP Government by Atal Bihari Vajpayee fell down. Leaders of third front including Mulayam Singh Yadav and others again suggested Jyoti Basu. This time CPI(M) eventually agreed to the proposal. But INC declined.[156]

Later when asked about the decision of the CPI(M), Jyoti Basu stated that as a "historic blunder".[162][163] In the words of Basu, "yes, I still think that it was a historic blunder because such an opportunity does not come. History does not give such an opportunity."[161][158] Noted Congress politician Arjun Singh was also upset due to the CPI(M)'s decision.[164][165] The CPI said that Jyoti Basu as Prime Minister was ‘worth-trying’.[159]

Later life

Post–resignation (2000–2010)

Jyoti Basu with Saroj Ghose and Ashesh Prosad Mitra in Calcutta.

The 18th congress of CPI(M), held in Delhi in 2005, re-elected Basu to its Politburo, although he had requested acceptance for his retirement. On 13 September 2006, his request for retirement due to age was turned down by the CPI(M), the general secretary Prakash Karat stated that the party wanted that Basu should continue till at least the 2008 congress.[166] In the 19th congress held in early April 2008, Basu was eventually dis-included from the Politburo, although his membership in the Central Committee was not revoked. He was also granted the designation of Special Invitee to the Politburo, a form of emeritus status within the CPI(M).[8][167]

Death

On 1 January 2010, Basu was admitted to AMRI hospital (

Bidhannagar, Kolkata) after he was diagnosed with pneumonia.[168][169] On 16 January 2010, it was reported that he was suffering from multiple organ failure and that his health condition had become extremely critical. Seventeen days after being taken ill, he died on 17 January 2010 at 11:47 am IST. Biman Bose announced with tears,"Jyoti Babu has left us."[170]

Condolences by Manmohan Singh (right) and Sitaram Yechury (left).

The death was followed by public mourning on an unprecedented scale. Draped in the national flag, Basu's body was escorted through the streets of Calcutta on a gun carriage. However, the time schedule went awry in his last moments as lakhs of people thronged the streets of central Kolkata to pay their last respects. Police and volunteers wore a helpless look as a sea of people poured in from every possible corner of the city.[c][171] The Army escorted the cortege from the State Assembly to the Maidan through Red Road. At MoharKunj, arrangements for the state Funeral had been made. The army buglers performed the last post as twenty one Gurkha troops fired a 21 volley rifle salute. A day of Mourning was declared nationwide and President Pratibha Patil along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed their condolences.[172]

Basu had pledged to donate his body and eyes for medical research on 4 April 2003 at a function organised by Ganadarpan and Susrut Eye Foundation in Kolkata and not to be burned at a crematorium. His eyes are donated to Susrut Eye Foundation.

SSKM Hospital, Kolkata for research on 19 January 2010 around 16:50 pm IST after a guard of honour at the nearby Moharkunja park (formerly, citizens' park).[176] The hospital authority is considering preserving his brain.[177]

Reactions and tributes on his death

Basu's death was reacted with grief across the country and in international. Many famous personalities bade their gratitude and condolences in social media and attended his funeral. Some of their statements are listed below:[178][179]

Electoral history

Basu was

Baranagar seat 6 times.[181]

Election of 1952-1996
Election

Year

Office

Held

Constituency Party Affiliation Result
1952
Member of the legislative assembly
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India Won
1957
Member of the legislative assembly
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India Won
1962
Member of the legislative assembly
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India Won
1967
Member of the legislative assembly
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) Won
1969
Member of the legislative assembly
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) Won
1971
Member of the legislative assembly
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) Won
1972
Member of the legislative assembly
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) Lost
1977
Member of the legislative assembly
Satgachhia
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) Won
1982
Member of the legislative assembly
Satgachhia
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) Won
1987
Member of the legislative assembly
Satgachhia
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) Won
1991
Member of the legislative assembly
Satgachhia
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) Won
1996
Member of the legislative assembly
Satgachhia
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) Won

Positions held

Year Position Place/Organisation Belonging party Remark Ref(s)
1941 Secretary Bengal Assam Railroad Workers’ Union Communist Party of India Basu was the first secretary of the union, after it formed [182]
1943 Representative Calcutta Port Engineering Worker's Union, All India Trade Union Congress Communist Party of India [30]
1944 Secretary Friends of Soviet Union and Anti-Fascist Writers’ Association, Kolkata [182]
1944 General Secretary Bengal Nagpur Railway Worker's Union Communist Party of India [11][15]
1944 General Secretary Bengal Delhi Railway Worker's Union Communist Party of India General secretary of the combined union of Bengal Delhi Railway Worker's Uniona and Bengal Nagpur Railway Worker's Union [2][14]
1944 Secretary All India Railwaymen's Federation Communist Party of India [37]
1946 Member of Bengal Legislative Assembly Railway employees constituency, Bengal Presidency Communist Party of India Railway employees constituency is under Bengal Presidency of British India
1949 Vice-president All India Railwaymen's Federation Communist Party of India [49]
1951 President Editorial board, Swadhinata Communist Party of India [15]
1952
MLA
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India 1st Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal
1952 General Secretary State committee, Communist Party of India Communist Party of India He held the position up to January 1961 [182]
1952 Leader of the Opposition West Bengal Legislative Assembly Communist Party of India 1st Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal
1957
MLA
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India 2nd Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal
1962
MLA
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India 3rd Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal
1964 Founding member Communist Party of India (Marxist)
1964 Member
Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
 Communist Party of India (Marxist)
1965 Founding editor People's Democracy Communist Party of India (Marxist)
1967
MLA
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) 4th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal
1969
MLA
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) 5th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal
1970 Vice-president Centre of Indian Trade Unions Communist Party of India (Marxist) Basu continued in position up to his death [182]
1971
MLA
Baranagar
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) 6th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal
1977
MLA
Satgachhia
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) 8th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal
1982
MLA
Satgachhia
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) 9th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal
1987
MLA
Satgachhia
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) 10th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal
1991
MLA
Satgachhia
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) 11th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal
1996
MLA
Satgachhia
 Communist Party of India (Marxist) 12th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal

Awards and honours

Awards

Basu was slated to given D.Litt degree, from University of Calcutta,[185] but he declined to take it.[184]

Honours

National Honours

Jyoti Basu was selected to be honoured with Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of India, in 2008. Basu refused to take it.[189][190] Basu was also given Civilian award in Calcutta Municipal Town Hall on 15 July 2005, but he refused to take it.

Foreign Honours

Published Books

  • Janaganer Sange: A Political Memoir, autobiography, two volumes[192][193] (articles written by Jyoti Basu in Ganashakti, published as a book)
  • Jatadur Mone pore, autobiography[194]
  • MEMORIES: The Ones That Have Lasted, a political autobiography[195][193]
  • Bamfront Sarkar 15 Years, 1993[196]
  • People's power in practice : 20 years of Left Front in West Bengal[193]
  • Jyoti Basu speaks[193]
  • Subversion of parliamentary democracy in West Bengal[193]

Personal life

Jyoti Basu had married twice. His first wife Basanti died within 2 years of their marriage in 1942.

CPI(M) following him raising allegations of nepotism against Jyoti Basu.[199]

Although being an atheist & a stauch communist, Basu never

interfered with the religious freedom of his second wife Kamala, who was described by her son Chandan to be a deeply religious woman.[200]

After joining the CPI, Basu had been disinherited by his father from their residence at 55A, Hindusthan Park in

South Kolkata, so he lived in the houses of his friends. After becoming chief minister, Basu lived in a guest house owned by the state government in Bidhannagar.[201]

Recognition

An admirer of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Karl Marx,[202] Jyoti Basu is regarded as one of the most successful politicians in India.[203] His reign of 23 years in West Bengal as the Chief Minister was counted as the longest serving chief minister in India until this record was broken by Pawan Kumar Chamling in 2018.[204]

In 2010, Rajarhat New Town was named after Jyoti Basu as "Jyoti Basu Nagar" in the presence of then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.[205]

The

Bangladesh Supreme Court Muhammad Habibur Rahman as Convener.[206][207]

A research institute has been named after Jyoti Basu naming "Jyoti Basu Centre of Social Studies and Research" in Newtown, West Bengal.[208]

Legacy

Jyoti Basu has been praised for[209]

  1. implementing land reforms which led to a huge boost in agricultural productivity of the state,
  2. democratisation of panchayati raj institutions of the state,
  3. maintaining communal harmony in midst of the Ram-mandir agitation & Mandal Commission agitation,
  4. establishing the Haldia Industrial Belt, Salt Lake Electronics Complex & Bakreshwar Thermal Power Station
  5. maintaining political stability in the state in midst of
    Naxalite-Maoist insurgency

Following the end of 34-years of unbroken Communist rule in West Bengal which he had initiated in 1977, a year & half after his death and disappearance of CPI(M)'s presence from the state's politics, Jyoti Basu has been reviled by many for[210][211][212][213][214][215]

  1. causing massive
    labour rights
    ,
  2. initiating
    brain drain by abolishing English education at primary level in schools run by the state government in the name of anti-imperialism and opposing application of computers over unsubstantiated fears of increasing unemployment
    ,
  3. fostering favouritism by meting out favourantial treatment of loyal party cadres over competent non-Communist people,
  4. creation of a party-society by asserting dominance of conservative party ideologues in every sphere of life, most notably in bureaucratic appointments & universities,
  5. legitimisation of political violence through his semi-Stalinist style of ruling,
  6. authorisation of police brutalities against dissidents as seen in Marichjhapi massacre & 1993 Kolkata firing and
  7. refusal to condemn or even take action against CPI(M) cadres committing acts of terror like the Sainbari murder, Bijon Setu massacre, 1990 Bantala rape case & Nanoor massacre.

Critics derisively state that Jyoti Basu's legacy consists of

  1. loadshedding
    (which became rampant throughout the state since his tenure as deputy CM under Ajoy Mukherjee in 1967 & continued to plague the state throughout Communist rule),
  2. floods (caused due to lack of development in rural areas fostered by the culture of favouritism towards fellow partymen),
  3. Nandan (the only major contribution of Basu's government to the city of Kolkata which saw massive deindustrialisation & political violence under his rule) &
  4. the corporate empire of his son Chandan only.[216]

In popular culture

Centre of Indian Trade Unions along with Haldia Regional Committee released an album on Jyoti Basu in 2000.

In 2005, Gautam Ghosh made a documentary film named "Jyoti Basur Sange" (trans. A journey with Jyoti Basu"), which was screened at Nandan on 31 April 2005 and at another auditorium in Memari.[217] The film tracks Basu's childhood days in Bangladesh, student life in London and political career in Calcutta. The writer Goutam Ghose trailed Jyoti Basu for eight years, from 1997 to 2004, across campaigns and countries for making the documentary.[218]

In 2006, a

CD
collection was released, based on the interviews with Jyoti Basu, named "Antaranga Jyoti Basu".

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Currently, Jyoti Basu is the 3rd longest serving Chief Minister in the history of India, after Pawan Kumar Chamling of Sikkim & Naveen Patnaik of Odisha.
  2. ^ Jyoti Basu took the vote bank of the people of Darjeeling due to their anger on Rajiv Gandhi, who was West Bengal incharge.
  3. ^ Death of Jyoti Basu.

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External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Chief Minister of West Bengal

1977–2000 		Succeeded by
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
CPI-M Party political offices
Preceded by
Seat established
 Member of the politburo of
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
1965-2010 		Succeeded by
–
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