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Tuesday, October 29, 2013
"Basu strode like a colossus on the Indian political scene for several decades. He was a great patriot, a great democrat, a great Parliamentarian and a great source of inspiration. Basu served the people of India with the best of his ability. It's a sad day for all of us...we will remember this great son of India...we salute his memory." -P. Chidambaram
Sunday, October 27, 2013
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Friday, October 25, 2013
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Jyoti Basu Basu: The Man Who Came Close to Becoming PM
In the last days of 1996, Jyoti Basu came very close to becoming the Prime Minister of India but his party interdicted the chance that the veteran Marxist described as a "historic blunder".
But the CPI(M) did not agree with Basu's description of the offer, a chance that rarely comes the Communist's way in India.
Just after the 1996 elections produced a hung verdict in which the Congress could not come back to power and the BJP failed to prove its majority, the non-Congress stalwarts sat together in Tamil Nadu House to chose their Prime Ministerial candidate.
It was the late V P Singh, who himself had turned down the offer first, suggested that Basu should be made the Prime Minister of the United Front government.
The proposal was taken to CPI(M) by the ever-pragmatic practitioner of politics late Harkishen Singh Surjeet, the then CPI(M) General Secretary.
The Polit Bureau met and riven by differences it forwarded the issue to the powerful Central Committee (CC) after a voting.
The CC declined the offer saying the party was still not in a position to dictate its policies and would not be able to get them implemented by a coalition government.
When Surjeet conveyed this to UF leaders, V P Singh again suggested that the CPI(M) CC should be asked to reconsider the decision.
From Tamil Nadu House, Surjeet called Prakash Karat to tell leaders to stay back in the capital for an emergency meeting. But the CC again turned down the offer politely.
After Basu, the names of late G K Moopanar and H D Deve Gowda, then Karnataka Chief Minister, came up.
After initial round of discussions with coalition leaders including DMK chief M Karunanidhi over issues like administrative experience, Gowda's name prevailed.
But it was Basu who suggested Gowda for the top post citing his experience as a minister first and Chief Minister later of Karnataka.
There was some feeble attempt by some to prop up the name of late Ramakrishna Hegde but it fell by the wayside.
When Basu suggested his name, Gowda said it was for his party Janata Dal to decide on the issue. Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad, who was also JD president, immediately latched on to the proposal and said his party was ready.
The rest is now history.
Gowda went to the hospital in Kolkata last week to pay his "gratitude" to the ailing Basu and recalled the role played by the Marxist leader to make him the Prime Minister.
Years later when asked about his description of the CPI(M) decision as a "historic blunder", Basu said, "yes, I still think that it was a historic blunder because such an opportunity does not come. History does not give such an opportunity."
Basu had said he was offered this post by leaders who knew that he was a Marxist and a Communist as they had no other Prime Minister in view
JYOTI BASU, THE MAN WHO STOPPED HIS CONVOY FOR A KID
Kolkata, Jan 18 - Noted Bengali writer
Nabanita Dev Sen was for long Basu's neighbour when the former West Bengal chief minister -- who
died Sunday -- lived at Hindustan Park
Recalling Basu's simple lifestyle, Sen said
despite being the chief minister he never had an inverter even during the years
when loadshedding was rampant in the state.
Sen remembered seeing Basu sitting in his
balcony often in the summer months alongside his wife and using a hand fan
during power-cuts.
"Always a principled person, he would not
get an inverter when we all had," she told IANS.
Sen said she had known Basu as a neighbour
since her birth. "My parents held my marriage ceremony in his
backyard."
"In spite of his very busy schedule, he
was a warm and affectionate neighbour who would participate in our family
celebrations and would even hold back his convoy to allow me to drop my
daughter to her exam when we were late." (IANS)
QUIET WEST BENGAL MOURNS JYOTI BASU
Kolkata, Jan 18 - The tricolour flew at half mast, state government offices and almost all private establishments remained closed and roads were deserted as a quiet fell over West Bengal Monday, a day after the death of the Communist patriarch Jyoti Basu.
There was a motley crowd before central Kolkata's Peace Haven, the funeral parlour where Basu's body is being kept for Tuesday's last journey.
Red flags in half mast have been put up all around the parlour, while a red cloth with "Jyoti Basu amar rahe" (Long live Jyoti Basu) written on it was flung near the main gate.
"I will stay here the whole day. I have attended so many of his huge rallies. Listening to his speeches was always an inspiration," said Jaideep Majumdar of Jadavpur, standing before the parlour.
With the state government declaring a two-day mourning till Tuesday, all official programmes have been cancelled to show respect to one of the most accomplished political leaders of the country, who had a record 23-year reign as chief minister from 1977 to 2000.
A day after the 95-year-old leader's demise at a private hospital after a 16-day battle with pneumonia and then multiple organ failure, Kolkatans woke up to screaming headlines announcing the death of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) veteran and the state's most famous political figure for over half a century.
"Bidai" (adieu) said a brief but emotional headline in the CPI-M's Bengali mouthpiece Ganashakti with a full page photo of Jyoti Basu giving the Communist red salute as the red flag fluttered in the background.
Many of the vernacular dailies made pun on the name 'Jyoti' meaning light. "Jyoti nirbapito" (the light goes out) said Aajkaal, while the largest circulated Ananda Bazar Patrika's banner headline read "Jibon Jyoti nibhlo" (The light of life is extinguished).
Ganashakti claimed that a CPI-M worker Pranabesh Chakraborty died of a heart attack when he received news of Basu's death Sunday, but there was no official confirmation.
Red flags have been lowered in hundreds of offices of the state's ruling Left Front major CPI-M, while all educational institutions have declared a holiday and postponed all examinations scheduled for the day as a mark of respect to Basu.
The state government has announced a day's paid holiday for all its staff, while most of the private offices and establishments have also remained closed following a request from the state chief secretary. The courts also did not open.
However, banks and financial institutions were open as the holiday has not been declared under the Negotiable Instruments Act.
On the roads, very few vehicles plied, as most people chose to stay indoors.
Basu will not be cremated but his body handed over Tuesday to a state-run hospital as he had donated his body. His eyes have been removed as per his wishes. He had pledged to donate his eyes.
The body will be taken in a procession Tuesday to state secretariat Writers' Building and then to the West Bengal assembly for the public to pay homage. (IANS)
JYOTI BASU: Last colossus of Bengal politics
I had known Jyoti Basu for more than 40 years.
I met him first in 1967, when the first United Front government was constituted
in West Bengal . Basu was the deputy chief minister,
representing the CPI(M) in the coalition government headed by Ajoy Mukherjee.
The coalition returned power in 1969 with Ajoy Mukherjee as chief minister and
Basu as his deputy, but the latter also got the home ministry as CPI(M) had
emerged the largest party in the coalition.
As home minister, Basu had a confrontation
with his CM on some policy issues and also on some actions by the home
ministry. The differences escalated and ultimately, the second UF government
collapsed. During this period, the CM and his deputy exchanged some notes on
issues in regard to the relationship between a Cabinet minister and his chief
minister in a coalition government.
The notes were later reported in newspapers.
Mukherjee’s contention was that, as chief minister, he had the right and the
privilege to overview the functioning of any ministry and issue corrective
directions if required.
However, Basu maintained that the
constitutional position taken by Mukherjee was untenable in a coalition
government. Because the chief minister is the product of political
understanding amongst the political parties constituting the coalition, he or
she cannot enjoy the same authority as the CM of a single-party government,
without the approval of the entire coalition.
As I was associated with both UF governments
as a representative of Bangla Congress, which was also a member of the
coalition, I came in close contact with Basu. During the mid-term election of
1969, Basu suggested to Mukherjee that I be nominated to contest an assembly
constituency so that I could be inducted into the state Cabinet later. However,
that did not happen as my party entrusted me with other responsibilities. I was
elected to Rajya Sabha in the same year.
Basu had a very long innings both in the
legislature and in administration. He was elected to Bengal Legislative
Assembly in 1946 and continued to be its member till 2001, except for a short
period of 5 years (1972-77). Till date, his record as the longest-serving chief
minister (1977-2000) is unbroken.
Basu was an excellent parliamentarian and he
built his reputation as the opposition spokesman for nearly 20 years – from
1947 to 1967. He kept that reputation even after he became chief minister in
1977 -- as the chief spokesperson of the government and as the leader of the
house.
As chief minister for 23 years, his unique
contribution was to lead CPI(M) to victory in every election in the state --
from panchayats and municipalities to the assembly and the Lok Sabha. He turned
West
Bengal into an impregnable fort of CPI(M). His charismatic personality
was the main factor that kept the Left Front together.
During his tenure as CM, Basu is credited with
introducing successful land reforms. He decentralised power and authority, and
strengthened the panchayati raj system. The process of industrialisation was
initiated by him and could have achieved more success but for the dogmatic
approach of his party.
During his lifetime, he became a legend. He
was described as the great patriarch of the CPI(M). Because of his personality
he could criticise his party in public and even described one as a “historic
blunder”. At the same time, as a disciplined and committed party man, he
followed every decision of the party. Perhaps, he was the last colossus, who
dominated Bengal politics in Independent India.
The author is the finance minister of India
Jyoti Basu leads a surge of body donations in Bengal
yoti Basu leads even after death, in his own state of West Bengal and across the border in Bangladesh. After the media played up donation of his body for medical research, there has been a surge of enquiries by people interested in donating bodies.
Since the death of the 95-year -old Communist leader on January 17, Gana Darpan - the only NGO in eastern India campaigning for body donation since 1977 - has been flooded with phone calls from eager donors.
"We have had around 600 enquiries in nine days since Basu passed away," Gana Darpan secretary Manish Sarkar told Hindustan Times on Wednesday.
Usually the NGO gets around 1,000 enquiries a month.
The eagerness in Kolkata, Basu's own city, has been matched by enthusiasm in Bangladesh, the land of his birth.
Gana Darpan General Secretary Brojo Roy is camping in Dhaka and addressing seminars about body donation among the scientific and medical community of Bangladesh.
"Roy has been invited by the Mayor of Dhaka. We send copies of our monthly newsletter to NGOs and academics in Bangladesh. But this time the interest is unprecedented," said Sarkar.
Bangladesh doesn't yet have a forum for body donation.
In West Bengal, the prospective donors are from all walks of life, from affluent businessmen and well-known faces to the man on the street.
Since 1986, while more than 700,000 people have pledged their bodies in Bengal only around 1,400, or 0.2 per cent, have translated into actual donations. "Reluctant survivors usually don't hand over bodies," said Gana Darpan functionaries.
As a matter of policy, however, Gana Darpan doesn't divulge details of those who pledged their bodies or expressed interest in the last few days.
HT had earlier reported most communist leaders such as Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and CPI(M) Bengal secretary Biman Bose have pledged their bodies.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
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JYOTI BASU: “Talking about his participation in the freedom movement and his later roles as the Chief Minister of West Bengal and a Polit Bureau member of the CPI (M), Jyoti Basu told this correspondent in 2005 that the principal thrust of the political activities of Communist leaders of his generation was to bring together the values of the national movement and independent India in order to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of a people that suffered under the yoke of colonialism.” - VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN
JYOTI BASU: “Now, after his death, it has once again made an eloquent return. However, Jyoti Basu’s contribution to national politics is not merely about his inability to become Prime Minister in 1996. A careful assessment of his political career and also interactions with national and regional politicians across the ideological-political spectrum make it clear that he played a role in national politics right through his life.” - VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN
JYOTI BASU: “IRONICALLY, much of the debate in the media and in political circles on Jyoti Basu’s role in national politics pertains to a role that he did not assume. The issue – of Jyoti Basu being offered the Prime Minister’s post in 1996 to head the United Front government, and his party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), deciding against his accepting the offer – had come up time and again during his lifetime.” - VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN
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