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