“When the party split in 1964, with Dange insisting that the CPI national council should adopt the resolution passed by the Indian National Congress, I was among the 32 [the others included M. Basavapunnaiah, P. Sundarayya, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, A.K. Gopalan and Basu] of the 101 national council members who walked out to form the CPI(M). We were ridiculed and criticised for what was described as our “anti-India stand”. But we believed that the two neighbouring countries that had fought imperialistic forces should not fall for the imperialist trap by going to war against each other but instead should solve our disputes in a peaceful manner. With Basu’s death, there are only two [of the 32 founding members] left, N. Sankariah [Tamil Nadu] and I. Basu’s passing away is in many ways a personal loss for me.” - V.S. Achuthanandan, Kerala Chief Minister.

“Though he was born into a conservative, aristocratic family, was sent for higher studies in England, and had a lucrative career waiting for him, Basu chose to become a communist even while he was a student, and, on his return [from England], to build the party and to work for the downtrodden in his motherland. He began by organising railway workers who were then leading a slave-like existence in those parts. He also had a leadership role in establishing the CITU.” - V.S. Achuthanandan, Kerala Chief Minister.

“Indeed, it is a great loss not only for those of us in India but also for the world communist movement. Basu certainly wrote a new history, showing the way for communists in parliamentary elections. He played a crucial role in building the Left, secular, Third Front coalition against communal forces and the one-party domination at the Centre, and in making the Third Front a democratic force. He anchored the continuous victory of the Left movement in West Bengal for 23 years from 1977. After Nehru’s death, he took up Nehru’s legacy of insisting that Bangladesh, which shared a border with West Bengal, should get its due share of the waters of the Ganga. He was not just a political leader but a great statesman, and a true representative of the Indian people.” - V.S. Achuthanandan, Kerala Chief Minister.

“I REMEMBER meeting Jyoti Basu for the first time at the undivided Communist Party of India’s national council meeting soon after the party’s Amritsar congress in 1958, when [S.A.] Dange was the chairman. Though I was selected by the party to attend the congress, at the last minute I was assigned to oversee a crucial election campaign at Devikulam [in Idukki district, Kerala]. So, though I could not attend the party congress, I was chosen as a member of the national council. I met Jyoti Basu at the Council meeting. From then on, until his death, we maintained a close relationship and worked together closely as members of the national council, the central committee and other bodies of the Communist party. He was a dear comrade and we shared a warm relationship throughout. For me, his death is all the more painful.” V.S. Achuthanandan, Kerala Chief Minister.

JYOTI BASU: “We shared a warm relationship.” – V.S. Achuthanandan, Kerala Chief Minister.

JYOTI BASU: “We shared a warm relationship.” – V.S. Achuthanandan, Kerala Chief Minister.

FEW politicians from Bengal cut as dignified a figure as Jyoti Basu