ourbengal

Jyoti Basu; Ivory Flawed but Ivory Still

Gahan Sen

Jyoti Basu was born on the 08th of July 1914 at 43/1 Mahatma Gandhi Road (then Harrison Road) Kolkata into an upper middle-class Bengali family. His father, Nishikanta Basu, was a doctor from the village of Barudi in Narayanganj District, East Bengal (now in Bangladesh), while his mother Hemalata Basu was a housewife. It is not a widely known fact that originally he was named Jyotirindranath Basu. His schooling started at Loreto School at Dharmatala, Kolkata, in 1920. It was there where his father shortened his name and he became Jyoti Basu. In 1925 he was moved to St. Xavier's School. Basu completed his undergraduate education and received the honours in English from the Hindu College (renamed the Presidency College in 1955).

Formative years in England After completing his undergraduate studies in 1935, Basu did appear for the Indian Civil Services Examination but was not successful. Then on the insistence of his father Basu set for England for higher studies of Law. In 1940 he completed his studies and qualified as a Barrister at the Middle Temple. Basu's first activity in politics was his effort to organize the Indian students studying in United Kingdom, mostly for the cause of Indian independence. He subsequently joined India League and London Majlis, both the organizations being communities of overseas Indian students. Basu was given the responsibility for arranging a meeting with Jawaharlal Nehru during Nehru's visit to London in 1938 and similar duty was fell on him after Subhas Chandra Bose went to England. As a member of London Majlis, Basu introduced the visiting Indian political figures to the leaders of the Labour Party. Basu was later elected the General Secretary of London Majlish.
It was in England that Basu was introduced to the activities of politics through the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Basu was introduced to the Communist Party of Great Britain by another communist leader and Basu's friend in England, Bhupesh Gupta. Basu was interested interest to join CPGB but the then Secretary General Harry Pollitt suggested that he should not do so, possibly because CPGB was then banned in India and Pollitt speculated Basu could have difficulties in returning to India as a member of CPGB. While in England he was hugely inspired by noted Communist philosopher and prolific writer Rajani Palme Dutt.

Return to India and After: 1940 Basu returned to India in 1940 and immediately contacted the Party leaders. Though he enrolled himself as a barrister in Calcutta High Court, he never practised simply because he was determined to become a whole timer of the Party. His enrolment was basically a camouflage for his political activities. At the wake of Second World War and Nazi onslaught on smaller nations Basu became the secretary of Friends of Soviet Union and Anti-Fascist Writers' Association in Kolkata. At that time Communist Party of India had been banned and most of the important leaders had to go underground. As a member of the Party, his initial task was to maintain liaison with underground Party leaders. Basu enters Trade Union Movement: 1944 He was entrusted with responsibilities on the trade union front from 1944. Bengal Assam Railroad Workers' Union was formed in the same year and Basu became its first secretary. Basu was elected to Bengal Provincial Assembly in 1946 from the Railway Workers constituency along with two other Communists Ratanlal Bramhan and Rupnarayan. From that day on, Basu became one of the most popular and influential legislators for decades to come. Basu played a very active role in the stormy days of 1946–47 when Bengal witnessed the Tebhaga movement, workers strikes and even communal riots.

MLA from Baranagar; 1952 After the country gained independence, he was elected to the assembly from Baranagar in 1952. He was elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1991 and 1996. Though an elected member, Basu was arrested several times during the 1950s and 60s and for certain periods he went underground to evade arrest by the police. Jyoti Basu was the secretary of the West Bengal Provincial Committee of the Party from 1953 to January 1961. He was elected to the Central Committee of the Party in 1951. In 1962, Jyoti Basu was one amongst the 32 members of the National Council who walked out of the meeting. Needless to say serious trouble was brewing inside the party at that time. Communist Party splits, CPI (M) is born; 1964 The differences became more and more acute and ultimately a faction comes out of CPI and forms CPI (M). When the CPI (M) was formed in 1964 Basu became a member of the Politburo. He was a member of the Politburo from 1964 onwards. He was elected as a special invitee to PB in 19th Congress of the Party in 2008. He was, in fact, the last surviving member of the "Navaratnas", the nine members of the first Politburo of CPI (M). He served as the Leader of Opposition for a long time when Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy was the Chief Minister of West Bengal. Basu's admirable eloquence both as an M.L.A and the Leader of Opposition drew the attention of Dr. B. C. Roy and he had a strong affection for this young leader though his stand was completely contrary to the policies of the then State Government run by Dr. Roy. Jyoti Basu led one after other agitations against the State Government and earned enviable popularity as a politician particularly among the students and youth. Besides organising the movements of the Railway Labourers, he led a movement by the teachers demanding a hike in salary. In 1967 and 1969, Basu became Deputy Chief Minister of West Bengal in the United Front governments (First and Second United Front Governments). In 1967 Ajoy Mukherjee was the Chief Minister. 1970, Basu narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at the Patna railway station by the Anand Margis. President’s Rule imposed on Bengal; 1971 Though CPI (M) became the single largest party in the assembly elections in 1971, the party was refused the chance to form a ministry and Presidents' Rule was imposed in West Bengal. Through unmatched level of foul play in elections of 1972 Congress returned to power in West Bengal. Jyoti Basu as a result lost the elections from the Baranagar Assembly Constituency. Basu famously declared the new assembly as "assembly of the frauds" and CPI (M) boycotted the assembly for the next five years. Jyoti Basu belonged to the leadership of the CPI M) which steered the Party through the difficult days of semi-fascist terror (1971-75) in West Bengal in the early seventies.
	Left Front comes to Power; 1977 After the sweeping victory of the Left Front in 1977, Jyoti Basu became the Chief Minister of the Left Front government, a position he held continuously for more than 23 years (From June 21, 1977, to November 6, 2000) Under his leadership, the Left Front government embarked on land reforms on a scale unprecedented in the
country; it instituted a panchayati raj system which was radical for its times, which gave the poor peasants and small farmers a say in running the panchayati institutions. West Bengal was projected as an oasis of communal harmony and secular values under his leadership. One has to recall how as Chief Minister he dealt with the situation after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984 when violence against Sikhs broke out in various parts of the country, but nothing was allowed to happen in West Bengal. Similarly he dealt firmly with efforts to instigate trouble after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.
Chance to lead the country and a “Historical Blunder”; 1996 In 1996 Jyoti Basu seemed all set to be the consensus leader of the United Front for the post of Prime Minister of India. However, the CPI(M) Politburo decided not to participate in the government, a decision that Jyoti Basu later termed a historic blunder. H.D. Deve Gowda from the Janata Dal instead became Prime Minister. In the Politburo elections Jyoti Basu and his comrades who wanted him to be in the chair of PM were defeated 9-11. (Just on a lighter note, I believe this was India’s 9/11 and it happened long before than the New York 9/11.) Needless to say the history of Communist movement in India would be totally different had Basu and his comrades won that Politburo Elections. Communist movement in India would have taken a complete different dimension had the majority of Politburo members didn’t choose to play it safe on that fateful day. Basu Resigns; 2000 Basu resigned from the Chief Ministership of West Bengal in 2000 for health reasons, and was succeeded by fellow CPI (M) politician Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. As of 2010, Basu holds the record for being the longest-serving Chief Minister in Indian political history and probably the longest serving Member of Legislative Assembly. (Since 1955 with the exception of 1972 when he was defeated) The 18th congress of CPI (M), held in Delhi in 2005, re-elected Basu to its Politburo, although he had asked to be allowed to retire from it. On September 13, 2006, Basu entreated the CPI (M) to allow his retirement due to his age, but was turned down. General Secretary Prakash Karat said that the party wanted Basu to continue until its 2008 congress, at which point it would reconsider. At the 19th congress in early April 2008, Basu was not included on the Politburo, although he remained a member of the Central Committee and was designated as Special Invitee to the Politburo. Jyoti Basu became a symbol for the Left, democratic and secular forces in the country. In West Bengal, the people adored him and respected him for his championing of their cause. He became the role model for all Communists and progressives on how to work in parliamentary institutions and serve the people. During these seven decades of work in the Communist party, he spent three and a half years in prison and two years underground. Jyoti Basu was a Marxist who never wavered in his convictions. After the fall of the Soviet Union and the setbacks to socialism, he provided the leadership along with his colleagues in the Politburo to make a reappraisal of the experience of building socialism and to pinpoint the errors and to correct wrong notions and understandings while remaining true to Marxism-Leninism. He was a Marxist who was not dogmatic and continued to learn from his vast experience in charting out the course for the Party. Some commentators feel Basu was more of a democratic socialist than a traditional Communist.

Death On 1 January, 2010, Basu was admitted to AMRI hospital, Saltlake Bidhannagar, Kolkata after he was diagnosed with pneumonia. On 16 January 2010, his health condition became extremely critical and he was suffering from multiple organ failure. Seventeen days after being taken ill, he died on 17 January 2010 at 11:47 am IST. He is survived by his son Chandan, daughter-in-law Rakhi, grand daughters Payel, Doyel and Koyel, offsprings of his first daughter-in-law Dolly (separated with son Chandan in 1998), and grand son Subhojyoti, offspring of daughter-in-law Rakhi. His second wife Kamala Basu had earlier passed away on 1 October 2003. Basu's body was kept at 'Peace Haven' for those who wanted to pay their respects. His body was handed over to SSKM Hospital, Kolkata for research on 19 January 2010 around 16:50 pm after a guard of honour at the nearby Moharkunja Park. His last journey was in gun carriage with his mortal remains covered with the Tri-colour Flag. Criticism Sumon K Chakrabarti, the national affairs correspondent for CNN-IBN - During Basu's tenure as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the state saw continuous industrial decline. NDTV - Basu had been criticized for economic policies based on his communist ideology, which led to economic stagnation in the state and emigration of workers; removal of English from primary schools and initial support of trade unions against the use of computers, which adversely impacted employment. You all must have read and heard much of such criticism in the media (rest assured much more is yet to come). We don’t want to increase the list of quotations. What I believe is the single criticism that sums up all others for Jyoti Basu is that he believed and followed the policy of `minimum governance’. Astute man as he was, he very clearly realized that the more he would endeavor to put things straight the more loss of support that he his party will suffer. So let everybody have their day, day after day and power and CPI (M) live “happily ever after”.