Departure of the 'Red Flag' Guru

by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
January 18, 2010

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/416/departure-of-the-red-flag-guru

India's legendary politician and veteran communist Jyoti Basu passed away on Sunday noon in a hospital in Kolkata leaving hundreds and thousands of supporters, fans and admirers.

'Jyotirindra Basu', who was popularly known as Jyoti Basu was an Indian politician belonging to the Communist Party of India [Marxist] from West Bengal, India. He served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000, making him India's longest-serving Chief Minister as of 2010 of any Indian state. He was a member of the CPI[M] Politburo from the time of the party's founding in 1964 until 2008. From 2008 until his death in 2010 he remained a permanent invitee to the central committee of the party. On his death, he was the last of the founding Politburo members of Communist Party of India [Marxist].

Jyoti Basu was born on 8 July, 1914 as Jyotirindra Basu into an upper middle-class Bengali family in Calcutta. His father, Nishikanta Basu, was a doctor from the village of Bardi in Narayanganj District, East Bengal (now in Bangladesh), while his mother Hemalata Basu was a housewife. Basu's schooling started at Loreto School at Dharmatala, Calcutta [now Kolkata], in 1920. It was there where his father shortened his name and he became Jyoti Basu. However he was moved to St. Xavier's School in 1925. Basu completed his undergraduate education and received the honors in English from the Hindu College [renamed the Presidency College in 1955].

After completing his undergraduate studies in 1935, Basu set for England for higher studies of Law. It is said that Basu attended lectures of Harold Laski at the London School of Economics in late 1930. It was in England that Basu was introduced to the activities of politics through the Communist Party of Great Britain. There he was inspired by noted Communist Philosopher and prolific writer Rajani Palme Dutt. In 1940 he completed his studies and qualified as a Barrister at the Middle Temple. In the same year he returned to India. In 1944 Basu became involved in trade union activities when CPI delegated him to work amongst the railway laborers. When B.N. Railway Workers Union and B.D. Rail Road Workers Union merged, Basu became the general secretary of the union.

Basu's first track in politics was his efforts to organize the Indian students studying in United Kingdom, mostly for the cause of Indian Independence. While studying in England, Basu 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. The same was done after Subhas Chandra Bose went to England. As a member of London Majlis, Basu introduced the visiting Indian political figures to the leaders of Labor Party.

Basu was introduced to the Communist Party of Great Britain by another communist leader and Basu's friend in England Bhupesh Gupta. It's told Basu showed interest to join CPGB but the then Secretary General Harry Pollitt suggested him to 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.

However 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 practiced simply because he was determined to become a whole timer of the Party.

Basu became the secretary of Friends of Soviet Union and Anti-Fascist Writers' Association in Kolkata. As member of the Party, the initial task of Basu was to maintain liaison with underground Party leaders. He was entrusted responsibilities in the trade union front from 1944. In that year, Bengal Assam Railroad Workers' Union was formed and Basu became its first secretary. Basu was elected to Bengal Provincial Assembly in 1946 from the Railway Workers constituency. Ratanlal Bramhan and Rupnarayan Roy were the other two Communists who were elected. From that day on, Basu became one of the most popular and influential legislators for decades to come. He showed how the Communists can use the legislative forums for strengthening struggles.

Basu played a very active role in stormy days of 1946–47 when Bengal witnessed the Tebhaga movement, workers strikes and even communal riots. Everywhere the struggling people got Basu by their side.

Jyoti Basu was the secretary of the West Bengal Provincial Committee of the Party from 1953 to January 1961. He was elected to Central Committee of the Party in 1951. 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.

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.

In 1962, Jyoti Basu was one amongst the 32 members of the National Council who walked out of the meeting. When the CPI[M] was formed in 1964 as a result of the ideological struggle within the Communist movement, Basu became a member of the Politbureau. He was, in fact, the last surviving member of the "Navaratnas", the nine members of the first Politburo. The leftist section, to which the 32 National Council members belonged, organized a convention in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh July 7 to 11. It was here where the radical sections of party further showed their pro-Chinese stand. The Tenali convention was marked by the display of a large portrait of the Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong.

During the Sino-Indian war, a faction of the Indian Communists backed the position of the Indian government, while other sections of the party claimed that it was a conflict between a socialist and a capitalist state, and thus took a pro-Chinese position. Jyoti Basu was among the prominent leaders who supported the Chinese government during the war.

There were three factions in the party - "internationalists", "centrists", and "nationalists". Internationalists supported the Chinese stand whereas the nationalists backed India; centrists took a neutral view. Prominent leaders including S.A. Dange were in the nationalist faction. B. T. Ranadive, P. Sundarayya, P. C. Joshi, Basavapunnaiah, Jyoti Basu, and Harkishan Singh Surjeet were among those supported China. Ajoy Ghosh was the prominent person in the centrist faction. In general, most of Bengal Communist leaders supported China and most others supported India. Hundreds of CPI leaders, accused of being pro-Chinese were imprisoned. Some of the nationalists were also imprisoned, as they used to express their opinion only in party forums, and CPI's official stand was pro-China. Thousands of Communists were detained without trial.

Basu was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1946, contesting the Railway constituency. 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 another agitation against the State Government and earned enviable popularity as a politician particularly among the students and youth. Beside organizing the movements of the Railway Laborers, he led a movement by the teachers demanding a hike in salary. When the Communist Party of India split in 1964, Basu became one of the first nine members of the Politburo of the newly-formed Communist Party of India [Marxist]. In 1967 and 1969, Basu became Deputy Chief Minister of West Bengal in the United Front governments. In 1967, after the defeat of the Congress Government, Jyoti Basu was sworn-in as the Deputy Chief Minister under the Chief Ministership of Ajoy Mukherjee.In 1970, he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at the Patna railway station by the Anand Margis. 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.

The 1972 elections were rigged and the Congress returned to power in West Bengal in 1972 Jyoti Basu as a result lost the elections from the Baranagar Assembly Constituency. Jyoti Basu was forced to boycott the elections. 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 in West Bengal in the early seventies. 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, a record in the country [From June 21, 1977 to November 6, 2000, Basu served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the Left Front government]. 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 became 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.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. 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.

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 Polit Bureau 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.

He emerged as the pre-eminent and most popular leader of the Party, but he always worked as a disciplined member of the Party, setting an example for all. In his long career in the Party, he undertook various responsibilities including being the first editor of People's Democracy. He had a lifelong association with the trade union movement and was the Vice-President of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions since its inception in 1970.

Jyoti Basu continued to be the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia expressed deep condolence at the demise of Jyoti Basu, who was always considered as a great friend of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh parliament has passed a unanimous resolution paying tributes to the veteran Communist leader and former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and recalled his contribution to the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971.

Eminent feminist writer Taslima Nasrin in her reaction said, she felt like having lost a guardian when she heard about Jyoti Basu's death on Sunday. She said, "I wanted him to live longer. I was eager to meet him in the hospital, but was not granted the permission to visit India."

Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh reached the AKG Bhawan at Gole Market, the CPI [Marxist] Headquarters, at 11.10 am on Monday and paid floral tributes to Jyoti Basu, who died in Kolkata on Sunday after fighting a battle with pneumonia. The Indian Prime Minister also signed the condolence book.

Senior BJP leaders on Sunday condoled the death of Jyoti Basu, saying he was one of the tallest leaders in contemporary politics who remained committed to his ideology. BJP Parliamentary Party chairman Lal Krishna Advani described the former West Bengal Chief Minister as a "stalwart" and "a great leader".

BJP president Nitin Gadkari said, "Jyoti Basu was one of the tallest leaders of contemporary India. He was a leader committed to the weaker sections of the society. He remained firm and committed to his ideology and his sense of idealism."

Leader of Opposition in Indian Lok Sabha, Ms. Sushma Swaraj described Basu as "one of the tallest and experienced leaders of Indian politics who got the love and confidence of his people for many years, which is the most valuable thing for any leader in a democracy". She said despite ideological differences with Basu, "he was worthy of our respect". Swaraj said Basu's popularity was undiminished even after leaving the post of Chief Minister. "In this, I also consider him a very fortunate leader," she added.

Leader of Opposition in Indian Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said Basu was a man "committed to the service of his people, his ideology and a sense of idealism". "Jyoti Basu was one of the tallest contemporary leaders of Indian politics. BJP deeply mourns his death," Jaitley said. "He was a politician of high credibility whose loss will be felt by the entire nation."

Jyoti Basu will not only remain as a leader or a Communist Guru to the people of India, but he truly will remain as an icon of leadership, who continued to maintain tight grip over West Bengal with his Communist ideology, despite the fact that, Communism is no more any popular method for majority of Indians. With his demise, Marxists have surely lost their last Titan. It is even apprehended that, the decade old continuation of Communist rule in the West Bengal might even come to an end with this death.

In past few decades, India has greatly changed. It is no more a least developed country. But, India and Indians are very prominently and proudly continuing to contribute in various development activities in the world. Information Technology is one particular sector, where Indians are already a dominant force. With every sun rise, India is shinning, it is flourishing. Gradually it is establishing a firm grip over many of the businesses in the world. To many in the West, India is no more seen as a mere poverty ridden country. India is already a global prayer in economic sector. It has also turned into a major player in regional and global politics. For India, it is a win-win situation.

As things are continuing to change in India and everyday, possibly politics will also change. May be for India and Indians, Marxism or Communism will no more any valid idea of governance. There will be possibly the beginning of victory of anti-Communism forces in Indian West Bengal as well other states, where Communists are yet extremely powerful. But, things will change, as the last Titan of Marxism has demised. This is reality, and Indians are well aware of the fact.

While we bid very warm farewell to Jyoti Basu, we shall keep our eyes open to see a significant change in the politics in the Indian state of West Bengal. Everywhere in the World, Communism is facing defeat. Realizing this fact, Communists are even aligning with Islamists with the goal of continuing their existence and influence in the world. But, we all know such 'Red-Green' alliance will be of no good to the world.

Indians are bidding farewell to the last Titan of Marxism. Hopefully, they will also say 'goodbye' to Communism soon. May be!

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