His political adversaries admit that at 94, he's lost none of his political sharpness. For the nuclear negotiations, the government's chief interlocutor, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, spent more time with Jyoti Basu to discuss strategies to defuse tension than meeting the CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat. Principal opposition leader in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, refused to meet Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on the Singur land issue but rushed to his residence as soon as she was called.Jyoti Basu has once again expressed a desire that he be relieved from the politburo. On Friday, he was quoted by PTI repeating this plea - not new - since he has been saying this for several years. However, this time, the former chief minister has reiterated his desire when the party congress is to form a new politburo in Coimbatore on April 1.Before the last party congress too, Basu told party leaders that he should be dropped from the politburo. The CPI(M), did exactly the opposite. It bestowed iconic status on Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet and announced that the duo, being the only surviving leaders among the founder members of the party, will continue to be politburo members till their last breath. This sentiment still pervades. Sitaram Yechury, a politburo member, said: "He is a veteran leader of our party and this is not the first time that he has expressed this desire. However, we have already taken a stand that as long as he is able to contribute, he will remain in the politburo."Basu has already informed comrades that he won't be able to go to Coimbatore to attend the party congress. This will be the first time in the history of CPI(M) that Jyoti Basu will not attend a party congress.At a time, when one of the biggest communist leaders of this planet"" Cuba's Fidel Castro"" has announced to step down, one of the tallest communist of India "" Jyoti Basu "" also wishes to call it a day after serving over fifty years in the communist movement. Castro could decide his own fate but Basu needs party's permission to bid farewell to politics.And again the mood of the party is: Jyoti Basu was not born to retire.
