Marxist veteran Jyoti Basu, who held the record of being the longest-serving chief minister of a state and nearly became the country’s first Communist prime minister in 1996, died today after suffering from multiple organ failure.
Basu’s health deteriorated in the last few days and on Saturday night, he had been put on a temporary pacemaker after his condition deteriorated further.
The Communist veteran, who stepped down as West Bengal chief minister in November 2000 for health reasons after a 23-year tenure, had been in and out of hospital in the last two years.
Basu, a widower, leaves behind an only son, Chandan. His wife, Kamal, had died four years ago.
On Sunday morning in Kolkata, it was Left Front chairman Biman Bose who broke the news of the death of the Communist veteran to the media just past noon. “I have come to give you a sad news. Jyoti Basu is no more with us,” he said.
More From This Section
In August 2009, it was Bose who had announced the death of CPI(M) leader and state transport minister Subhas Chakraborty.
Earlier in the day, Basu’s son, state ministers Surya Kanta Mishra and Kiranmoy Nanda, CITU leader Shyamal Chakraborty and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had visited the former CPI(M) Politburo member at the hospital.
Subsequently, CPI(M) leaders Brinda and Prakash Karat, as well as Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, who was in the city to attend a convocation ceremony, also arrived to pay their respects to Basu.
“He (Basu) was a great patriot, a democrat, a parliamentarian and a socialist. He has suffered so much in the last fortnight. He was a great son of Bengal,” Chidambaram told reporters outside the hospital.
Although the chief minister did not make any statement at the hospital, he spent over an hour there. “The country has lost a great leader, and the Left democratic movement in the country has been dealt a severe blow,” he said at a press conference in the evening.
Just after Bhattacharjee left the hospital, Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who until a few years ago had a fractious relationship with Basu, came along with Opposition leader Partha Chatterjee to pay her respect to the Communist veteran.
“It is a sad day for us. We have often talked about political developments, after his retirement (from active politics),” Banerjee said.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said: “He was a people’s leader. He used to ask us to stay with the people always and not to isolate them, as our politics is for them. I had the privilege of being led by him.”
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid glowing tributes to Basu, saying he was a powerful regional voice in the national political scene and had proved to be one of the most able administrators and politicians of independent India.
The PM had described Basu as “a great son of India” on his visit to the city yesterday to address the valedictory function of the 150th anniversary celebrations of St. Xaviers College.
Senior BJP leader LK Advani, too, described Basu as a great leader. “Though our ideologies were different, still, going by his greatness, I respect him and pay my tributes,” he said.
Thousands of mourners thronged the roads as Basu’s body was taken to Peace Haven, a funeral parlour, where it would be kept for people to pay homage. He will be cremated on Tuesday at the Keoratala ghat.
Basu’s eyes, which he had donated, were removed by doctors of an eye hospital.
The state government has declared a holiday on Monday and all educational institutions will remain closed.