Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee: Chief minister who tried to break ground

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee took charge to bring West Bengal on India Inc's investment map. He died with the dream unfulfilled

Former Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was crazy for cricket: Sourav

Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly recalled that former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who died on Thursday morning, was crazy for the game and always kept himself updated about the performance of players. On arrival from Mumbai at the N S C Bose International Airport here on Friday, the Indian cricket icon told reporters that not only contemporary cricketers, Bhattacharjee loved to discuss former cricket stalwarts like Pankaj Roy, his captaincy and batting during chats. "Buddha babu was a cricket crazy person. He used to talk to me before and after cricket matches and discuss our performance. He had so much grasp over the game and its rules. He was well-versed in the history of the cricket of Bengal and the country. We will miss such a person," Ganguly said. He said Bhattacharjee also loved to discuss films and books and it was a pleasure meeting him always. Ganguly recalled that Bhattacharjee was present at the state-organised felicitation programme

Former West Bengal CM Buddhadeb's mortal remains to embark on final journey

The mortal remains of former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will be kept at the CPI(M) state headquarters here for leaders and members of the public to pay their last respects before embarking on the last journey to NRS Medical College and Hospital on Friday. Bhattacharjee, who died at his south Kolkata residence on Thursday morning after suffering from prolonged illness related to respiratory issues and old age, had pledged his body. The former chief minister's body, kept overnight at a mortuary here, will be taken to the state assembly, where it will be kept for half an hour from 11 am, a CPI(M) official said. His mortal remains will reach CPI(M) state headquarters at Muzaffar Ahmed Bhavan here at 12 pm. It will be kept there till 3.15 pm for leaders, supporters and members of the public to pay their last respects to the departed leader, whose simplicity drew admirers from across party lines and political ideologies. The body will thereafter be taken to the s

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee: Angry young man who retained belief in secularism

Bhattacharjee believed he must have done something right, and pushed boldly for review and reform of shibboleths

From Cossipore to Nandigram: Bengal's last Marxist CM Buddhadeb bids adieu

Former two-time West Bengal Chief Minister and CPI(M) politburo member Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee passed away in Kolkata after dealing with health issues for some time

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, a veteran communist who wooed capital for industry

Former West Bengal chief minister and a front-ranking Marxist leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will go down in the country's history as a pragmatic communist who kept aside his ideological convictions to woo capital for the industrialisation of his state. The CPI(M) stalwart - a quintessential Bengali 'bhadralok' with an incorruptible image - will be ironically remembered also for the fall of the 34-year-old Left regime in the state in 2011. He oversaw the end of an era in which he helmed the longest democratically elected communist government but failed to lead the Left Frong to victory for the eighth time in a row in the highly politically polarised state. Bhattacharjee who died on Thursday in his Kolkata home was 80. He left behind his wife and a daughter, who has declared to be undergoing gender change. Bhattacharjee, who was the seventh chief minister of the state, pushed hard to shed his party's anti-industry image and promote industrialisation to breathe new life into Bengal's

Tabla Maestro Anindya Chatterjee also refused Padma award

Eminent Tabla player Pandit Anindya Chatterjee has declined to receive the Padma Shri honour. Chatterjee is the second person from Bengal's vibrant musical world who was offered the Padma award this year and refused it. The eminent percussionist, who has been 'jugal bandis' (duets) with classical maestros like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan said on Wednesday he had recieved a phone call from Delhi on Tuesday seeking his consent to accepting the honour. "However I politely declined. I said thank you but I am not ready to receive Padma Shri at this phase of my career. I have passed that phase," Chatterjee who received the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2002 said. A disciple of PanditJnan Prakash Ghosh, he has performed at the Rastrapati Bhavan in the past and was the youngest tabla player to perform in the British Parliament's House of Commons in 1989. Chatterjee said he would have accepted the honour with gratitude had it been conferred on him

Ex-Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee rejects Padma Bhushan award

Veteran CPI(M) leader and former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee rejected the Padma Bhushan award.

Former Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's health condition stable

Bhattacharjee is undergoing treatment at a private hospital after being diagnosed with Covid

TMC, BJP brought West Bengal to ruins: Buddhadeb Bhattacharya

Former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya came down heavily on the ruling TMC and the BJP on Monday, accusing them of ruining the state and its secular credentials. Bhattacharya, 76, said it is only the Left-Congress- ISF alliance that can bring the state out of darkness. Noting that "the silence of a crematorium" prevails in Singur and Nandigram, he alleged that under the present dispensation, the state has gone backwards in agriculture, while no industry was established during its 10-year-tenure. Anti-land acquisition movements led by the Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee at Singur and Nandigram in 2007-08 had jolted the mighty Left Front government and laid the foundation of the TMC rule in West Bengal. "The conspirators of the devious play of that period are now divided in two groups engaged in mudslinging against each other," Bhattacharya said. Young people of Bengal have lost employment opportunities and the meritorious and skilled left f

Poriborton without change

Mamata faces off against former disciple-turned-defector Adhikari in a very different contest in Nandigram. It's not land acquisition but an ego clash that has acquired, tragically, communal overtones

Best of BS Opinion: Rising bond yields, 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', and more

Here's a selection of Business Standard opinion pieces for the day

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee: The elusive pimpernel of Bengal politics

Finally, the former CM started campaigning for his party nominees earlier today in Kolkata