Take pledge to carry forward Basu's ideals: Karat

KOLKATA: The first death anniversary of Jyoti Basu, a stalwart of the Communist movement in India, was observed in a sombre ceremony at his Salt Lake residence here on Monday even as tributes flowed in through the day.

Speaking at an event in Durgapur in Bardhaman district, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat spoke about the “Champion of the working class” and of the need to take a “pledge to carry forward the ideals and work that he stood for his entire life.”

The former Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, visited Indira Bhavan, the house which served as Jyoti Basu's residence for years, and bemoaned the loss of the leader at a time when political violence had gripped the State.

Describing the situation as “unfortunate and a matter of concern,” Mr. Chatterjee said, “He [Jyoti Basu] always spoke against violence and for working together to build a society not for partisan political purposes, but for the benefit of the people.”

Mr. Chatterjee recounted the days when the veteran Marxist leader was able to hold discussion on several issues, including the violence at Nandigram.

Fund collection

The CPI(M) State Committee launched a 10-day campaign to collect funds for the setting up of a centre dedicated to his memory at the Jyoti Basu Centre for Social Science and Research Organisation.

Issuing an appeal to party workers, supporters and the people to donate funds for the centre, CPI(M) State Secretary Biman Bose said the land for the centre had been allocated in Jyoti Basu Nagar on the north-eastern fringe of the city and a sizable sum was required to purchase the land. The centre would include details of his life, an auditorium, a meeting hall, a conference room, a library and a guest house, Mr. Bose said in a written statement.

The Hindu, January 18, 2011

A Unique and Beloved Leader

By Brinda Karat

THE colossus of the Indian communist movement, the last of the navratnas who comprised the first Polit Bureau of the CPI(M), our beloved leader Comrade Jyoti Basu is no more. He bore his deteriorating health problems with a sense of dignity and will power through the suffering. Even when he was ill and unable to come to meetings, his wise counsel and guidance were always there for the party, for his comrades. But the inevitable came to pass. In his death the country has lost one of its greatest sons, a man who was born into privilege, who turned his back on it, to fight the fight of the dispossessed.

UNIQUE LEADERSHIP AT CRUCIAL JUNCTURE

Many movements led by communists in different periods of history suffered because of the gulf between theory, principle, programme and practical work. Unlike some other countries, in India the course of the freedom movement left the ruling classes with no alternative but to adopt a parliamentary system of democracy based on a multi-party system. Thus, one of the crucial questions before the communist movement was the role of parliamentary democracy in the strategy for the Indian revolution. This did not remain just a theoretical or academic question precisely because the growth of the communist movement got reflected in the increasing strength in legislatures in the three states of Kerala, Bengal and Tripura, enabling the formation of governments led by the party, though at differing times. This provided a unique opportunity for the party to show to the masses and help them learn by their experience the possibilities and the limitations of bourgeois democracy. The first communist led government under the leadership of Comrade E M S Namboodiripad showed the way, setting out an important framework.

In Bengal, a decade later, there was a parallel yet entirely different model based on the concrete realities of Bengal. The combination provided by the unique parliamentary skills and experience of workers movements provided by the leadership of Comrade Jyoti Basu on the one hand and the strong organisation and struggles built up under that of Comrade Promod Dasgupta and other leaders on the other, developed the communist intervention in Bengal to a plane unmatched in the country. How to combine parliamentary work with extra-parliamentary activity? What are the possibilities to run a government with an alternative vision within the framework of a bourgeois-landlord state? What is the relationship between such a government and the class struggles of the masses? These and so many other, related questions crucial to the implementation of the programmatic understanding of the party for the Indian revolution found some answers through the positive and negative experiences in the fields, factories and the legislature in Bengal. At the core of this historic period, which has so many lessons for us today, was the leadership of Comrade Jyoti Basu. Particularly at a time when there were no precedents or examples to follow, when new problems demanded new solutions, the party was indeed fortunate to have had as its helmsman in government Comrade Jyoti Basu. The profound impact of the government he led through the initiatives taken in crucial areas gave the party a prestige and profile which also enabled a larger role for the party in national politics. Under his leadership, the Left Front government in Bengal became the embodiment of the alternative policies being promoted by the party at the national level.

COLOSSUS WHO SET MANY PRECEDENTS

His was a unique role and he set many precedents. Seventy years in public life in the service of the people. The longest serving elected head of a government in the whole world. A communist who started his public activity as a trade union leader and who continued to remain associated with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) even as the chief minister, thus sending out a strong message of the difference between a communist chief minister and others. Serving in the Bengal assembly for five decades, interrupted only because of the rigged elections in 1972 and the Emergency. A parliamentarian who used his brilliant skills to raise the voice of the people and later as head of government, to forge alternative policies. A statesman who set an example in united front politics heading the longest most cohesive coalition in the country. A leader who faced several death threats but who never flinched when the bullets flew at him showing exemplary personal courage. A champion of secular values throughout his life starting with his Herculean efforts to douse the communal flames set alight in Calcutta in 1946 who decades later as chief minister helped to make Bengal a safe haven for minority communities and a symbol of communal harmony. A popular leader who insisted on stepping down from the chief minister’s post in spite of the unanimous appeal of his comrades not do so, because he believed that his health did not permit him to work as he would like to. His acceptance of the decision of the Central Committee in 1996 to decline the offer of the prime minister’s post. On his return to Kolkata, when he was asked repeatedly about his personal reaction, he only replied, “I am a disciplined soldier of the party.” With that one sentence, he set a historical example of communist discipline. That too was unique. He deeply respected and set the highest example of maintaining communist norms.

Each and every one of the precedents he set add to the multidimensional nature of the legacy he has left.

He had the most emancipated social outlook, the very epitome of a progressive understanding of social issues, particularly on women. He strongly disapproved of the conservative and male chauvinist attitudes prevalent in society and in politics. His strong reactions to violence against women, his encouragement to building up women’s movements in resistance were a great encouragement to women’s movements and particularly all women comrades in the party. They looked to Jyoti Basu for support and he gave it unstintingly. At the eighth national conference of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) held in Kolkata in 2007, he made a most memorable speech. Speaking about the important role that women in panchayats were playing in West Bengal, he candidly said, “When Indian women have been given the opportunity they have done well. We are proud of the role of our women in panchayats. I have no hesitation to admit that we had doubts initially whether competent candidates could be found or not. But thanks to organised women’s movement they came out boldly and we find in many of the villages where we have women panchayat members those villages have performed well in all development projects and have also won many awards even at the national level.” Under his leadership, the West Bengal assembly adopted in 1998 a unanimous resolution in support of the women’s reservation bill, becoming the first to do so. Within the party he always urged his comrades to bring more women into the party and to give them more responsibilities.

UNDERSTANDING THE GRASS ROOTS

The higher his stature grew, impacting on national politics as the longest serving chief minister in the country and the one with the most impeccable record of integrity, the sharper his unerring instinct and understanding of the grass roots and the pulse of the people. In contrast to the perceived image of his “being aloof,” he was closest to the thoughts of the people. A true communist, he cared deeply for the interests of the people and was loved by them in return. He never cared for the trappings of power and that is why people identified with him. They believed that wherever he was he would be doing the right thing for them. In Bengal and all over the country, there must be numerous workers and the poor in the villages who grieve today the passing of a man who lived his life to create a world more just for them. For them Jyoti Basu was always “our man;” they knew that wherever he was their interests were uppermost in his mind. In many working class areas in the Hindi speaking region, the party used to be known as “Jyoti Basu’s party.”

They trusted him because Jyoti Basu always spoke the truth to the people. He never exaggerated what he could do for them, he always pointed out the pitfalls. At a time when melodrama and hyperbolic promises mark the political scenario, most striking was Jyoti Basu’s quality of being absolutely straightforward in what he said to the people in the hundreds and thousands of meetings he addressed in his life.

The greatness of Jyoti Basu also lay in his absolute lack of rancour against individuals who may have differed with him politically. He spoke his mind and expected others to do so too. He was extremely democratic and though his towering personality could have silenced any differences if he had wanted to, he never imposed his will but always went by the collective. In his autobiography, he writes how after 1946 when he was elected to the legislature he used to go every evening to the party office to inform and discuss with the party leadership the day’s proceedings and developments. This practice continued throughout his life. He set an example by coming every day to the party office before going on to fulfil his heavy responsibilities as chief minister.

In his reach to the world, Jyoti Basu went far beyond the party he built and loved. He not only touched the lives of millions but, by his pioneering leadership, he changed their lives, giving the poor confidence and dignity. He has left us grieving and bereft.

Jyoti Basu: A Pre-eminent Leader

By Prakash Karat

JYOTI Basu is no more. Though he was 95 and was becoming fragile by the day, his departure is traumatic for the entire Party and has saddened people all over the country. The people of West Bengal feel bereaved. This is because Jyoti Basu was woven into the very fabric of the Communist movement. When we recall the Tebhaga movement, the struggle against the communal carnage during partition, the great mass movements after independence such as the food movement of 1959, the land struggles of the sixties, the fight against semi-fascist terror, Jyoti Basu is inseparable from all these events.

When the CPI(M) was formed in 1964, West Bengal was not the strongest unit of the Party. It was built up by the correct strategy and tactics adopted, in which Jyoti Basu alongwith Promode Dasgupta, played a key role. If Promode Dasgupta worked to build the Party organisation, brick by brick, Jyoti Basu provided the leadership for the political campaigns, the mass movements and the leadership in the legislature.

Jyoti Basu was the last surviving member of the original nine-member Polit Bureau constituted in 1964. He saw his colleagues departing one by one. A K Gopalan, Promode Dasgupta, P Sundarayya, P Ramamurthi, M Basavapunniah, B T Ranadive, EMS Namboodiripad and finally Harkishan Singh Surjeet. They were all leaders who belonged to the generation which began their political life in the anti-imperialist struggle.

Jyoti Basu became acquainted with Marxism through the British Communist Party, while studying abroad. He came back and joined the Communist Party and straight away began work in the trade union movement of the railway workers. One of the distinctive contributions of Jyoti Basu was the way he integrated work in the legislature with the people's movements and workers struggles outside. Jyoti Basu was elected to the Bengal legislature in 1946 before independence. From then onwards, for more than five decades, he effectively utilised his presence in the legislature for developing and strengthening the Party's influence and movements outside. When the Tebhaga movement of the peasantry began in 1947, Jyoti Basu extensively toured the districts where the movement was taking place for a first hand report and raised the issue effectively in the assembly.

In 1953, he became the secretary of the Provincial Committee of the CPI and continued in this post till 1961. During these eight years, big movements took place such as the food movement of 1959 in which 80 people were killed in police firing and lathicharges. Jyoti Basu, as secretary of the Party, was in the forefront of this movement while relentlessly raising the demands of the people on food inside the assembly.

Earlier, when the school teachers' strike took place in February 1954, many leaders of the school teachers association and the Party were arrested. There was a warrant for the arrest of Jyoti Basu and the police kept a vigil outside the assembly on the opening day of the session to arrest him. Jyoti Basu managed to enter the assembly and stayed for around a week inside the premises where the police could not enter. He was able to raise the issue of the teachers’ strike inside the assembly and came out to attend the teachers rally and got arrested. Here was a striking example of how Jyoti Basu, as a legislator, utilised the assembly to champion the cause of the working people.

Jyoti Basu was a man of great personal courage. In July 1969, when he was the home minister, a mob of policeman invaded the assembly building, having been instigated to do so after a policeman was killed in the clash. They smashed up furniture inside the assembly and entered Jyoti Basu's room. Jyoti Basu calmly faced the rampaging policemen and firmly told them to stop such behaviour. Taken aback by his composure, the policemen quietly left his room.

One saw the same calmness and demeanour when there was an assassination attempt at the Patna railway station in 1970. When bullets were fired at him, a comrade who had come to receive him at the station and was standing next to him was killed.

After the pioneering role of the first Communist ministry headed by EMS Namboodiripad in Kerala in 1957-59, it was Jyoti Basu who showed how Communist participation in the state government should be utilised to strengthen the democratic movement. During the two stints of the United Front government between 1967-1970, as the home minister, he did not allow the police to intervene in the struggles of the workers and the peasants. During the land struggle which swept Bengal, Jyoti Basu declared that the government would not obstruct the peasants who were identifying the benami lands and taking them over. It is this experience which helped the CPI(M) to formulate its approach and tactics while working in the state governments.

The biggest contribution of Jyoti Basu came with the formation of the Left Front government in 1977, of which he became the chief minister. The remarkable record of the Left Front government for over three decades owes a lot to Jyoti Basu's leadership of the government for an unbroken 23 years. It was under his stewardship that the road map for land reforms was chalked out and implemented. These path-breaking reforms led to 1.1 million acres of land being distributed to 2.5 million landless and marginal farmers and 1.53 million bargadars (sharecroppers) being registered and provided security of tenure.

Side by side, with the land reforms instituted, the three-tier panchayat system was revitalised by decentralisation of powers. Much before 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments, West Bengal showed the way in democratising the panchayat system. An achievement which is taken for granted today is the establishment of a secular atmosphere in the state. Bengal, before independence, witnessed the rise of communal politics and partition saw large-scale communal violence. But the rise of the Left movement and the establishment of the Left Front government laid the basis for a major transformation. Jyoti Basu symbolised the firm adherence to secularism not only in West Bengal but the entire country. All minorities felt protected and lived free from communal attacks. The whole country praised the firm stand of Jyoti Basu which prevented any attack on the Sikh minority in West Bengal after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

By the 1980s, Jyoti Basu's stature as a national leader saw him playing a major role in implementing the CPI(M) political line. By the 1990s, no other leader among the non-Congress secular parties commanded as much respect as Jyoti Basu did.

Throughout, Jyoti Basu remained a dedicated Communist. He was an extremely disciplined person. It reflected in small details. Whenever he attended Polit Bureau or Central Committee meetings, if he had to leave the meeting early for some official work in Kolkata, he would always request permission to do so.

Jyoti Basu spoke out on issues he felt strongly about in the Party forums but would always abide by the collective decision. In 1996, after the Central Committee decided not to join the government, he repeatedly stated in Party meetings that the decision taken should be accepted as the minority has to abide by the majority decision. This, he said, was the principle of democratic centralism adhered to by our Party.

Jyoti Basu was clear that a person should not continue in positions for ever. He repeatedly asked the Party, from 1998, to relieve him from the chief ministership due to his advancing age and ill-health. It was only in 2000, six months before the assembly elections, that the Party agreed to his request. He also insisted that the Party relieve him from the Polit Bureau, a request that was not acceded to till the 19th Congress of the Party. Even then, the Central Committee decided he should continue as a special invitee to the Polit Bureau.

His absence will be felt most of all in the Polit Bureau of which he was a part for nearly 45 years. For those of us who came into the Party leadership three decades later and thereafter, there was much to learn from him. Even when he could not attend meetings in the recent years, we used to seek his advice.

During the past few years, Jyoti Basu would often pose the question why the Party is not developing outside the three states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. He would constantly stress the need to build the Party and the mass organisations in the states where we are weak. This should be taken as his last wish and desire. It is upto us to fulfill his direction.

Jyoti Basu has passed into history. But he will remain alive in the hearts of the people – the workers, peasants, agricultural workers and employees for whom he ceaselessly worked. Few leaders in independent India, can claim to have contributed to deepening democracy and strengthening the secular edifice as much as Jyoti Basu has done.

For the CPI(M), he will always remain a leader to be emulated and a Communist par excellence.

There will be none like Jyoti Basu again: Prakash Karat

KOLKATA: Jyoti Basu was a great leader of the CPI(M), the Left movement and India. With his passing away, an era has passed.

Seventy years of public life and political activity marked him out, at the time of his death, as the most distinguished Left leader of the country. An ardent Communist, he was one of the few political leaders in independent India who actually deepened democracy, strengthened secularism and brought the working people to the centre-stage of Indian politics.

As Chief Minister of West Bengal for a record 23 years, his lasting contributions were land reforms, which gave land and security of tenure to millions of peasants, the vitalization of panchayat institutions, and the creation of an enduring atmosphere of secularism in the State. He taught Communists how to work and serve the people in parliamentary forums in order to bring about changes in public policy.

He stood with the struggles of the working class and all working people. Jyoti Basu became a symbol of Left, democratic and secular forces.

Although he died at the age of 95, he leaves us bereft -- because there will be none like Jyoti Basu again.

Karat met Basu

KOLKATA, 28th NOVEMBER, 2009: The CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat met communist patriarch Jyoti Basu at his Salt Lake residence Saturday and enquired about his health. Karat arrived in Kolkata today morning to attend a party meeting Saturday and Sunday. The West Bengal unit of the CPI(M) will meet to discuss the issue of rectification guidelines for its party workers.

'Karat came to meet Basu at his Salt Lake residence today (Saturday) afternoon to enquire about his ailing health. He talked to Basu for less than 10 minutes,' Basu's personal assistant Joykrishna Ghosh said.

He said the CPI(M) general secretary did not continue the talks for long as the communist veteran was not well. 'It was just a courtesy meeting,' Ghosh said.

Later Prakash Karat slammed Trinamool Congress' demand to impose president's rule in West Bengal, saying it was against 'basic democratic principles'. 'Anybody who makes such demand should know that the demand of Article 356 (to impose president's rule) goes against the basic democratic principles. The Supreme Court has already said that the use of Article 356 against an elected government is unconstitutional,' Karat told reporters here before entering a party meeting at CPI(M) state headquarters.

About the central team which is scheduled to visit trouble-hit areas of Hooghly district, he said: 'Let the central team come and review the situation 'objectively and impartially'.

'If the central team looks at the situation, they will understand who is responsible for it. Everyone knows who is trying to destabilise the state.'

KARAT MET BASU

Kolkata, September 18, 2008 :

Accompanied by Biman Basu,

CPI(M) general secretary

Prakash Karat met ailing

veteran Marxist leader

Jyoti Basu at his

residence at Salt Lake.

PIX: Shyamal Basu