JYOTI BASU 102ND BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION PROGRAMME

Jyoti Basu: An energizing Communist

By V. S. Achyuthanandan

I am having the fortune to cherish the fond memories of Com. Jyoti Basu that spread over half a century. Being  members of the Polit Bureau  and Central Committee of the CPI(M), we had been able to work together during different occasions on various issues. Jyoti Basu was a clear-cut example of a communist leader. How a communist should behave in life as well as in struggles is evident in the personality of Com. Jyoti Basu. When he was in ill bed I visited him at his residence and in hospital more than once. On that occasions, irrespective of his ill health, we have exchanged and recollected our old memories for a long time. That was also last memorable movements in our friendship. One of those occasions, I proudly recollect, he told me that “you are a good fighter and  still  you have enough strength & courage  to continue the fight  for people’s cause.” 

We all know he was born and brought up in an affluent family.  And he could attain the higher  education from London.   So, he could have led a comfortable life. But, it is discarding all these fortunes that he became a staunch fighter of the working class movement in the country.

It’s a fact that his life at London helped him have association with  Prof. Harold Lasky and many other  left thinkers,  later on paved way for him to  have close connection with the  anti-fascist & working class movements. When Basu returned home, the fire he got from the anti- imperialist & fascist movement in London helped him plunge into the turbulent turmoil’s  of  freedom struggle.  As a communist leader, he was always  with the toiling masses. The  problem they faced, he took them as his own. For their cause, he was ready to take  any risk. And gradually he grew up to the stature of a great leader. Struggles, under-ground life, arrests, conviction – all these were part and parcel of his life, exactly in tune with the life of a true communist.

His life was, in its full sense, committed to the people and the nation. So, personal sorrows never annoyed him. At the time of the death his father, Basu was in Dum Dum Central jail. So he could not have a look at his father before he breathed his last.  But the communist in Basu was strong enough to bear all these heart-renting moments.

It was in 1958 that I came to have personal association with Com. Basu when I became the national council member  of the undivided Communist Party of India. During that time great are the memories we experienced together in fighting relentlessly against revisionism  in the party. It was the leadership quality  of Com. Basu that  succeeded in keeping the comrades in West Bengal in tune with the parties correct line.

Ultimately in 1964, 32 comrades staged a walk-out permanently from the national council  of CPI and later on CPI(M) was formed. And  Com. Basu was one among those 32 comrades. At present, myself is the only one among those 32 comrades  who is alive today.

In the Vijayawada Congress in 1961, we fought strongly inside the party against the rightist deviations under Dange. At that time Jyothi Basu was well in the fore-front of this struggle along with Comrades Basava Punnaiah and  P Sundarayiah. And Jyoti Basu had alone done a marvelous job in making meticulous arrangements for the first organizational conference which marked the formation of the CPI(M) in 1964 in Kolkota. 

The Bengal People are greatly indebted  to Com. Jyoti Basu for establishing a left-front government in West Bengal  emancipating the state from the tyrannical Congress rule led by late  Sidhartha Sanker Ray. In this fight, he remained on a par with Comrades Pramod Das Gupta, Saroj Mukharjee and Binoy Chowdhari etc.

After this, under his agile leadership he could lead Bengal to prosperity for a period of three decades. He could establish novel models in Bengal by effecting land-reforms and decentralization of power. Under his leadership, Bengal could attain the highest  rate of agricultural growth in the country. It was his association with the peasant movement in Bengal that helped him take these progressive measures in agricultural sector. But unfortunately before establishing cent percent rights for the tenancy of the peasants and agricultural workers over land, he had to move away from power. But even then, the laws promulgated by the Basu government remain to be a land-mark in the history not only of West Bengal, but the entire nation .

Basu’s fond memories are also relevant  in the fact that he had been successful in containing and saving the state during the days of communal struggles. It was well seen during the time of the demolition of Babari Masjid.

At one occasion, there was a call from different corners that Basu should be made the Prime Minister of India. Even though it was not realized, it was a great recognition and honour for the personality of Basu and the CPI(M).

In short, Com. Jyoti Basu was a hard-core communist, a relentless fighter for the cause of the down-trodden and the working class, an able administrator, a far-sighted leader, a staunch secularist  and what not.

At this juncture, when the country is on the brim of a collapse in the hands of the BJP-led communal and divisive forces, the great memories  of Com. Jyoti Basu would be an energizing force for all the secular  and democratic sections to fight against these communal forces.  

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Bengal celebrates Jyoti Basu's birth centenary

IANS, Tuesday, July 08, 2014, 22:57

Kolkata: West Bengal Tuesday celebrated the birth centenary of Jyoti Basu - one of the most revered Indian politicians and the state's former chief minister - with blood donation camps, seminars and cultural programmes.

The Marxist patriarch, who holds the record in post-independence India for the longest chief ministerial tenure and narrowly missed becoming the country's prime minister, is credited with having successfully made centre-state relations a major debating point in the late 1970s and 1980s and emerging as a central figure in anti-Congress political space at the national level.

In the morning, Basu's portrait was garlanded in the assembly by Speaker Biman Banerjee and Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), of which Basu was a founding member, organised programmes across the state to celebrate the occasion.

Basu's photos were garlanded outside CPI-M offices and those of its various mass organisations in the city and the districts. The party organised blood donation camps, discussions and seminars, highlighting his life and contribution and dwelling on the present political scenario in the country and the state.

The central function was held at the sprawling Nazrul Mancha where Left Front leaders stressed on Left unity and reflected on the errors committed during recent elections.

CPI-M state secretary and Left Front chairman Biman Bose said Basu's life was a shining example for young comrades in abiding by party discipline.

Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary Manju Kumar Majumdar questioned the call given for an anti-Congress and anti-Bharatiya Janata Party alternative during the recent elections in the absence of any solid understanding among Left parties.

"Had Jyoti Babu been there, such a slogan would have not come out," he said.

All India Forward Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh expressed concern for the Left parties suffering a serious loss of their mass base.

"When we address these issues we can pay the real tribute to Jyoti Basu," said Ghosh.

Basu had stewarded the state's Left front government as chief minister from 1977 to 2000, that earned him accolades from both within the country and abroad for his skills in running a coalition successfully in a multi-party democratic set-up.

Basu's close aide Sarit Bandyopdhyay Asaid he was a "multifaceted personality" with a razor-sharp memory and had a open mind on all matters. He also followed sports.

Refering to the turn of events in 1996 when the CPI-M prevented Basu from becoming prime minister at the head of the United Front government, Bose said that Basu accepted the party decision like a "true communist". However, later Basu had dubbed the decision a "historic blunder".

Basu's successor as chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said Basu had placed the struggle of peasants and working classes at the centre of politics.

"The fight for land was carried forward by providing pattas (land titles) to landless farmers. The rights of sharecropeprs was also protected," he said.

The CPI-M politburo minister also recalled how the "secular" Basu ensured that Bengal remained free from communal strife in 1984 after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

Economist Prabhat Patanik also addressed the programme.

Born July 8, 1914, Basu joined the CPI in 1940 and began his work in the railway trade union movement. In 1946, he was elected to the Bengal legislative assembly from the Railway constituency.

He played a key role in the development of the CPI in India and was the secretary of its provincial committee from 1954 to 1960. He became a member of the central committee of the CPI in 1951. When the CPI-M was formed in 1964, he became one of the founder politburo and central committee members.

He passed away Jan 17, 2010. His body was handed over to the SSKM hospital in deference to his wish that it be donated for medical research after his death. His eyes were used to give vision to a till-then blind person.

Jyoti Basu birth centenary tomorrow

STAFF REPORTER

THE HINDU, KOLKATA, July 7, 2014

Kolkata: Not only leaders of the Left parties but academicians and members of the intelligentsia will be present at the birth centenary celebrations of former West Bengal Chief Minister and veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu, chairperson of the State Left Front Committee Biman Basu said here on Sunday. The event will be organised at Nazrul Mancha, a city auditorium, on Tuesday.

Mr. Basu said, “Apart from Left leaders, the event will be attended by eminent economist Prabhat Patnaik, who will be the main speaker. Well-known novelist Nabaneeta Dev Sen will also address the gathering.” Mr. Basu said that the event would also be attended by veteran politician Kashikanta Maitra, who worked with Jyoti Basu. A booklet on the life and ideals of Jyoti Basu will be released.

It will comprise Jyoti Basu’s speech at the Nehru Memorial Lecture in Delhi. Besides, there will be cultural programmes such as song, dance, and recitation of poetry.

A select audio-visual clippings of Jyoti Basu’s speech will also be played.

Mr. Basu, who had been the longest serving Chief Minister of any State, passed way on January 17, 2010. He was the Chief Minister of West Bengal for 23 years from 1977 to 2000.

Governor's intervention sought on Jyoti Basu Nagar issue

IANS, Last Updated: Saturday, December 21, 2013, 01:13  

  

Kolkata: Taking exception to West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee government's attempt to change the name of a township christened after former chief minister Jyoti Basu, left leaders and other eminent persons Friday urged sought the intervention of Governor MK Narayanan to redress their grievance.

"It goes without saying that the people as a whole, take exception to the attempt of changing the name of Jyoti Basu Nagar, by the West Bengal government," said a memorandum given to Narayanan by the Jyoti Basu Birth Centenary Celebration Committee.

The Trinamool Congress regime last month withdrew in the state assembly the New Town, Kolkata Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2011 passed by the erstwhile Left Front regime that had included a proposal to name the New Town area as JyotiBasuNagar.

Narayanan has already disapproved the dropping of the bill, while the Left has been demanding introduction of a new legislation restoring the name.

Hasim Abdul Halim, working president of the committee, claimed before journalists that the governor told the delegation that he has already communicated to the government that he was not in favor of changing the name.

"It is requested that being the constitutional head of the state, you would be kind enough to take up the issue appropriately and redress the natural grievance of the people that it generates," said the memorandum.

The delegation pointed out that the LF government had named New Town after Basu in recognition of his immense contribution in building the modern township.

HIDCO, a government agency which developed the township, took a resolution Aug 12, 2010 to name it after Basu, and referred the matter to the housing department which approved the proposal that was later okayed by the state cabinet.

The bill was then passed by the legislative assembly, but the governor referred it to the Trinamool government, which came to power in May 2011.

Basu holds the record for being the longest serving chief minister. The Marxist patriarch occupied the chair from 1977 to 2000, when he voluntarily stepped down due to old age. 

Jyoti Basu: The pragmatic communist

By Somnath Chatterjee

Times of India, Jul 8, 2013, 03.42AM IST

Jyoti Basu was to me a rare communist and a bhadralok who upheld his party ideals on the same breath as the democratic spirit of the Constitution. He was my only leader, who could best articulate the voice of the struggling millions within the precincts of parliamentary democracy and outside. At the personal level, he was an affectionate guide who took great care in advising me whenever I was in need.

Somnath Chatterjee, speaker Biman Banerjee, Partha Chatterjee and others paying homage to the late Jyoti Basu on his 100th Birth Anniversary at West Bengal Assembly on Monday. 

His life is an illuminating saga of active participation in people's struggle. He spoke in the people's language, minus the political jargons, because he could feel what they felt and could express what they wanted to. Personally, I have been extremely fortunate to work under his guidance. Basu taught us, as he himself followed, that politics provides the best opportunities to serve the people as one's mission in life and should not be treated as a matter of part-time hobby or pastime.

He wanted everyone to remember that people occupied the most important and central position in a democratic set-up and he wanted us to judge our activities in terms of people's welfare and progress.

Basu had the capacity to assess the significance of developing situations political or otherwise and he could quickly react to them most aptly. His "one-liners", if I may so describe them, were not only brief but on most occasions found wholly appropriate.

Another quality he had, which is seldom found among politicians today, is that he was never dogmatic, though he had clarity over what he and his party wanted to achieve. But he never acted partisan in contentious matters. That explains how he could maintain excellent rapport even with the opposition and act as a binding force of the Left for all these years.

Though his objective was to usher in a classless society, he realized that till it was achieved, the party should fully participate in parliamentary democracy under the Constitution of India, which should be strengthened as well. He set an outstanding example of how to run a coalition government in harmony.

And for this quality, and his success as chief minister, Basu was entreated repeatedly in 1996 by the leaders of the United Front in Delhi to take charge as Prime Minister. What followed is known to all.

I still recall the day when I met an ailing Basu at his Kolkata residence on July 12, 2008, when I heard rumours doing the rounds that the CPM politburo wanted me to step down as Speaker of the Lok Sabha ahead of the confidence vote on the Indo-US nuclear deal in Parliament after the Left withdrew its support to the UPA. Basu was fully aware of the party's stand and I had no discussion with him on the matter. I also had no idea whether he agreed with the party's stand. But he advised me that I should preside over the proceedings of the House on the confidence motion. My resignation, he felt as I too believed, would suggest that I was compromising on my position as the Speaker and was allowing my actions to be dictated by a political party, which would go against the basic tenets of parliamentary democracy. He further advised me that I could take a decision after the trust vote because I had arranged the annual Hiren Mukkherjee Parliamentary Lecture on August 11 where Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen was to deliver his speech.

I can't but mention two of his great achievements, namely land reforms and devolution of power to the grassroots through panchayati raj and municipal bodies to which elections had not been held for many years.

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi openly acknowledged the success of the panchayati system in West Bengal under Jyoti Basu's leadership. Basu also pioneered the movement for a balanced development. He brought to the fore the federal structure of our country, both in terms of political and financial powers an issue that was lapped up by other state governments. As a true democrat, he always spoke against the misuse of Article 356 of the Constitution that provides for dismissal of state government by imposition of the President's Rule.

His long unbeaten innings as chief minister has to its store many milestones in the field of agriculture and industry in Bengal. As a pragmatic leader, Basu realized that though he and his party and the Left Front were opposed to globalization and liberalization, he couldn't ignore the existing laws and opportunities to usher in speedy industrialization. With that objective, Basu formulated and announced the industrial policy of the Left Front government in September 1994. Haldia Petrochemicals and Bakreswar Power Station were two of the major projects which he successfully dealt with through protracted negotiations, and at a time, going into a confrontation with the Union government. Many other important units like Mitsubishi Project in Haldia and the thriving IT sector in Salt Lake Sector V are the fruits of his forward looking policy.

Even as Basu and his party were all for expanding the public sector, he realized that a state government could not bring about radical changes in the country's industrial policy. Basu thus opted for a judicious mix of the public sector, the private sector and the joint sector. It pained me when some of his critics tried to underplay the achievements of the Left Front government during Basu's tenure, saying that he could do little, especially during the latter part of his tenure. I had the opportunity of talking to him about the problems and also didn't hide my reservations on the workings of the government, for which he was not to blame. But I am not going into them.

Basu was not keeping well and didn't want to cling to the seat of power. When he realized that he was not being able to devote full time and attention to his duties, Basu requested his party more than once to relieve him as chief minister and also from the important positions he held in the party. However, that was not accepted then for good reasons. But when he felt that his health was deteriorating further, he put in his papers as chief minister after 23 years and left the Writers' Buildings without showing even a trace of emotion. But as a true communist, he continued with his political life, attending meetings both at party office and addressing public gatherings till his last.

CPI (M) Polit Bureau Calls for Observe Birth Centenary of Jyoti Basu

New Delhi, June 15: July 8, 2013 marks the beginning of the birth centenary of Comrade Jyoti Basu, an outstanding leader of the Communist Party and the Left movement in India. Jyoti Basu, in his nearly seven decades of work as a Communist, left an indelible imprint on the political map of the country.  He joined the Communist Party in 1940 and began his work in the railway trade union movement. In 1946, he was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly from the Railway constituency.  Since then, in his long parliamentary career, he became the role model for all Communists and progressives on how to work in parliamentary institutions and serve the people.

Jyoti Basu played a key role in the development of the Communist Party in West Bengal and at the all-India level. He was the Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the CPI from 1954 to 1960. He became a member of the Central Committee of the CPI in 1951. When the CPI(M) was formed, he became one of the founder Polit Bureau and Central Committee members. 

Jyoti Basu became Chief Minister of the Left Front government of West Bengal in 1977 – a position he occupied continuously till 2000.  Before that, he was twice Deputy Chief Minister in the UF governments between 1967 and 1970.  Under his leadership, the government undertook the implementation of land reforms and the establishment of the panchayati raj system.

Under Jyoti Basu’s Chief Ministership, West Bengal became a bastion of communal harmony and secular values.  He played a leading role in advocating the restructuring of Centre-State relations and for establishing a federal system. 

Jyoti Basu was a leader who creatively applied Marxism to the concrete Indian conditions and made an immense contribution in charting out the course for the Party.

Jyoti Basu, in his lifetime, became a symbol for the Left, democratic and secular forces in the country.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) calls for a year-long celebration of the birth centenary of Jyoti Basu beginning from July 8, 2013.  The centenary will be observed by holding meetings, seminars and a special campaign to propagate the life and contributions of this invaluable leader.

From India News Network (INN)

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CPI (M) asks PM for postage stamp on Jyoti Basu

Kolkata, June 12, (IANS):  The CPI(M) has appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to issue a set of postage stamps to mark the centenary of late West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu.

In a letter to Singh released to the media Wednesday, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha member and central committee member Shyamal Chakraborty said Basu's centenary would be celebrated from July 8 this year to July 8 2014.

"I propose that your good office may kindly advice Department of Posts to publish a set of commemorative postage stamps in his name during his birth centenary," said Chakraborty.

An identical letter was sent to Communication and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal.

In his letter, Chakraborty refered to the role Basu played in India's political life after Independence.

"He (Basu) ran a government in a state for consecutive five terms. (He) had the widest experience of working with 10 out of 13 prime ministers of India. This may be reckoned as unprecedented record in the history of democracy."

Chakraborty also pointed out that during his stint as the country's finance minister between 1991 and 1996, Singh had worked with Basu.

Basu, born July 8, 1914, was at the helm of affairs in West Bengal for over 23 years from 1977, the longest chief ministerial tenure in India. He voluntarily stepped down in 2000 due to ill health.

Basu almost became India's prime minister in 1996 at the head of a centre-Left United Front government. But the CPI-M vetoed the proposal, and he later dubbed the party's decision a "historical blunder".

CPI (M) prepares for Jyoti Basu birth centenary celebrations

Press Trust of India| June 4, 2013 Last Updated at 21:40 IST

KOLKATA: The CPI (M) would start preparations for celebrating the birth centenary of late chief minister and party leader Jyoti Basu from July 8.

"From that day, the party will prepare for a year-long birth centenary celebration of Jyoti Basu with due honour," the CPI(M) state committee said after a meeting here today.

The state committee said the celebrations would include spread of Marxist ideology and for extending mass organizations.

The party has already decided to set up a ‘Jyoti Basu centre for social studies and research’ at Rajarhat New Town in memory of the Marxist leader who died on January 17, 2010.