JYOTI BASU 102ND BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION PROGRAMME

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. 

Remembering Comrade Jyoti Basu

First Anniversary of Comrade Jyoti Basu

By Biman Basu

COMRADE Jyoti Basu left us 365days ago. It was January 17, 2010. Comrade Jyoti Basu emerged as an outstanding leader of the Communist movement and the mass movement. After completing the studies in Law in England, he returned to Kolkata and expressed his willingness for full time political activities to Comrade Muzaffar Ahmad. Comrade Muzaffar Ahmad advised him to join trade union movement and Comrade Jyoti Basu started working in trade unions from 1940. Gradually he developed himself as an able working class leader.

Comrade Jyoti Basu worked in the working class movement and mass movement for more than six decades. He led the life as a Party whole timer for nearly six decades. He never treated his personal life above and beyond the Party. He devoted himself for communist movement under the guidance from the Party. He did not join the Communist Party for his personal gains nor did he spend such a life. His Communist life is an example for coming generations. He was jailed many times and had to remain underground to build up the movement and for Party activities.

In 1946, when the Party was not that strong, Comrade Jyoti Basu was elected to Bengal Legislative Council from Railway reserved constituency as he was a railway workers’ leader. Since then, the state legislature saw his brilliant presence up to 2001. Only exception was those five years of sham assembly which was formed after rigged elections in 1972. That was the period of semi-fascist terror in West Bengal. Even Comrade Jyoti Basu was forcibly ‘defeated’ in that bogus election.

Comrade Jyoti Basu, on the one hand, proved himself as one of the front ranking leaders of the mass movement in the fifties and the sixties, and on the other he played a leading role in building up two consecutive United Front governments in the sixties. In both the first and second United Front, he was the deputy chief minister. He was home minister as well as finance minister. Comrade Jyoti Basu established himself as an able administrator during United Front governments.

Comrade Jyoti Basu played important part in defending democracy and establishment of peace during the period of semi-fascist terror in the seventies. “Subversion of Democracy”, a pamphlet written by him during that period is full of important facts of the time. Those days were, in fact, undeclared emergency in West Bengal which was to be imposed upon the whole of the country in 1975. That pamphlet by Comrade Jyoti Basu helped the organizers of movements of workers, peasants, students, youth, and women to understand the essence of emergency. He played an important role in the movement to withdraw the emergency. He propagated the on the democratic view this issue in different parts of the country and abroad. He played a significant role in determining the task of the Communists and the Left in the post-emergency political situation. In the parliamentary elections after the withdrawal of emergency, Congress, the chief motivator of that regime, was defeated and a non-Congress ministry led by prime minister Morarji Desai was formed. Later in West Bengal state assembly elections, the people rejected Congress, the killer of democracy. They were reduced to a weak minority. The Left Front got huge majority and first Left Front government was sworn with Comrade Jyoti Basu as chief minister. He was Chief Minister for 23years, a record not only in the state but in whole country. He led the government in implementing pro-people policies and made West Bengal a bright star in the annals of unity and harmony. To expand the process of development, Left Front government initiated formation of three-tier panchayats and local self governing bodies through elections. Comrade Jyoti Basu played pivotal role in this effort. He used to tell that the government will not function only from the Mahakaran (state secretariat in Kolkata). The developmental programmes will be implemented in villages through panchayats and in urban areas through municipalities. He implemented this idea in reality. The Left Front government under his leadership successfully implemented the land reforms and entitlement of share croppers, panchayat playing a big role in that. He made immense contribution in making the state self reliant in agriculture. For an all round development, Comrade Jyoti Basu introduced new industrial policy in 1994 in the cabinet and strived for industrial development of the state with the aim of employment generation.

Comrade Jyoti Basu organized conclaves along with the Chief Ministers of other states with the demand for restructuring centre-state relations. He successfully projected at all India level the issue of distribution of powers --- the subjects which should be in the Union list and which are to be placed in state list. Though he was involved in political activities in the state, Comrade Jyoti Basu gradually emerged as a national leader.

Though he is no more with us, the contributions made by Comrade Jyoti Basu in the Communist and mass movement, his ideas in defence of the interests of the people must be thoroughly realized by those who are joining political activities now. In West Bengal, ‘Jyoti Basu Centre for Social Studies and Research’ has been formed. The centre will include documentary materials about Comrade Jyoti Basu, a library, an auditorium, seminar rooms etc. Our application for a piece of land for this centre in Jyoti Basu Nagar has been approved. We will need money to buy the land and to construct the centre. In the first phase, a 10-day mass collection from all sections of people has been started from January 17, the first death anniversary of Comrade Jyoti Basu. We are confident that the people will contribute and cooperate in this effort to make this legendary leader’s memory ever shining.

Comrade Jyoti Basu used a phrase quite often: “It is people who make history”. In the present political situation, we have to engage ourselves in intense campaign in the interest of the people. There is no other alternative for us. To defeat the conspiracies by the enemy, the unity of the poor people must be strengthened. To dedicate ourselves in that process is the most crucial task before us at this present juncture.

I express my deep respect to Comrade Jyoti Basu’s memory. Comrade Jyoti Basu will live in our hearts forever.

PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACY, January 23, 2011

Jyoti Basu stood for rights of workers, strikes: Biman Basu

KOLKATA, 2nd February (PTI): Calling upon industry to take good care of employees to maintain a congenial work atmosphere, CPI(M) politburo member Biman Basu today said Marxist patriarch late Jyoti Basu stood for the rights of workers and even supported strikes by employees to realise their legitimate demands."Jyoti Basu had worked in different fields. But he struggled a lot for establishing rights of workers. It may not be palatable to you, but the fact remains that Basu used to tell workers if their just demands were not met they can go for strikes," Basu, the West Bengal CPI(M) secretary, told a condolence meeting organised by seven business chambers here.Basu at the same time had wanted the workers to work hard to increase productivity and the management to take care of their interests, he said.

An Unparalleled & Farsighted Mass Leader

By Biman Basu

IT is true that Comrade Jyoti Basu was in an advanced age. Still it is difficult to believe that he is now no more among us. Jyoti Basu was one of the leaders belonging to the first generation of the Indian communist movement. In the last seven decades, he was an undisputable leader of Bengal and of India’s communist movement, as well as of the democratic and secular movement of the country.

Speaking personally, when I received my party membership in 1958, the red card that I got bore the signature of Jyoti Basu as he was then the state party secretary. I had heard Jyoti Basu’s speeches much before I received my party membership. Many a time it seemed to me that Jyoti Basu is completing the whole sentence of his speech and moving to a different issue but that did not deter anyone from understanding the context of his speech. He had a rare ability to present any topic in a common, eligible manner, which not all the people possess. Jyoti Basu was also an extremely adept administrator. We have also received glimpses of this ability of his, during the United Front governments of 1967 and 1969. When he was the leader of the opposition, at that time also we had observed his skills in objectively presenting the people’s demand incisively --- within the state assembly as well as in the rallies outside the assembly. As a political leader, his possession of these rare skills had made him an endearing character in the eyes of the Left parties and of the common man of the country.

Alongside Comrade Promod Dasgupta, he played an important role in building up the Left Front and its government in 1977. After the Left Front government came into being in June 1977, Comrades Promod Dasgupta and Jyoti Basu in a joint press release had made a bold appeal to the people not to adopt any revengeful attitude vis-à-vis the Congress party which had earlier sought to subdue by force the democratic movements led by the communists. Such an attitude, they said, was not at all expected from any Leftist or communist. In the interests of the common people of the state and to enrich the entire economy of the country, he had mooted many proposals. As the chief minister of the state, he undertook radical land reforms and established a vigorous panchayati raj system in the interest of the peasants and landless agricultural labourers. This not only decimated the power of the rich landlords in West Bengal but also resulted in a wave of development in the rural economy of the state. Comrade Jyoti Basu played an unparalleled role in each of these endeavours. Demanding reorganisation of the centre-state relations and strengthening of the constitutional provisions regarding the federal structure of our polity, he had tried to build up popular opinion through out the country and had been in the forefront in organising the meetings of chief ministers of various states on this issue. He had been extremely vocal in this regard.

Comrade Jyoti Basu also conducted powerful movements for the establishment of the Salt Lake electronics complex, Bakreswar thermal power project, for a petrochemicals industry in Haldia. Valiant struggles were fought for materialisation of these projects. For the promotion of industries in the state, he initiated a new economic policy in the state in 1994; it was an attempt to build up industries on a joint platform. He also urged upon the industrialists to invest in the state. His message to the industrialists in the state and outside was that West Bengal is an investment friendly state. Comrade Jyoti Basu played a proactive role in attracting those who were interested in investing in the state. In this manner, and also through other methods, he tried tirelessly to create job opportunities for the unemployed youth of the state.

Comrade Jyoti Basu had been a tireless fighter for secularism. He always strove to uproot the evil of communalism from the country.

In the prime of his political life, Jyoti Basu took an active part in the struggles to uphold the rights of the working class; he played a vital role in organising the railway workers and was deeply involved in its day-to-day organisational chores. He was elected to the Bengal assembly from the railway workers constituency in 1946 and thus became actively involved in the parliamentary politics, which involvement continued till the year 2000.

Comrade Jyoti Basu showed tremendous ability to attract the people from all walks of life. With his demise, West Bengal and India have lost an astute politician who was really unparalleled and farsighted in real terms.

Jyoti Basu asks CPI(M) leaders to reach out to people

KOLKATA,24th May: Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) patriarch Jyoti Basu has asked senior party leaders to reach out to the people of West Bengal to find out the reason for the party's poor showing in the Lok Sabha polls, his personal aide said. 

"Basu has asked his party leaders, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and CPI(M) state secretary Biman Basu to reach out to common people and find out why the people had not voted for the communists in the Lok Sabha elections," Basu's personal assistant Joykrishna Ghosh said. 

"Basu has asked both of them (Bhattacharjee and Basu) to look into the issue seriously. He also instructed them to make people understand the policies of the Left Front (LF) and what they are willing to do for the common people in Bengal," he said. 

Declining to divulge any further details of the talks, Ghosh said that Basu had separate dialogues with Bhattacharjee and Bose at his Salt Lake residence. 

Meanwhile, the CPM leaders also held a state committee meeting here on Sunday to discuss the dismal result of the Left Front in the general elections. 

According to figures available, the Left Front got 43.3 percent of the votes (about 18 million) while the Trinamool Congress and the Congress jointly secured 45.67 percent of the votes (a little over 19 million) in the Lok Sabha polls.

Biman Basu calls on CPI(M) patriarch Jyoti Basu

Kolkata,19th May: CPI(M) state secretary Biman Basu on Tuesday called on marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu and briefed him about the Polit Bureau deliberations on the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal and Kerala.

The two leaders, according to party sources, discussed in length about the drubbing that the CPI(M) has received at the hands of Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.

Biman Basu's visit came a day after Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee met Jyoti Basu seeking his advice about strategies to be adopted by the CPI(M) in view of the disastrous poll performance of the party.

Bhattacharjee's meeting with the former chief minister had came in the backdrop of reports that he was mulling stepping down owning moral responsibility for party's poll debacle. The party politburo, however, has dismissed such reports.

Meanwhile, the members of CPI(M) state Secretariat, including the chief minister, met here this evening to review the party's poll performance in the state.