Red Salute to Comrade Jyoti Basu

The towering figure of communist movement in India Jyoti Basu has breathed his last today in Kolkata at the age of 95. The sad demise of the veteran Marxist leader has made the country speechless. He was amongst the few who witnessed the beginning of communist movement in India. He joined politics before independence and became an international figure after holding the post of Chief Minister of West Bengal for 23 years.

Comrade Jyoti Basu made his significance presence felt during the highs and lows of communist movement. Communist Party of India was banned post independence but the ban was removed when communists won the lawsuit after the Constitution of India came into existence. When a new party was formed in the name of Communist Party of India(Marxist) in 1964 he joined CPI(M). He was jailed several times because of breaking laws by his movements driven by Marxism. He mixed up the Marxist ideology with the dream of People's Democracy. He taught farmers and labourers to fight. The morale of the people of West Bengal reached at zenith in his leadership. In 1996 he got the opportunity to become the Prime Minister of India. But because of his party's disagreement to it he did not opt this and India lost the chance to see a communist PM. West Bengal lost the chance to see the first Bengali PM. Later his party declared that it was a historical blunder on their behalf. In 2005 the Govt. of India decided to give him Bharat Ratna Award,the highest award in India, but he expressed his unwillingness to receive this.

Comrade Jyoti Basu's death bears a huge significance. What will be the future of communist movement in India? Will it end with Jyoti Basu's death? Will Left Front survive? Will India see any statesman as good as him in future? Only time will give us the answer to these questions. But it is indeed a great loss for the communist movement in India and Indian democracy. Statements made by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Sonia Gandhi, L.K. Advani, Farooq Abdullah, Laloo Prasad Yadav, M. Karunanidhi, Jayalalita, his friend and the Ex-CM of West Bengal Siddhartha Sankar Roy are evidences of this. The Left Front leaders have clearly said that they have lost their guardian. To them Comrade Jyoti Basu's death is the end of an era and it will create a vacuum in the communist movement.

Today India needs honest politicians who will show leadership on the basis of ideology. Comrade Jyoti Basu will always be icon in this respect. Red Salute to him.

- Arnab Mandal
  Durgapur