Jyoti Basu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Basu in 1996 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6th Chief Minister of West Bengal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 21 June 1977 – 5 November 2000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Chief Minister | Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (from 12 January 1999) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | President's rule (Siddhartha Shankar Ray as Chief Minister) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1st Deputy Chief Minister of West Bengal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 25 February 1969 – 16 March 1970 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chief Minister | Ajoy Mukherjee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Vacant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Bijoy Singh Nahar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 March 1967 – 21 November 1967 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chief Minister | Ajoy Mukherjee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Office established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Vacant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of Politburo,Communist Party of India (Marxist) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1964–2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of Opposition, West Bengal Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1957–1967 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Office Established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Khagendra Nath Dasgupta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| State Secretary, Communist Party of India, West Bengal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1953 – 1960 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Jyotirindra Basu (1914-07-08)8 July 1914 Dacca, Bengal Presidency, British India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 17 January 2010(2010-01-17) (aged 95) Kolkata, West Bengal, India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cause of death | Pneumonia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Communist Party of India (Marxist)(1964–2010) Communist Party of India(1940–1964) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Presidency College, Kolkata University College, London London School of Economics Middle Temple | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | https://jyotibasu.net/ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jyoti Basu (bornJyotirindra Basu orJyoti Bose; 8 July 1914 – 17 January 2010)[1] was an IndianMarxist theorist,communist activist, and politician. He was one of the most prominent leaders ofCommunist movement in India.[2][3] He served as the 6th and longest servingChief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000.[4][5][6] He was one of the founding members of theCommunist Party of India (Marxist). He was a member ofPolitburo of the party since its formation in 1964 till 2008. He was also a member ofWest Bengal Legislative Assembly 11 times.[7] In his political career, spanning over seven decades, he was noted to have been theIndia'slongest serving chief minister in an elected democracy, at the time of his resignation.[8][a] He declined the post ofPrime Minister after the1996 Indian general election after the CPM refused to let him head a multi-party coalition as it would not be able to implement Marxist programs and relinquished the prime ministership toDeve Gowda.[9][10][11]
Jyotirindra Basu was born on 8 July 1914 to an upper middle classBengali KayasthaHindu family at 43/1 Harrison Road,Calcutta,British India.[1][13][14][15] His father, Nishikanta Basu was a doctor whose hometown was the village of Barudi, Narayanganj inDhaka District of theBengal Presidency while his mother Hemlata Basu was a housewife.[16] He grew up in an Indian stylejoint family and was the youngest of three siblings.[16][12] He had an affectionate nickname called Gana.[4] One of his elder uncles, Nilinkanta Basu was a judge in theCalcutta High Court.[17] His family also retained ancestral lands in Barudi where Jyoti Basu is described to have spent part of his childhood.[12] The Barudi home of Basu was later turned into a library after his death, reportedly on his wishes.[12][18]
Basu's schooling began in 1920 atLoreto SchoolKindergarten inDharmatala,Calcutta.[17][16] His father shortened his name from Jyotirindra to Jyoti during the time of admission.[13][16] However, three years later he was shifted to theSt. Xaviers School, Calcutta.[13] He completed hisintermediate education from St. Xaviers in 1932.[19][17][20] Subsequently, he took an undergraduate course in English from the prestigiousPresidency College.[13][17] Following his graduation in 1935,[21] he acquired admission in theUniversity College, London (UCL) to study Law and became a barrister atMiddle Temple on 26 January 1940.[13][22] He had already left for India by the time he acquired his barristerial qualification which he received in absentia.[22]
During his stay inLondon, he became involved in political discourse and activism for the first time.[17][13][16] Besides his general curriculum at UCL, he would attend various lectures onpolitical organisation,constitutional law,international law andanthropology at theLondon School of Economics (LSE).[23] Due to which, he is also credited as an alumnus of LSE.[24][23][25] He had reportedly attended the lectures of the political theorist and economist,Harold Laski and was influenced by hisanti-fascism.[17] By 1937, Basu was an active member of severalanti-imperialist Indian students unions such as theIndia League and the Federation of Indian Students,[13][16] and had become acquainted with young Indian communists such asBhupesh Gupta andSnehangshu Acharya.[17]
In 1938, he had also become a founding member of the London Majlis and subsequently its first secretary.[17][13] Apart from raisingpublic opinion for the cause ofIndian independence, one of the primary functions of the Majlis was to arrange receptions for Indian leaders who were visiting England at the time.[17] Through the Majlis, Basu came into contact with various Indian independence movement leaders such asSubhas Chandra Bose,Jawaharlal Nehru,Krishna Menon andVijaya Lakshmi Pandit.[16][17]
On returning toCalcutta,India in early 1940,[26] Basu enrolled as abarrister at theCalcutta High Court,[17] and married Basanti Ghosh.[27][4] However, in the same year, he also inducted himself as an activist affiliated with theCommunist Party of India (CPI).[26][20] His entry into the communist movement at the time had reportedly been in opposition to the wishes of his relatively well off family.[20][28] Following theMeerut conspiracy in 1929, the Communist Party had also been made illegal by British authorities,[13][29] as a result Basu was initially involved in providing liaison and safe houses for underground Communist leaders in the Independence movement.[20][17] However soon afterwards, he also became involved in organising railway workers, planning strikes and is described to have preferreddirect action overballot box in the initial years.[28][30]
In 1941, Basu was appointed the party secretary of theBengal Assam Railway (nowBangladesh Railway andNortheast Frontier Railway) and tasked with organising a workers union.[20] By May 1943, he had become the representative of the Calcutta Port Engineering Workers' Union in theAll India Trade Union Congress,[31][32] while the Bengal Assam Railway Workers Union under him increased its membership to over 4,000 with union members present inDacca,Calcutta,Kanchrapara,Mymensingh,Rangpur andAssam.[33]
In the followingBengal famine of 1943, the members of the Communist Party including Basu were involved in famine relief work.[17][34] The party also organised "People's Food Committees" which would attempt to force hoarders into releasing their stocks for distribution; Basu participated in the organisation of such committees inCalcutta andMidnapore.[35][34] According to Basu's testimony, they only had a small organisation at the time and did the best they could while the famine took the lives of over 3 million people.[36] Basu was elected to the Bengal provincial committee of the Communist Party in the same year.[20] He would later participate in theTebhaga movement between 1945 and 1947 that sought to end the food crisis in Bengal, in a supportive capacity as arailway unionist.[37]
By 1944, Basu had started leading thetrade union activities of the Communist Party.[38] He was again delegated to organise labourers working for theEast Indian Railway Company (nowEastern Railway andEast Central Railway) in order to further the interests of the Indian workers and is described to have been instrumental in the formation of theBengal Nagpur Railway (nowSouth Eastern Railway,East Coast Railway andSouth East Central Railway) Workers' Union of which he became the general secretary.[13][17] With the merger of the Bengal Nagpur Railway Workers' Union and theBengal Delhi Railroad Workers' Union in the same year, Basu was elected the general secretary of the new combined union.[1][16] He would also be elected as the secretary of theAll India Railwaymen's Federation.[39]
In 1946, Basu was appointed by the Communist Party to contest as the candidate for the Railway Employees' constituency in theBengal Legislative Assembly.[40] He subsequently defeatedHumayun Kabir of theIndian National Congress and was elected to the assembly.[41][42] He is noted to have given a "soul stirring speech" on the presiding food crisis in the Bengal Assembly;[41] according to him the only means of solving the issue was to completely dismantle theZamindari system and thePermanent Settlement agreement, and to drive out the British with haste.[43] Basu had also organised a continuous railway strike in support of the1946 Royal Indian Navy ratings revolt,[44][36] and later secured the release of various political prisoners on 24 July 1946.[30][32]
Following thepartition of India, Basu remained as the member of the now dividedWest Bengal Legislative Assembly.[16]Prafulla Chandra Ghosh of the conservativeIndian National Congress became the first Chief Minister of West Bengal.[45] The Congress however facedcivil unrest from the onset;[46]hartals,civil disobedience and demonstrations had soon become the order of the day in the face of a Congress government that was seen as unresponsive to the social and economic distress that was widespread in the state at the time.[45]
The new assembly therefore instituted theWest Bengal Special Powers Act 1947 modelled on theDefence of India Act 1915; the act gaveunchecked power to thebureaucracy and the police to suppress public agitations allowinglaw enforcement to detain individuals for up to 6 months without trial onreasonable grounds, which was justified on the grounds of maintaining thelaw and order situation.[46][17] The bill was inordinately criticised and opposed by Basu who declared that "it seeks to perpetuate (the undemocratic rule)".[46] In 1948, the government sought to extend the act through the West Bengal Security Ordinance which would remove the restriction of "reasonable grounds" for imprisonment.[47] According to Basu, the new ordinance had made it clear that the Congress intended to establish apolice state inWest Bengal.[47] By this time, the state of West Bengal had already been declared as a "problem province" by the Congress administration andBidhan Chandra Roy replaced as the new chief minister.[46][45]
During the presentation of the ordinance as a bill in the assembly, Basu attempted to oppose it on a clause by clause basis but in vain due to the dominance of the Congress in the assembly, only the two communist legislatorsRatanlal Brahmin and Basu along with independent members opposed the bill.[48] Basu argued that while the Congress spoke ofKisan Raj (transl. Farmer's Rule), it had made no progress in abolishing theZamindari system and had instead developed vested interests with theZamindars (transl. Landlords) themselves which resulted in the persistence of poorsocioeconomic conditions and the employment ofrepressive tactics against agitations.[49]
In the following period the Communist Party was made illegal by the government on allegations of trying to incite on open rebellion and Basu repeatedly arrested as a result;[32][30][50] on 24 March 1948, he was imprisoned for a period of three months and released on the orders of theCalcutta High Court.[30][16][50] In December 1948, he married a second time, but soon went into hiding and kept changing residences due to an ongoing crackdown on communist leaders.[27][20][17] For a period at the time, he had reportedly lived alongsideIndrajit Gupta, who would later become theHome Minister of India.[17] In 1949, Basu had remained as the vice-president of theAll India Railwaymen's Federation.[51] In the same year, the federation had held a strike ballot which displayed overwhelming support for a railway strike on 9 March in demand of better wages and working conditions in theIndian Railways.[52] The strike notice was however withdraw by thesocialist leadership of the federation to whom the government had shown a reconciliatory attitude but the communist members under the leadership of Basu insisted on proceeding with the strike which resulted in disciplinary action being taken against the communists.[51][52] Subsequently, the government also decided to crack down on the communist leadership by arresting 118 leaders involved in the railway sector inWest Bengal including Basu. In the aftermath, the strike was a failure as the administration mobilised troops andpolice force to prevent any disruption from communist influenced union members.[51]
After the adoption of theConstitution of India in 1950, the ban on the Communist Party was lifted on the orders of the Calcutta High Court.[17] In September 1951, Congress attempted to renew the Security Act with the introduction of the West Bengal Security (Amendment) Bill of 1951 which raised criticism in the assembly on the lines of creating an environment of fear andintimidation on the eve of the first elections to the assembly which were to be held in December.[48] Although the bill was passed once again despite Basu's persistent opposition, this time he had garnered the support of a number ofGandhian Congress members including from the former chief minister and architect of the bill, P. C. Ghosh, all of whom had resigned from the party and formed their ownKisan Mazdoor Praja Party by the time of voting.[48] In same year, the Bengali daily organSwadhinata of the Communist Party was resumed and Basu appointed as the president of its editorial board.[20][17] The legislative assembly elections for 1951 were also held by theElection Commission in March 1952 instead.[53]
In theWest Bengal State Assembly election of 1952, Basu was elected as the representative of theBaranagar constituency and the Communist Party emerged as the second-largest party in the assembly.[53][54] Following which Basu was unanimously elected as the legislative party leader of the CPI inWest Bengal.[17] In the following year, he was also elected as the secretary of the state committee of the CPI.[20] The ensuing period in West Bengal was marked with the rise of a number ofanti-establishmentmass movements,[55] in which Basu is described to have played a key role.[56]
Even after theIndependence of India, theCalcutta Tramways Company had remained a British-owned company which operated in partnership with theGovernment of West Bengal.[57][58] On 25 June 1953, the company announced afare hike forsecond class passengers that was to be implemented from 1 July onwards, which was supported by the West Bengal Government.[58] In response to the move, the "Tram and Bus Fare Enhancement Resistance Committee" was formed in which Basu was inducted as the representative of the Communist Party.[58][50] TheCalcutta Tramway Union announced their support for the committee and published statistical data through theSwadhinata which displayed that the company was privy to "swelling profits" concluding the fare hike to be "absolutely uncalled for".[58] From the day of implementation of the new fares, the city underwent a series of agitations which began withdisobedience to pay the new prices and caused severe losses for the company, culminating into police deployment and arrests of hundreds of disobedient passengers.[58]
Basu was arrested on 4 July alongsideGanesh Ghosh andSubodh Banerjee who were also involved in the agitations, he was bailed out the following day.[58][54] On 7 July, during a largepicketing of the company headquarters at Mango Lane in Calcutta, five Resistance Committee leaders including Basu met with A.C.T Blease who was the agent of the company in India and presenting him with the demands of unilateral withdrawal of the fare hike.[58] On the evening of the same day, 500 citizens including Basu were arrested under thePreventive Detention Act which had been earlier implemented through the Security Act.[58][48] Over the course of the month the movement faced progressively increasedpolice action and subsequently heightenedcivil unrest spreading all acrossWest Bengal withgeneral strikes,mass demonstrations, tramwayboycotts tohunger strikes from imprisoned agitators and even violent confrontations between the police and agitators on the streets. In the end, the five committee leaders including Basu were released on 26 July, the fare hike scrapped by the Chief MinisterBidhan Chandra Roy on 31 July and the remaining imprisoned agitators released by 2 August.[58]
In January 1954,[59] the Communist party held its third congress inMadurai and Basu was elected as the newCentral Committee member during the congress.[20][17] In February, Basu became involved in the 1954 teachers' agitation in West Bengal.[6][56] The All Bengal Teachers Association (ABTA) had been called for implementing the recommendations of theSecondary Board for raising the allowances of secondary school teachers.[55] The association was joined in by variouslabour unions and opposition parties in support of their demand.[55] The government as a result decided to crack down on the leaders of the agitation but Basu escaped custody and took refuge in theWest Bengal Legislature. The police force who were trying to arrest him through the Preventive Detention Act were reluctant to enter the assembly to arrest alegislator. In Basu's testimony, he states that it was easier for him support the agitation from inside the assembly by projecting the police action on the movement without getting arrested.[6]
During the presentation of the recommendation of theStates Reorganisation Commission in 1956, a proposal for the merger ofBihar andWest Bengal into a single state calledPurva Pradesh was floated which was supported by theIndian National Congress.[60][61] The Communist Party having maintained the stance of supportinglinguistic reorganisation of states in India since 1920, was vehemently opposed to the proposal of the merger.[61][62] The announcement of the proposal caused widespread protests in West Bengal led by students, workers and evenpeasantry, the Central Committee of the Communist Party held a meeting between 28 January to 4 February protesting the move. Basu andYogendra Sharma, the secretaries of the state committees of the Communist Party in West Bengal and Bihar respectively issued a jointpress statement calling the merger proposal to be "antidemocratic andreactionary".[61]
Basu is noted to have opposed the proposal from both within and outside the assembly, he presided over the mass meeting atWellington Square in opposition to the proposal and severely criticised the governor's position in support of the proposal.[61][56] According to his testimony, the proposal was akin to a conspiracy to annihilate the basic identity of Bengal.[61] Basu presented the idea of the proposal as a poll issue for theby-elections of the year, supporting the candidacy ofMohit Mitra who the Central Committee's secretary for linguistic reorganisation and declared that the results should reflect thepeople's mandate. In the subsequent by-elections, Mohit Mitra won from theCalcutta North East constituency andLal Behari Das won from theKhejuri constituency, defeating their Congress counterparts by a margin of over 20,000 in both constituencies which caused the Chief Minister Bidhan Chandra Roy to scrap the merger proposal.[61]
In theWest Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1957, Basu was re-elected as the representative of the Baranagar constituency and the Communist Party returned as the second largest party with an increased representation.[63] As a result, Basu formally became theLeader of Opposition in the assembly.[54] This platform enabled the Communist Party under the leadership of Basu in West Bengal to exacerbate agitations against the prevalent food crisis in West Bengal by acting as theprincipal opposition on the floor of the assembly, increasing public awareness and providing a united front for agitators to rally around.[64]
Since the beginning of theBritish Raj, the region of Bengal had suffered from severe food shortages culminating into large-scale famines at times.[65] Following independence of India, thePublic Distribution System (PDS) was established and two land reforms were enacted in 1953 and 1955 in West Bengal. However, the implementation of these initiatives and reforms was rife with problems and theagricultural sector had remained in despondency while food shortages continued to afflict a largelyimpoverished population.[65][66] The food crisis and general poverty had led to multiple outbursts of public agitations throughout the 1950s which peaked near the end of 1959.[64][65] The leaders of the Communist Party adopted the twin strategy of organising anti-governmentmass movements by forming issue based committees to draw public support from beyond party lines and pressurise the government into providing relief measures while also badgering on about food scarcity on the floor of the legislative assembly to draw and retain public andmedia attention on the issue, Basu played a significant role in the latter with frequent moves foradjournment motions and participation in heated debates.[64]
By the end of 1958, the Communist Party initiated the formation of thePrice Increase and Famine Resistance Committee (PIFRC) in collaboration with the other primarily leftist members of the opposition.[67][65] Basu became one of the formative leaders of the committee.[67][64] Food insecurity in West Bengal had reached a critical stage at the time and its persistence was largely blamed on the Food Ministry and theIndian National Congress wherein the Communist Party had continuously asserted that the Congress party had been reduced to the representative party of hoarders, landlords andjotedars and that there would be no solution without direct action and sustained public pressure.[64] Initially the committee principally engaged itself in laying down demands forprice control,redistribution of state lands and organising agitations with that in retrospect.[67][66]
On 10 February 1959, Basu and other leaders of the PIFRC met with the Chief Minister,Bidhan Chandra Roy who gave them verbal assurances that ration shops will be restocked offering amenable prices but the assurances weren't followed through. On 26 April, Union Food Minister,Ajit Prasad Jain declared that the food situation in West Bengal was "easy, smooth and comfortable".[64] This caused widespread public outrage and led to the intensification of theFood movement of 1959 between May–June as the situation was further aggravated by hoarders attempting to save up stocks in illegal go-downs andwarehouses.[64][67] The persistent refusal of the Government of West Bengal to consider the demands presented also provoked the PIFRC into augmenting the demands to include enactment of ceilings onprivate land holdings and confiscation without compensation of excessive lands owned byZamindars (trans: Landlords); these were presented in parallel with general strikes and organiseddirect action endorsed and supported by the committee to locate and force the sale of hidden stocks of rice.[67][66]
On 25 June, the PIFRC and over 100 trade unions called a statewidehartal (general strike) to protest against the "anti–food" policies of the government.[66] The agitators held an openmass meeting near the Chief Minister's residence where Basu was present among the speakers alongsideSiddhartha Shankar Ray,Tridib Chaudhuri andBankim Mukherjee, who demanded that the government should meet the conditions presented by the PIFRC or resign, otherwise they would organise a masscivil disobedience movement.[64][68] On 9 July, theSwadhinata gave a clarion call through an editorial which stated that "People of West Bengal know quite well that the Congress Government and its food policy are responsible for their destitute condition. They also know that only by hitting hard, time and again, they could be forced to do at least something..." Earlier on 6 July, the PIFRC had issued apress release stating intent to begin the civil disobedience movement by taking preparations to organise volunteers; Basu was among the list of signatories that includedNiranjan Sengupta andNihar Mukherjee.[64] The committee further set the date of 20 August for the beginning of the civil disobedience movement.[68]
In August, the police arrested 35 prominent leaders of the committee including 7members of legislative assembly through the usage of the Preventive Detention Act and the West Bengal Security Act.[68] The movement however continued with civil disobedience, continuous general strikes andmass demonstrations while Basu was also able to evade arrest.[17] On 31 August 1959, a massive demonstration cum general strike was held in the city of Calcutta which brought the city and its surrounding districts to a standstill and ended with lathi charges and instances ofpolice violence on protesters.[64][69] This caused an outburst of students protests against police atrocities and led to instances ofpolice firing on student protesters. Over the course of the following days between 2–5 September, civil unrest with large scale participation from students of schools, colleges and universities erupted across the city accompanied by violent encounters with the police,vandalism and mass shootings by the police;[70][69] in the end around 46–80 civilians were killed.[69][64] The opposition leaders including Basu accused the government of having turned "authoritarian and ruthless" and reasoned that there was no space for the continuation of a democratic mass movement.[69] In light of the violence, the PIFRC formally withdrew the agitation by 26 September and the committee was disbanded.[64]
In the aftermath and over the course of the following years, Basu condemned the "police barbarism" against the agitators, engaging in fiery criticisms against the government and even brought amotion of no confidence, although it was defeated due to a lack of requisite members.[64] The series of events had also heightened publicresentment against the Congress government across West Bengal, especially in Calcutta and would set the foundation for latterpolitical activism in the following decade.[64][70][69] The food movement would also go on in the form of a number of localised spontaneous agitations over the following years till the next large scale flare up in 1966.[71][66]
In theWest Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1962, Basu was once again re-elected as the representative of the Baranagar constituency and the Communist Party increased its vote share from 17.81% to 24.96%.[63][72][17] In the following period the Communist Party underwent a vertical split with a section of the party including Basu going on to form theCommunist Party of India (Marxist). There were several ongoing ideological conflicts between sections within the Communist Party about the nature of theIndian State and the characterisation and method of interaction with theIndian National Congress, about the approach towards theongoing debate between theSoviet Union and China and with regards to the handling of theborder disputes between India and China.[17][73] These debates were further exacerbated by the food movement in West Bengal and brought to the forefront by the rising border tensions between India and China.[71][74] The Communist Party had also become the second largest party in theLok Sabha following the1962 Indian general election with nearly 10% vote share which is described to have brought prominence to the internal divisions of the party.[75][74]
The party was broadly divided into two sections namely the National Front (referred to as the "rightist section") and the Democratic Front (referred to as the "leftist section").[17][73] Basu belonging to the latter advocated for radical change to supplant the domination of big landlords, capitalists and monopolists in the Indianpolity and opposed any conditional support forNehruvian policies while denouncing the "revisionist position" taken by the former to supportJawaharlal Nehru on certain issues.[76][74] The militant food movement in West Bengal also emboldened the leftist anti-Congress section to overwhelm the rightist section which sought tactical cooperation with the Indian National Congress.[71] On the other hand, with the flare-up of theSino-Indian War, the leftist section of the Communist Party was portrayed as "pro–china" by their opponents from both within and outside the party.[77][78] Before the outbreak of the war, the section had taken the stance that dialogue and diplomatic partnership with the Chinese would resolve the disputes, however Basu himself was more sceptical and advocated for the adoption of a twin strategy of maintaining theborder outposts inside Tibet and then engaging in talks using the outposts as a form of leverage ahead of any commencement on a new treaty.[79][80]
The leftist section continued to oppose the Chinese stand on the India-China frontier but was also opposed to providing unconditional support to theNehru government because of its "class character" contrary to the rightist section which had declared outright support for the central government.[78] This stance of the leftist section came as dissatisfactory to the Nehru government which had imposed a state ofnational emergency and introduced theDefence of India Ordinance, 1962, and henceforth utilised them to imprison various opposition leaders and activists as well asChinese Indian citizens.[81][73] Basu was imprisoned among other major communist leaders such as the formerchief minister of Kerala,E. M. S. Namboodiripad, the organisational specialistPromode Dasgupta, the founding leader ofCommunist Party of India (Marxist),Hare Krishna Konar, theIndian revolutionary freedom fighter,Benoy Choudhury, theTelangana revolutionaries,Puchalapalli Sundarayya andMakineni Basavapunnaiah as well as some members of the rightist section such as the trade unionistA. B. Bardhan.[82][74][17] Basu reportedly received the news of his father's death during this time in prison.[17] Although, the war ended in November 1962, the detainees were only released in December 1963 after an order from theSupreme Court of India.[81]
On 11 April 1964, in a landmark incident, 32 members from the "Leftist faction" in the CPI national council including Basu walked out of a meeting inDelhi with the stated intent of forming the "real communist party".[83][73] The section organised their conference inTenali,Andhra Pradesh which concluded with a resolution to form a new party and in the seventh congress held between 31 October to 7 November in Calcutta, theCommunist Party of India (Marxist) was formally founded. Basu was elected to the first politburo of the new party being one of the nine founding members commonly referred to as theNavaratnas (trans: nine gems).[83] On 27 June 1965, Basu also became the founding editor of the English language organ of the new party calledPeople's Democracy.[84][76]
Between February–March 1966, a second and more spontaneous food movement flared up across West Bengal.[71][66] As a result of price rise of essential commodities, the new chief minister,Prafulla Chandra Sen had suggested that people should shift from their staple of rice–potatoes to wheat–green bananas and subsequently agitations had broken out in the area ofSwarupnagar, leading to police firing and death of two participating teenagers on 16 February.[71] Consequently, widespread spontaneous protests broke out over the following months and across the state of West Bengal with more frequent instances of vandalism and violent encounters between the agitators and police than in the previous agitations.[66] This movement while having less organised backing from the opposition parties is described to have been impactful in its political ramifications in the subsequent years;[71][66] among others, leading to theIndian National Congress losing its absolute majority for the first time and Basu becoming thedeputy chief minister of West Bengal in the following year.[71][85] Civil unrest also peaked during the ensuing period which led to a succession of unstable governments, the establishment of armed political cadres,Naxalbari uprising and widespread spontaneous agitations against prevailing conditions ofextreme poverty.[86]
In theWest Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1967, fourteen opposition parties contested through two pre-poll political alliances;[87] the CPI-M ledUnited Left Front and the CPI andBangla Congress (splinter of the Congress party formed in 1966) ledPeople's United Left Front.[88][67] The CPI-M became the second largest party outstripping its former party, the CPI.[73] Following the election, the two alliances joined forces to form theUnited Front government in West Bengal. During the negotiations between the two alliances, Basu was denied the position of chief minister due to opposition to the idea from the CPI and Bangla Congress,[89] all of whom eventually settled forAjoy Mukherjee of the Bangla Congress as the consensus candidate for the position while Basu became the deputy chief minister and in-charge of the finance department.[13][17] The government however collapsed within a year when the food minister,P. C. Ghosh resigned from the government after facing persistent agitations led by the CPI-M (both part of the same government) against his policy of seeking voluntary measures from landlords and middlemen which were ineffective in resolving the food crisis.[90]
For the mid-termWest Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1969, the United Front Committee was formed consisting of all the coalition partners of the previous government which agreed upon a pre-poll alliance to contest the election together under a 32-point programme.[87] Under terms of the agreement, if the alliance were to attain a majority then Mukherjee would become the chief minister while Basu would become the deputy chief minister.[87][91] In addition during the negotiations Basu was able to secure the portfolios of fisheries, food, excise, labour, civil defence and education for the CPI-M as well as the department of general administration and police from the home ministry forsaking the finance ministry which he had previously held.[92][91] In the election, the United Front won an overwhelming victory with 214 out of 280 seats and as a consequence, the CPI-M stood as the first party other than the Congress party to become the largest party in the assembly.[93]
In the subsequentsecond United Front cabinet, Basu became both the deputy chief minister and in-charge of general administration and police.[91] Under Basu, the police were instructed to not intervene in any labour disputes against striking workers.[94] The first six months of the second United Front government as a result experienced a record of 551strikes and 73union lockdowns across the state with a participation of approximately 570,000 workers.[86] Thelabour department headed byKrishnapada Ghosh of the CPIM is also noted to have coordinated with the department of general administration to enable the registration of new trade unions and legalisation ofgheraos (trans:picketing) as a method of protest.[94] The labour militancy combined with the state policy of non intervention drove an exponential rise in daily wages ranging between a 100–200% increase in the unorganised sector and 100–300% increase in the organised sector.[95][94] Previously in light of the appalling conditions of agrarian poverty and rural discontent, a radical section of the CPI-M had also split due to the party's involvement in parliamentary politics and subsequently launched a peasant's uprising.[86] Eventually this section known as theNaxalites formed theCommunist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) in 1969 under the leadership ofCharu Mazumdar calling for the annihilation of the class ofjoteodars (wealthy landlords) and an armed revolution to overthrow the Indian state.[94][96] Although the previous United Front government had tolerated initial landgrabs by the Naxalites,[94] the police department under Basu launched a campaign ofstate repression on the movement which continued under succeeding governments.[94][96] According to Basu, "(The Naxalites), forgetting everything else that the country stood for, followed the China model with disastrous consequences which had no relation to Marxist philosophy."[73]
In August 1969, Basu was also faced with a protest from the police department itself after the death of a policeman in a clash with theSocialist Unity Centre, one of the member parties of the United Front.[97] The agitation was notably defused by him in person, who permitted a group of dissident police personnel to enter his office in the assembly house during a demonstration and negotiated with them, reprehending them for disorderly behaviour while taking into consideration the grievances raised.[6][97] The second United Front government however too fell within a short period of time, on this occasion the chief minister Ajoy Mukherjee resigned in March 1970 after facing an aggravated and dysfunctional government where smaller member parties were in confrontation with the CPI-M, the largest among them on various issues.[45][94] There was also an assassination attempt on Basu on 31 March while he was on a party visit toPatna which resulted in the death of one accompanying party worker;[98][99] the identity of the assailant has remained unknown til date.[100] The government continued to be operational until the dissolution of the assembly by presidential proclamation on 30 July.[45]
In the followingWest Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1971, the parties contested alone but CPI-M remained as the single largest party while increasing its number of seats from 80 to 113.[87] Both the former chief minister Ajoy Mukherjee of the Bangla Congress and the former deputy chief minister Basu of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) contested from theBarangar constituency which ended with Basu winning with a vote share of 57.3% and Ajoy Mukherjee emerging as runners up with a vote share of 42.7%.[17][101] However, Mukherjee who led the Bangla Congress was able to regain his former position through a post-poll coalition called the Democratic Coalition which notably includedIndira Gandhi's Congress and was supported by the CPI andCongress (Organisation).[87] The CPI-M stood as the sole opposition party and Basu once again became the leader of opposition. Within 2 weeks of the formation of the new government, Basu issued ano confidence motion which stood at exactly 141 in support of the government out of 141 required. Despite surviving the initial motion, the new government too fell within 3 months when the assembly was dissolved on the recommendation of the chief minister.[87]
In theWest Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1972, Congress (R) won an overwhelming majority and Siddhartha Shankar Ray who was previously in the Bangla Congress and later appointed as a specialised union cabinet ministry called West Bengal Affairs Minister became the new chief minister of the state.[102][89] The CPI-M was only able to secure 14 seats and Basu for the first time lost his seat in the Baranagar constituency to his former associateShiba Pada Bhattacharjee, who had remained in the CPI after the split in the party.[103][89] Before the election, the Communist Party of India allied with Congress (R) while a section of the Bangla Congress had also merged with the Congress.[89] The opposing alliance was led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which included the previous members of theUnited Left Front alongside theBiplobi Bangla Congress, a splinter of the Bangla Congress.[89]
The election was marred widespread instances of violence against opposition parties, electoral discrepancies, irregularities in process and consequent allegations of rigging from both Congress (O) and the CPI-M,[89][104] the press in Calcutta at the time reported that the rigging had occurred in around 50 constituencies.[89] According to thesocialistessayistMadhu Limaye, the "black art of booth rigging" was perfected by the Congress in the 1972 election where whole constituencies had been rigged.[105] It was also noted that several constituencies which were known as left wing strongholds had produced massive victory margins in favour of Congress (R) whereas the CPI-M increased its vote share in constituencies which were Congress strongholds; the explanation provided by the CPI-M was that violence and rigging methods were mostly employed at unfavorable constituencies and that elections had been rigged in 87–172 other constituencies.[89][106] One of the discrepancies pointed at by the CPI-M was that the constituency of Baranagar which had recorded a very high voter turnout despite being subject tosection 144 and violent clashes throughout the day which had resulted in the death of one its workers.[89] Basu refused to accept the results and declared that the new assembly was an "assembly of frauds".[103] He also published an open editorial to the "world press" regarding terming the incidents of violence to be "semi-fascist terror".[106][107] The CPI-M boycotted the assembly for the remaining term of the seventh assembly taking the stance that a "massive rigging" had occurred.[108][109]
In 1975, thePrime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi imposed anational emergency on the premise of internal disturbances suspending elections, legitimisingrule by decree and curbingcivil liberties.[110] The proposition for the declaration of the emergency and the formal draft of the ordinance were both notably corroborated to have been forwarded bySiddhartha Shankar Ray.[111][112][113] The Communist Party of India (Marxist) emerged as one of the primary opposition tothe emergency rule of Indira Gandhi.[110] The following period witnessed a succession ofauthoritarian measures and political repression, which was particularly severe in West Bengal.[114] The members of the CPI-M's labour union became the first subject to political repression andmass arrests while the rest of the members of the CPI-M went underground.[115][109]
With the initiation of theJayaprakash Narayan (JP)'s movement, the CPI-M began providing support to it and went on to participate in discussions for the creation of a united front under the umbrella of theJanata Party. Several of the leaders of the CPI-M were also influenced by JP with Basu noted to be one of his prominent admirers having worked under him in theAll India Railwaymen's Federation during the 1940s.[115] The involvement of theHindutva movement however complicated matters, according to JP the formal inclusion of the Marxists who had undergone a splintering and whose organisation was localised in a particular region would have been detrimental to the movement as theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh members would switch sides if they joined.[115][116] JP and Basu eventually agreed that the CPI-M would not formally join the Janata Party as it would weaken the movement.[115] After the revocation of the emergency, the CPI-M joined an electoral alliance with the Janata Party in the1977 Indian general election which resulted in an overwhelming victory for the Janata Alliance.[117]
For the1977 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, negotiations between theJanata Party and theCommunist Party of India (Marxist) broke down.[118][102] This led to a three sided contest between theIndian National Congress, the Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) ledLeft Front coalition.[102] The results of the election was a surprising sweep for the Left Front winning 230 seats out of 290 with the CPI-M winning an absolute majority on its own,[88] Basu became the chief minister of West Bengal for the next 23 years until his retirement in 2000.[38] Jyoti Basu was also repeatedly elected as the representative of theSatgachhia constituency from 1977 to 2001.[119]
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In the first term of the coming to power, the Left Front government under Basu initiated a number of agrarian and institutional reforms which resulted in reduction ofpoverty rates, an exponential rise inagricultural production and decrease inpolitical polarisation.[120][121][122] It also enabled the large scale adoption of technological advancements which had earlier been brought in through theGreen Revolution in India in the 1960s.[120][121] The agricultural growth jumped from an annual average of 0.6% between 1970–1980 to over 7% between 1980–1990 and the state was described as an agricultural success story of the 1980s.[121][123] During this period, the state of West Bengal moved from being a food importer to a food exporter and became the largest producer of rice outstripping the states ofAndhra Pradesh andPunjab which had previously held the status.[123] TheHuman Development Index was also noted to have improved at a much faster rate than in other states, growing from being the lowest in the country in 1975 to above the national average in 1990.[124]
Between 1977 and 1980, Basu oversaw the identification of nearly 1 millionacres of ceiling surplus land and its subsequent redistribution.[125] The number of landless rural households decreased by 35% during this period.[126]
The Basu government began the process of "democraticdecentralisation" in West Bengal by amending and implementing the provisions of the Panchayat Act.[127][128] On 4 June 1978, local body elections were resumed after 14 years and the first direct elections were held to elect 56,000 representatives from 15 zila parishads, 324 panchayat samitis and 3,242 gram panchayats in West Bengal.[127] By 1993, the number of representatives was expanded to over 71,000 representatives while Basu was credited to have been successful in the introduction ofgrassroots democracy and self governing units in West Bengal which substantially improvedbureaucratic transparency,irrigation work,rural infrastructure andpolitical participation and as a resultstandards of living.[128][129] The successful implementation ofpanchayat raj in the state is also noted to have played an integral part in the identification and redistribution of ceiling surplus land,[125] and played a significant part in the rise of agricultural growth through the 1980s.[130]
Among the more prominent measures initiated by the new government was that ofOperation Barga. Introduced in 1978, it was a comprehensive and radical measure for land reforms which was further formalised through two legislation in 1979 and 1980.[131][132] The operation sought to actively identify and recordbargardars (trans:sharecroppers) by present occupational status without any reliance on ancestral records, producing official documentation for enforcement of the rights ofbargardars to crop share from landlords andpriority rights to lands in cases of both voluntary sale of land and forced sale of ceiling surplus lands.[133][132] The number of recordedbargardars increased from 0.4 to 1.2 million by 1982,[131][133] and resulted in the coverage of 50%+output share concessions towardsbargardars to increase from 10% to over 50% among registeredbargardars and over 33% for unregisteredbargardars.[132][134] The implementation of the operation is noted to have improved the social status and security of tenancy ofbargadars as well as decreasedeconomic inequality.[133][132] In addition it accounted for approximately 36% of agricultural growth during the period as a consequence of greater production incentives due to a lack ofeviction threat and increased output stake.[134] The operation is also credited to have created a cushion againstfarmers' suicides in West Bengal by improving theeconomic stability of farmers.[135]
The Left Front government also identified 247,000 acres of readily reclaimable lands mostly in the Sundarban area (Ganges Delta) for the resettlement of 136,000 agriculturist refugees fromEast Pakistan.[136][137] Under the tenure ofBidhan Chandra Roy, many of the refugees had been relocated to refugee camps inDandakaranya and the Left Front government had taken up their cause for resettlement in West Bengal.[136] Initially Basu and the Left Front government approved voluntary resettlement in the identified lands by the refugees from the Dandakaranya camps to the extent of actively encouraging them to do so,[137][138] however the implementation of the resettlement process turned lackluster and was bottle-necked with revised priorities forenvironmental protection in theSundarbans.[136][137] In a significant development between 1978 and 1979, a large group of these impoverished refugees who had returned to Bengal seeking resettlement from Dandakaranya had illegally occupied land on the remote island ofMarichjhanpi and refused eviction.[138][137] In January 1979, following an economic blockade, the government conducted a forcible eviction leading to the death of several refugees in the consequent abuse bypolice personnel.[137] The incident led to sharp criticism of the government and raised controversy in themedia,the opposition as well as from within members of the Left Front coalition.[136] The demand for a formal investigation into the eviction was however denied by the government with Basu convinced that it was greatly exaggerated by the media;[137][136] in the end the official figure put the deaths at 2 but the lack of an investigation led to various other estimates to circulate on the killing years afterwards.[137][136]
In 1981, a new amendment was introduced to the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1951 (previously amended in 1953, 1967 and 1970) which sought to plug loopholes in the former legislation; the amendment introduced ceilings on non-agricultural lands such asfisheries andorchards which previously had none and enacted provisions for lands held bytrusts to be included in the individual ceiling calculations of itsbeneficiaries. It also derecognised and redefined lands owned by allreligious institutions asraiyats (trans:land tenure) with a maximum of 7 standard hectares irrespective of any number of declared branches or centers of any such institution.[126]
The reforms initiated by the Basu government in its first term were continued into its second term, Operation Barga was officially completed in 1986. Basu's front won 174 seats in1982 West Bengal Elections defeating theCongress (Indira) -Congress (Socialist) coalition[139] He was one of the most powerful personality of theLeft front after becoming theChief Minister of West Bengal and was known to be the Chief artist of the Communist politics not only in West Bengal, but also in the whole India.[140] Ahead of the 1982 assembly elections, the Left Front had gained three new members; theCommunist Party of India (CPI), theWest Bengal Socialist Party (WBSP) and theDemocratic Socialist Party (DSP).[141] In the wake of the 1980 Gorkhaland movement, a poll boycott campaign took place in theDarjeeling hills with the slogan "No State, No Vote". Organizations calling for a poll boycott included the Pranta Parishad and theGorkha National Liberation Front ofSubhash Ghisingh.[142][143] Voter participation in Darjeeling stood at 59.40%, compared to the statewide 76.96%. CPI(M) emerged as the sole party of relevance in the hills to oppose a separate Gorkhaland state. CPI(M) won three out of the four assembly seats in the Nepali-dominated areas, the fourth going to anAll India Gorkha League candidate (contesting as an independent).[144] Some of the older, smaller Left Front constituents were uncomfortable with the expansion of the alliance, claiming that CPI(M) was diluting it politically. There were also disagreements on distribution of ministerial portfolios after the expansion of the alliance.[145] Though due to his irresponsibility in rehabilitiating1971 Bangladeshi refugees and refusal to addressthe rise of anti-Bengali sentiments in Assam and other Northeaster states like Meghalaya (seeBeh Dkhar movement) and Tripura (seeMandai massacre) saw his popularity decrease.
In the second term as the Chief Minister of state he gained popularity for his work for the landless peasants and providing them land and also among intelligentsia.[146] The rise ofMamata Banerjee in the 1980s was under the Second Chief Ministership of him and was known to have a good allies with her. And he continued to make a second Chief ministership like the first one by giving the theory ofCommunism and working in the Land Reforms Act and also to complete the demand of theGorkhas, especially in Darjeeling and near by regions.[126][additional citation(s) needed] Whilst an accord had been struck between Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi andGorkha National Liberation Front leaderSubhash Ghisingh ahead of the polls, violence escalated in the Darjeeling hills. In the run-up to the polls, several policemen were killed in the area which made Basu a great chances being a choice of people of Darjeeling.[b]
In 1986, Finance MinisterAshok Mitra resigned from the Cabinet, citing differences with Basu, which was a big blow to his government.[147]
In1987 West Bengal Election inWest Bengal, Basu held the office for the third time as theChief ministers of West Bengal after the win ofCPM and their allies.[4] The election was mainly a clash between theLeft Front led by Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and theIndian National Congress(I) led by Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi to make a win in the state.[29] The governingLeft Front denied tickets to 62 sitting legislators. In many cases CPI(M), the dominant force in the Left Front, was seeking to rejuvenate the legislature and fielded 35 student leaders as new candidates. The star campaigner was himself Chief Minister Jyoti Basu who had pledged to visit all constituencies where CPI(M) had fielded candidates. During the campaign Basu claimed that the Delhi government discriminated against West Bengal in allocation of resources.[148] Basu's party made the third win by securing a complete majority for third time in Bengal's history, and the Left front secured 187 in the election and defeatingIndian National Congress and made his mark to Prime Minister,Rajiv Gandhi.[149]
After being sworn in as the Chief Minister Basu continued his work in the major work for which he was elected was that to change the Land Reform and he is said to be one of the best administrators in the history ofWest Bengal for the work.[126][137] And he made a main focus on the Students andBuddhadeb Bhattacharjee was given the main charge for the enhancement ofDYFI, the student wing of theCPI(M). Earlier also he gave a notable number of tickets to student leaders and also worked for theGurkhas who also voted him for his opposition to theIndian National Congress.[150] In 1989, Basu ledLeft government in a controversial decision, halting the teaching ofEnglish language forPrimary schools.[151] The controversial decision received protests from intellectuals.[152] The move was later termed as another "historic blunder".[153]
In the 1990s when the government ofVP Singh cleared the ways ofMandal Commission there wasMandal Commission protests of 1990 in West Bengal and also the silence of Basu triggered him at that time as there was a big problem as theCPI (M) was popular among both the classes of the society andCPI (M) supported the verdict.[154]
Even after the controversy ofMandal Commission and itsprotests in 1990 Basu managed to be sworn as theChief Minister of West Bengal for the 4th time consecutively, setting a record. The term of the assembly elected in 1987 lasted until February 1992, but the West Bengal government asked theElection Commission of India to arrange the election at an earlier date.[155] On 28 November 1991, Basu supersededBidhan Chandra Roy's 14 - year tenure to become the longest servingChief Minister of West Bengal, a record which he has held ever since at 23 years, 144 days.
Jyoti Basu's fourth term was hit with two major resignations - that of Information and Culture Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in 1993 over the issue of corruption[156] and that of Land MinisterBenoy Choudhury in 1995 over the same issue.[157]
In 1996 he was elected as Chief Minister for an unprecedented fifth times consecutively in the1996 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.[158] Basu seemed all set to be the consensus leader of the United Front for the post ofPrime Minister of India[159] but theCPI(M)'s highest decision-making body refused to endorse Basu's prime-ministerial ambitions. This was Basu's last tenure as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. Basu resigned in the year 2000 leaving a legacy as the longest serving Chief Minister of any Indian state, untilPawan Kumar Chamling surpassed his record in 2018.[160]
Shortly after coming to power, it came to light that in its previous term, the state government had illegally leased out around 160waqf properties in the state to private real-estate developers and land contractors without following the due process. Basu denied all allegations and questioned the veracity of the report.[161] The next year, the Basu government was hit with the 'Treasury Scam' in which it was revealed in response to aPIL filed in theCalcutta High Court by Mamata Banerjee that throughout Basu's 4th term, the state government run treasuries in the districts had siphoned off a total of Rs 55,000 crore of public money to personal ledger accounts (meant for payment ofexcise duty) held by CPI(M) partymen and another amount of Rs 2,500 crore sent by the Central government for rural development had been diverted into these accounts in the run-up to the 1998 elections of the state panchayats. However, the government steadfastedly refused any investigation into this, and denied any wrongdoing on its part.[162][163] However aCAG report revealed that during Basu's 4th term, central funds of the amount Rs 1,800 cr to 2,500 crore annually allotted to the state by the central government had been regularly diverted to personal ledger accounts held by CPI(M) officeholders inrural government.[164] On the very same year, it was revealed that Basu had used the Chief Minister's discretionary powers to illegally allot real estate in multiple locations ofSalt Lake locality of East Kolkata at extremely cheap prices to various people, including his own brother-in-law and three cabinet ministers (Fisheries MinisterKiranmoy Nanda, Co-operatives MinisterBhakti Bhushan Mandal and Minority Affairs MinisterMohammed Amin).[165]
Basu was personally shocked at the victory of stateBharatiya Janata Party (whom he would derisively call 'a party of barbaric and uncivilized people') presidentTapan Sikdar fromDumdum constituency in the1998 general elections, defeating 3 time CPI(M) MPNirmal Kanti Chatterjee. The rise of BJP in the state forced Basu's government to address the issue ofillegal infiltration ofBangladeshi Muslims into the state.[166]
Basu once proposed to makeBengali compulsory for any government job exams under state government, but this faced criticisms fromAtal Bihari Vajpayee leadNational Democratic Alliance at the centre, who called it unconstitutional and a harm to the linguistic minority groups ofWest Bengal.[167]Railway Minister of that time andWest Bengal Trinamool Congress chief,Mamata Banerjee, initially did not support the proposal. Under his period, Bengali was introduced as a court language in theCalcutta High Court[168]
Jyoti Basu was proposed for the post of prime minister four times.[169]
In 1990, following the arrest ofLal Krishna Advani at hisRam Rathyatra rally atSamastipur on orders of then Chief Minister of Bihar & Janata Dal leaderLalu Prasad Yadav, BJP declined support to the National Front Government led byV. P. Singh. During the political crisis, INC chiefRajiv Gandhi sent proposal to Jyoti Basu to be the Prime Minister of India. But CPI(M) declined it, because the party refused to cooperate with the Congress, which it saw as abourgeois organisation.[c][169] Hence after the resignation of V.P. Singh, a new government led a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal underChandrashekhar Singh was sworn in with external support from the Congress.
After 7 months, INC withdrew its support to the Chandrasekhar Singh Government. Again Rajiv Gandhi sent a proposal to Jyoti Basu, which was declined by the party for second time.[169] Hence general elections were held in1991.
In theIndian general election in 1996, theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led byAtal Bihari Vajpayee emerged as the largest party, with 161 of 543 seats but the government fell 13 days later,[170] due to unavailability of majority at the parliament. TheIndian National Congress (INC), with a substantial 140 seats, declined to head the government. Consequently, along withJanata Dal as the head, the left parties (i.e.CPI(M),CPI) and other smaller parties likeSamajwadi Party,Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam,Asom Gana Parishad,Tamil Maanila Congress, andTelugu Desam Party formed the United Front, which was supported by INC from outside. About the selection of Prime Minister from United Front,Vishwanath Pratap Singh fromJanata Dal rejected the proposal of being Prime Minister. He suggested that Basu should be made the Prime Minister of the United Front government.RJD's chiefLalu Prasad Yadav also supported the proposal.[171] The CPI also supported the proposal.[172] The proposal was taken to CPI(M) by former CPI(M) General SecretaryHarkishan Singh Surjeet. ThePolit Bureau of CPI(M) met in a meeting. But having no conclusion due to differences, it forwarded the issue to the Central Committee after a voting. Through a meeting in Central Committee on May 14,[173] CPI(M) declined the offer saying the party was still not in a position to dictate its policies and would not be able to get them implemented by a coalition government. They also stated that it would involve joining hands with "bourgeois" outfits like the Congress.[174][172]Sitaram Yechury was among the leaders who were against Basu being the Prime Minister. When Surjeet conveyed this to United Front leaders, V. P. Singh again suggested that the CPI(M) should reconsider the decision. From Tamil Nadu House, Surjeet calledPrakash Karat to tell leaders to stay back for an emergency meeting. But the Central Committee again turned down that offer.[174] After Basu, the names of late G. K. Moopanar and DMK chief M. Karunanidhi came over but Basu suggestedH. D. Deve Gowda for the top post citing his experience as a minister first andChief Minister of Karnataka and Janata Dal accepted the offer and he was elected as thePrime Minister of India.[174] H.D Deve Gowda personally wrote a letter to Jyoti Basu to be the prime minister which Basu declined again due to party choices.
In 1999, the BJP Government byAtal Bihari Vajpayee fell down. Leaders of third front includingMulayam Singh Yadav and others again suggested Jyoti Basu. This time CPI(M) eventually agreed to the proposal. But INC declined.[169]
Later when asked about the decision of the CPI(M), Jyoti Basu stated that as a "historic blunder".[175][176] In the words of Basu, "yes, I still think that it was a historic blunder because such an opportunity does not come. History does not give such an opportunity."[174][171] Noted Congress politicianArjun Singh was also upset due to the CPI(M)'s decision.[177][178] The CPI said that Jyoti Basu as Prime Minister was 'worth-trying'.[172]
Even after stepping down from the government, Jyoti Basu personally campaigned for the CPI(M) candidateAmitava Nandy for the Dumdum seat against the incumbent BJP MP (now Union Minister of Telecom and Fertilisers) Tapan Sikdar during the2004 general elections[179] and was said to have been personally satisfied on hearing about Sikdar's defeat in the election.
The 18th congress of CPI(M), held in Delhi in 2005, re-elected Basu to its Politburo, although he had requested acceptance for his retirement. On 13 September 2006, his request for retirement due to age was turned down by the CPI(M), the general secretaryPrakash Karat stated that the party wanted that Basu should continue till at least the 2008 congress.[180] In the 19th congress held in early April 2008, Basu was eventually dis-included from the Politburo, although his membership in the Central Committee was not revoked. He was also granted the designation of Special Invitee to the Politburo, a form ofemeritus status within the CPI(M).[7][181]
On 1 January 2010, Basu was admitted to AMRI hospital (Bidhannagar, Kolkata) after he was diagnosed withpneumonia.[182][183] On 16 January 2010, it was reported that he was suffering from multiple organ failure and that his health condition had become extremely critical. Seventeen days after being taken ill, he died on 17 January 2010 at 11:47 am IST. Biman Bose announced with tears, "Jyoti Babu has left us."[184]
The death was followed by public mourning on an unprecedented scale. Draped in the national flag, Basu's body was escorted through the streets of Calcutta on a gun carriage. However, the time schedule went awry in his last moments as lakhs of people thronged the streets of central Kolkata to pay their last respects. Police and volunteers wore a helpless look as a sea of people poured in from every possible corner of the city.[185] The Army escorted the cortege from the State Assembly to the Maidan through Red Road. At Moharkunja Park, arrangements for the state funeral had been made. The army buglers performed the last post as twenty one Gurkha troops fired a 21 volley rifle salute. A day of Mourning was declared nationwide and PresidentPratibha Patil along with Prime MinisterManmohan Singh expressed their condolences.[186]
Being a communist, Basu had pledged to donate his body and eyes for medical research on 4 April 2003 at a function organised by Ganadarpan and Susrut Eye Foundation in Kolkata and not to be burned at a crematorium according toHindu funerary customs. His eyes are donated to Susrut Eye Foundation.[187] He is survived by his son Chandan, daughter-in-law Rakhi, grand daughters Payel (Mallika Basu), Doyel (Bithika Basu) and Koyel (Juthika Basu),[188] offspring of his first daughter-in-law Dolly (separated with son Chandan in 1998), and grand son Subhojyoti, offspring of daughter-in-law Rakhi.[189] Basu's body was kept at 'Peace Haven' for those who wanted to pay their respects. His body was handed over toSSKM Hospital, Kolkata for research on 19 January 2010 around 4:50 pm IST after aguard of honour at the nearby Moharkunja park (formerly, Citizens' park).[190] The hospital authority is considering preserving his brain.[191]
Basu's death was reacted with grief across the country and in international. Many famous personalities bade their gratitude and condolences in social media and attended his funeral. Some of their statements are listed below:[192][193]
IndiaBasu wasChief Minister of West Bengal consecutively five times and every time he wasMember of Legislative Assembly from theSatgachhia (Vidhan Sabha constituency).[194] Before that he was MLA fromBaranagar seat 6 times.[195]
| Election year | Office held | Constituency | Party affiliation | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Member of the legislative assembly | Baranagar | Communist Party of India | Won |
| 1957 | Member of the legislative assembly | Baranagar | Communist Party of India | Won |
| 1962 | Member of the legislative assembly | Baranagar | Communist Party of India | Won |
| 1967 | Member of the legislative assembly | Baranagar | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Won |
| 1969 | Member of the legislative assembly | Baranagar | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Won |
| 1971 | Member of the legislative assembly | Baranagar | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Won |
| 1972 | Member of the legislative assembly | Baranagar | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Lost |
| 1977 | Member of the legislative assembly | Satgachhia | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Won |
| 1982 | Member of the legislative assembly | Satgachhia | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Won |
| 1987 | Member of the legislative assembly | Satgachhia | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Won |
| 1991 | Member of the legislative assembly | Satgachhia | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Won |
| 1996 | Member of the legislative assembly | Satgachhia | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Won |
| Year | Position | Place/organisation | Belonging party | Remark | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | Secretary | Bengal Assam Railroad Workers' Union | Communist Party of India | Basu was the first secretary of the union, after it formed | [196] |
| 1943 | Representative | Calcutta Port Engineering Worker's Union,All India Trade Union Congress | Communist Party of India | [32] | |
| 1944 | Secretary | Friends of Soviet Union and Anti-Fascist Writers' Association, Kolkata | [196] | ||
| 1944 | General Secretary | Bengal Nagpur Railway Worker's Union | Communist Party of India | [13][17] | |
| 1944 | General Secretary | Bengal Delhi Railway Worker's Union | Communist Party of India | General secretary of the combined union of Bengal Delhi Railway Worker's Uniona and Bengal Nagpur Railway Worker's Union | [1][16] |
| 1944 | Secretary | All India Railwaymen's Federation | Communist Party of India | [39] | |
| 1946 | Member ofBengal Legislative Assembly | Railway employees constituency,Bengal Presidency | Communist Party of India | Railway employees constituency is underBengal Presidency of British India | |
| 1949 | Vice-president | All India Railwaymen's Federation | Communist Party of India | [51] | |
| 1951 | President | Editorial board,Swadhinata | Communist Party of India | [17] | |
| 1952 | MLA | Baranagar | Communist Party of India | 1st Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal | |
| 1952 | General Secretary | State committee,Communist Party of India | Communist Party of India | He held the position up to January 1961 | [196] |
| 1952 | Leader of the Opposition | West Bengal Legislative Assembly | Communist Party of India | 1st Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal | |
| 1957 | MLA | Baranagar | Communist Party of India | 2nd Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal | |
| 1962 | MLA | Baranagar | Communist Party of India | 3rd Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal | |
| 1964 | Founding member | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | |||
| 1964 | Member | Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | ||
| 1965 | Founding editor | People's Democracy | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | ||
| 1967 | MLA | Baranagar | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 4th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal | |
| 1969 | MLA | Baranagar | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 5th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal | |
| 1970 | Vice-president | Centre of Indian Trade Unions | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | Basu continued in position up to his death | [196] |
| 1971 | MLA | Baranagar | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 6th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal | |
| 1977 | MLA | Satgachhia | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 8th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal | |
| 1982 | MLA | Satgachhia | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 9th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal | |
| 1987 | MLA | Satgachhia | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 10th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal | |
| 1991 | MLA | Satgachhia | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 11th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal | |
| 1996 | MLA | Satgachhia | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 12th Legislative Assembly in the state of West Bengal |
Basu was slated to givenD.Litt degree, fromUniversity of Calcutta,[199] but he declined it.[198]
IndiaJyoti Basu was selected to be honoured withBharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of India, in 2008. Basu refused to take it.[203][204] Basu was also given Civilian award inCalcutta Municipal Town Hall on 15 July 2005, but he refused to take it.
Jyoti Basu married twice. His first wife Basanti died within two years of their marriage in 1942.[13][27] In 1948, he married Basanti's sister Kamala Basu, who died on 1 October 2003. Together, they had only one son, Subhabrata (also known as Chandan), who was born in 1952. Unlike his father, Chandan has no association with either politics or communism, and is a businessman. Chandan has been hounded by allegations levied by the bothCongress andTrinamool Congress of being a beneficiary of nepotism, which he has denied repeatedly.[211][212]
In 1988,RSP leaderJatindra Chandra Chakraborty was forced to step down from his position as PWD Minister byCPI(M) following him raising allegations of nepotism against Jyoti Basu[213] in what became known as the 'Bengal Lamp Scam' (in which he revealed financial irregularities on the part of Chief Minister Basu assigning a consignment of streetlights to aJadavpur based loss-making firm called 'Bengal Lamp' where his son Chandan was employed at that time).[214]
Although being an atheist and a staunch communist, Basu neverinterfered with the religious freedom of his second wife Kamala, who was described by her son Chandan to be a deeply religious woman.[215]
After joining the CPI, Basu was disinherited by his father from their residence at 55A, Hindusthan Park inGariahat locality ofSouth Kolkata, so he lived in the houses of his friends. After becoming chief minister, Basu lived in a guest house owned by the state government inBidhannagar.[216]
An admirer ofVladimir Lenin,Joseph Stalin andKarl Marx,[217] Jyoti Basu is regarded as one of the most successful politicians in India.[218] His reign of 23 years in West Bengal as the Chief Minister was counted as the longest serving chief minister in India until this record was broken byPawan Kumar Chamling in 2018.[219]
In 2010, Rajarhat New Town was named after Jyoti Basu as "Jyoti Basu Nagar" in the presence of then chief ministerBuddhadeb Bhattacharjee.[220]
TheGovernment of Bangladesh created the 201-member "Comrade Jyoti Basu Nagarik Sangsad" in the name of Basu, featuring Chief Justice ofBangladesh Supreme CourtMuhammad Habibur Rahman as Convener.[221][222]
A research institute has been named after Jyoti Basu named "Jyoti Basu Centre of Social Studies and Research" inNewtown, West Bengal.[223]
Jyoti Basu has been praised for[224]
Following theend of34-years of unbroken Communist rule in West Bengal which he had initiated in 1977, a year and a half after his death, despite of him drafting various important social reforms, many criticized him for his controversial practices during being in power as the CM of West Bengal, listed below are some allegations which are inflicted against him:-[225][226][227][228][229][230]
Critics state that Jyoti Basu's legacy consists of:
Centre of Indian Trade Unions along with Haldia Regional Committee released an album on Jyoti Basu in 2000.
In 2005, Gautam Ghosh made a documentary film namedJyoti Basur Sange (trans. "A journey with Jyoti Basu"), which was screened at Nandan on 31 April 2005 and at another auditorium in Memari.[232] The film tracks Basu's childhood days in Bangladesh, student life in London and political career in Calcutta. The writer Goutam Ghose trailed Jyoti Basu for eight years, from 1997 to 2004, across campaigns and countries for making the documentary.[233]
In 2006, aCD collection was released, based on interviews with Basu, namedAntaranga Jyoti Basu.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Chief Minister of West Bengal 1977–2000 | Succeeded by |
| CPI-M Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Seat established | Member of the politburo of Communist Party of India (Marxist) 1965–2008 | Succeeded by – |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
