Jyoti Basu

Basu, at the 18th CPI(M) congress, 2005

Jyoti Basu (Bengali: জ্যোতি বসু) (born July 8, 1914) is a Communist politician from West Bengal, India. Basu is a Politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and, as the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977-2000, was India's longest-serving Chief Minister.

Background

Basu was the son of a doctor, born into a middle-class Bengali family in Calcutta. His father, Nishikanta Basu, hailed from the village Baradi in Dhaka District, East Bengal (now in Bangladesh). He got his school education at St. Xavier's School. He graduated from Presidency College with an honours degree from the Art Faculty in 1935, and subsequently travelled to London to study law. He was introduced to the Communist Party of Great Britain through Bhupesh Gupta Basu. Basu became involved in leftist circles of Indian students in England.

Jyoti Basu returned to India in 1940, and immediately became a whole-timer of the Communist Party of India. He got married in 1941, but his wife died shortly after the wedding. His mother also died in the same year. He got married again in 1948. His son, Chandan, is an industrialist and was associated with the now bankrupt Bengal Chemicals.

Basu became involved in trade union activties in 1944; the Communist Party of India delegated him to work with the railway labourers. When the B.N. Railway Workers Union and the B.D. Rail Road Workers Union merged, Basu became the combined union's general secretary.

Political career

Basu was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1946, contesting the Railway constituency. When the Communist Party of India split in 1964, Basu became a prominent leader of the new Communist Party of India (Marxist). In 1967 and 1969, Basu became Deputy Chief Minister of West Bengal in the United Front governments.

From June 21, 1977-November 6, 2000, Jyoti Basu served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the Left Front government. In 1997 Jyoti Basu seemed all set to be the consensus leader of the United Front. However, the CPI(M) politburo decided not to participate in the government, a decision that Jyoti Basu later termed a historic blunder. Other analysts have termed it a typical manifestation of the insecurities of the Indian left ever since the fall of the Soviet Union. H.D. Deve Gowda from the Jantaa Dal instead became prime minister. Jyoti Basu resigned from the Chief Ministership of West Bengal in 2000 for health reasons, and was succeeded by fellow CPI(M) politician Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. As of 2005, Basu has been the longest-serving Chief Minister in Indian political history. As per a few online media reports his son Chandan Basu flourished into a business tycoon thanks to his father's political clout.[1] . In January 2006 the Supreme Court of India issued notices to Jyoti Basu and others in connection with land allotements made at Salt Lake city.[2]

The 18th congress of CPI(M), held in Delhi 2005, re-elected Basu to its politburo.