Legendary Marxist passes away

In the death of Jyoti Basu, the nation has lost a great patriot and statesman.Jyoti Basu was the longest serving Chief Minister of West Bengal. He was the tallest leader of communist in the country. In his death, the country has lost a great leader and communists have lost their patriarch. He was a visionary leader who tried all his life to give communist movement a new direction in the fast changing situation. He was a charishmatic leader who was well-connected with the people.Jyoti Basu would have made a history by becoming the first democratic elected Marxist as Prime Minister of India in 1996 if his own party had agreed to the proposal. He was a learned man and worked relentlessly for spreading communism through democratic means and a great advocate of secularism.Jyoti Basu was one of the few leaders in the country who commanded wide respect across the political parties. His views on national issues were taken very seriously. Apart from unchallenging leadership in West Bengal, he was held in the highest esteem by all political parties on national scene. Leading Bengal for 23 years as Chief Minister from 1977 to 2000, the communist bastion got stronger and stronger. He chose his protege Buddhadev Battacharya as his successor in 2000 and reliquished the post of Chief Ministership of Bengal in his favour on health ground.Jyoti Basu was a visionary leader who gave a new vision to communists, though his Marxist fellow leaders remained dogmatic and stuck to hardline communism and that had come as hurdle in the way of his becoming PM, which he described later as historic blunder. Jyoti Basu was also the champion of coalition politics which he showed by leading the Left Front government for 23 years without any murmer among his Left partners. Jyoti Basu was a mass leader who all his life fought for the cause of the poor and downtrodden. Apart from a communist patriarch, he was the champion of secularism. He had always his hands on the pulse of the masses. His every step was in the interest of the people. That is why he was a people’s leader. He was a symbol of communism and always advocated for achieving the goal of communism in true sense of the term by protecting the cause of labourers, factory workers, poor and downtrodden. His death has created a vacuum which will be very difficult to fill. His death is an end of an ear. Because he was not only the leader of communists but also of secular forces in the country. He was a great son of India and always rose above party affiliation in the interest of nation. His death has plunged not only West Bengal into gloom but also the entire nation. The chief characteristic of the politics of Jyoti Basu was that he was always in favour of moving forward with all like-minded political parties. He decided on any issue keeping the interest of the people uppermost and always stuck to communism and secularism.