Jyoti Basu
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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.
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[edit] Background
Basu was the son of a wealthy doctor, born into an upper middle-class Bengali family in Calcutta. His father, Nishikanta Basu, hailed from the village of Barodi in Dhaka District, East Bengal (now in Bangladesh).[1] 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.
Basu returned to India in 1940 and immediately became a whole-timer of the Communist Party of India.In 1944 Basu became involved in trade union activties. CPI delegated him to work amongst the railway labourers. When B.N. Railway Workers Union and B.D. Rail Road Workers Union merged Basu became the general secretary of the union.
[edit] 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.
Between June 21, 1977 and November 6, 2000, 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 for the post of Prime Minister of India. However, the CPI(M) politburo decided not to participate in the government, a decision that Jyoti Basu later termed a historic blunder. H.D. Deve Gowda from the Janata Dal instead became Prime Minister.
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 2006, Basu holds the record for the longest-serving Chief Minister in Indian political history.
The 18th congress of CPI(M), held in Delhi 2005, re-elected Basu to its politburo. On September 13th 2006, Basu entreated the CPI(M) to allow his retirement, but was turned down. [1]
[edit] Controversies
During his Chief Ministership, there were accusations that his son Chandan Basu had taken undue advantage of his father's political position.[2].
In January 2006 the Supreme Court of India issued notices to Basu and others in connection with land allotments made at Salt Lake city.[3]
| Preceded by: Siddhartha Shankar Ray |
Chief Minister of West Bengal 1977—2000 |
Succeeded by: Buddhadeb Bhattacharya |
[edit] References
- ^ Jatadur Mone Pare: Rajnaitik Atmakathan by Jyoti Basu; National Book Agency, Calcutta.
