COMRADE JYOTI BASU WLIL ALWAYS BE RESPECTED BY EVERY INDIAN, HE WIIL BE EVER REMEMBERED FOR HIS OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION.

COMRADE JYOTI BASU(08TH JULY 1914-17TH JANUARY 2010)

I FIRST SAW THE NAME OF JYOTI BASU IN NEWS PAPERS IN THE YEAR 1984 AFTER INDIAN MILITARY HAD RAIDED GOLDEN TEMPLE OF AMRITSAR.MRS. GANDHI CALLED MR. JOYTI BASU TO DELHI TO DISCUSS THE SITUATION. IN THE SAME YEAR MRS. GANDHI WAS KILLED. A SERIOUS ANTI SIKH RIOT BROKE OUT IN INDIA.AFTER FUNERAL OF MRS GANDHI MR. RAJIB GANDHI SENT ALL CHIEF MINISTERS TO THEIR RESPECTIVE STATES BUT NOT JOYTI BASU. HE REQUESTED JOYTI BASU TO STAY DELHI UNTILL THE SITUATION BECAME NORMAL. I WAS ASTONISHED!BASICALLY BEFORE 1984 I WAS A READER OF SPORTS NEWS SPECIALLY OF FOOTBALL.I READ NEWSPAPERS FROM MY BOY HOOD . IN NEWSPAPER I USED TO READ FIRST SPORTS NEWS, THEN OF CINEMA THEN OTHERS.SO I WAS NOT POLITICALLY MATURE AT ALL.IN 1984 I JOINED LEFTIST STUDENT ORGANIZATION . SO I HAD BEEN READING POLITICAL NEWS ATTENTIVELY.JOYTI BASU WAS A COMMUNIST LEADER . INDIRA GANDHI &. RAJIB GANDHI WERE BOURGEOIS LEADER. WHY WERE THEY GIVING HIM SO IMPORTANCE? SOME PAPERS WROTE MRS. GANDHI ALWAYS USED TO TAKE SUGGESTION FROM JOYTI BASU TO HANDLE COMPLEX POLITICAL SITUATION.BY READING THESE NEWS & BY DISCUSSING WITH MY FATHER I HAD THE CONCLUSION THAT JOYTI BASU WAS A VERY GOOD LEADER & GOOD ADMINTSTRATOR.BUT LIKE MANY OTHER BANGLADESHIS I HAD BEEN RELUCTANT ABOUT INDIAN POLITICS FOR MANY YEARS. WHEN SOVIET UNION WAS BROKEN BUT WEST BENGAL COMMUNISTS HAD BEEN WINNING IN ELECTIONS, I FELT INTEREST ABOUT COMMUNISTS OF INDIA.THEN I HAD BEEN COLLECTING INFORMATIONS ABOUT THEM. FROM DIFFERENT INFORMATIONS I FOUND JOYTI BASU AS AN EXTRA ORDINARY BRILLIANT LEADER.HE WAS AGAINST RANADIVE’S LINE. HIS BELIEF WAS THAT THERE WOULD BE NO ARMS REVOLUTION IN INDIA.HE ALWAYS TRIED TO RUN HIS PARTY INDEPENDENTLY FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF SOVIET OR CHINEESE COMMUNIST PARTY.HE ESTABLISHED CPI(M) AS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION BASED PARTY. I THINK WHO STILL TELL ABOUT ARMS REVOLUTION OR INTERNATIONAL REVOLUTION OF PROLETARIAT, THEY ARE BASICALLY CHAUVINIST.I ALSO THINK ,THEY HAVE LACK OF COMMON SENSE OR THEY ARE PURSUING THE INTERESTS OF OTHERS. JYOTI BASU ESTABLISHED CPI(M )AS A PARTY WHICH HAS POLLING BOOTH BASIS PARTY ORGANIZATION.HIS GOVT. MODERNIZED MADRASHA EDUCATION IN SUCH A WAY THAT NOW HINDU STUDENTS ALSO READ IN MADRASAS OF WEST BENGAL.EDUCATIONALISTS FROM OTHER STATES OF INDIA & FOREIGN COUNTRIES ARE NOW LEARNING FROM WEST BENGAL ABOUT MODERNIZATION OF MADRASA EDUCATION.HE WAS BORN IN AN ELITE FAMILY.HIS FATHER WAS AN AMERICAN TRAINED M.B.B.S DOCTOR.HIS ONE UNCLE WAS JUSTICE OF CALCUTTA HIGH COURT, OTHER WAS A RENOWNED ADVOCATE OF SAME COURT. BENGALI HAD BEEN LEARNED BY HIM ONLY IN INTERMEDIATE CLASSES FOR TWO YEARS AS OPTIONAL SUBJECT.HE HAD GRADUATED IN ENGLISH LITERATURE & LATER BECAME A BARRISTER. HE WAS VERY MUCH EXPERT IN ENGLISH LITERATURE.I READ A NEWS FEW YEARS BEFORE ABOUT HIS DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ENGLISH LITERATURE.HE INTERVIEWED THOSE WHO WERE INTERESTED TO WRITE HIS BIOGRAPHY.HIS CLAUSE WAS" I WILL ASK TWO QUESTIONS ABOUT SHAKESPEARE.IF ONE CAN ANSWER THESE TWO QUESTIONS CORRECTLY HE WILL BE ELIGIBLE TO WRITE MY BIOGRAPHY".WHO HAD BECOME SUCESSFUL SHE WAS A PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH & LATER BECAME PRO VICE-CHANCELLOR OF CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY.BUT HE WAS A COMPLETE BANGALEE BABU WITH OUTSTANDING QUALITIES.JOYTI BASU WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL IN INDUSTRIALIZATION OF WEST BENGAL BECAUSE THEY WERE COMMUNIST SO CENTRAL GOVT. HAD BEEN PUTTING DIFFERENT OBSTACLES IN INDUSTRIALIZATION OF WEST BENGAL.THOUGH CENTRAL GOVT. HAD BEEN PUTTING SERIOUS OBSTACLES, THEY SUCCESSFULLY ESTABLISHED HALIDIA PETROCHEM,BAKRESWAR THERMAL POWER PLANT ETC. JOYTI BASU WAS VERY MUCH INTERESTED FOR AN ELECTRONICS COMPLEX IN WEST BENGAL.BUT MRS. INDIRA GANDHI OPPOSED IT BY TELLING SECURITY THREAT FROM BANGLADESH. AT THAT PERIOD THERE HAD BEEN A LICENSING SYSTEM, SO JOYTI BASU WAS NOT ABLE TO ESTABLISH THE PROJECT. CENTRAL GOVT. DEPRIVED WEST BENGAL IN MANY WAYS. I THINK ,AS THE ADMINISTRATION HAS BEEN CONTROLLED BY THE UNDERGROUND NET WORK OF MAFIA POWER BROKERS ,THEY HAVE BEEN OPPOSING SERIOUSLY ABOUT INDUSTRIALIZATION OF WEST BENGAL.THOUGH THERE IS NOT LICENSING SYSTEM NOW, THESE UNDER GROUND MAFIA GROUPS ARE STILL OPPOSING THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF WEST BENGAL BY USING MAMATA BANERJEE. CPI(M ) WAS ALSO LITTLE BIT RESPONSIBLE. CPI(M) WAS NOT PREPARED TO ACCEPT FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN WEST BENGAL.EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD BEEN ENGAGED IN HARMFUL TRADE UNION MOVEMENTS. HE HAD BEEN TRYING TO READY HIS PARTY FOR A LIBERAL INDUSTRIAL POLICY SINCE 1978. AT LAST HE WAS SUCCESSFUL IN 1994. BUT WHAT HE & HIS PARTY CONTRIBUTED TO WEST BENGAL, IT WILL ALWAYS BE AN EXAMPLE TO ALL. THEIR LAND REFORM, OPERATION BARGA,SUCCESSFUL REFORMATION OF LOCAL GOVT. OR THEIR FIGHT AGAINST ALL TYPE OF FUNDAMENTALISM WILL BE REMEMBERED BY ALL.WEST BENGAL IS A STATE OF COMMUNAL HARMONY IN ALL RESPECTS.HE WILL BE REMEMBERED AS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL & PRAGMATIC COMMUNIST OF MODERN WORLD WHO TAUGHT COMMUNISTS TO DO ELECTION NOT ARMS REVOLUTION.
COMRADE JOYTI BASU LAL SALAM.