Saturday, July 9, 2011

Jyoti Basu Remembered on his 98th Birth anniversary


Communist Patriarch and former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu’s 98th birth anniversary was celebrated across the state on Saturday. Among those who paid floral tributes in the Assembly were Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay, Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee, the former Speaker H.A. Halim, and Sitaram Yechury, member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

A non-governmental organisation Pather Panchali, which held annual celebrations on this day at Basu’s residence Indira Bhavan when he was alive, organised a small function at the venue. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Forward Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh, other political leaders and a large number of schoolchildren took part. Chatterjee demanded that Indira Bhavan, where Basu spent the last two decades of his life, be turned into a museum in his memory.

Born July 8, 1914, in Kolkata to a wealthy family, Basu took to communism in London. On his return to India, he joined the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI) and plunged into the Left movement.  Basu made his debut in electoral politics in 1946. He was elected to the state assembly 11 times, losing only once – in the hugely controversial 1972 elections.
After the CPI split in 1964, he joined the CPI(M) and was elected to its first central committee and politburo.  He was West Bengal chief minister from 1977 until he retired in late 2000 due to ill health.

Sitaram Yechury files papers for RS polls in West Bengal


CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury on Friday filed nomination as the lone Left Front candidate for Rajya Sabha elections in West Bengal.

The Rajya Sabha terms of four Left Front leaders -- Yechury, Brinda Karat, Mohammad Amin of CPI(M) and Abani Roy of RSP, besides Trinamool Congress’ Swapan Sadhan Bose -- will end on August 18.  The remaining sixth seat has been lying vacant since the death of Independent Arjun Sengupta, who was backed by the Left and Congress in September 2010.
The election will be held on July 22.