A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Jyoti Basu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6th Chief Minister of West Bengal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 21 June 1977 – 5 November 2000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | President's rule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1977–2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | New constituency | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Sonali Guha | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Satgachhia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1952–1972 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | New constituency | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Shiba Pada Bhattacharjee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Baranagar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1st Deputy Chief Minister of West Bengal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 25 February 1969 – 16 March 1970 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chief Minister | Ajoy Mukherjee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Vacant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Bijoy Singh Nahar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 March 1967 – 21 November 1967 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chief Minister | Ajoy Mukherjee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Office established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Vacant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1946–1947 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Office disbanded | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Railway Employees | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of Politburo, Communist Party of India (Marxist) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1964–2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home Minister of West Bengal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 21 June 1977 – 1996 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 25 February 1969 – 16 March 1970[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Buddhadeb Bhattacharya | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Jyotirindra Basu 8 July 1914 Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 17 January 2010 (aged 95) Kolkata, West Bengal, India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cause of death | Pneumonia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Communist Party of India (Marxist) (1964–2010) Communist Party of India (1940–1964) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouses | Basanti Basu
(m. 1940; died 1942)Kamala Basu
(m. 1948; died 2003) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | Chandan Basu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Presidency College, Kolkata University College, London London School of Economics Middle Temple | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | https://jyotibasu.net/ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jyoti Basu (born Jyotirindra Basu; 8 July 1914 – 17 January 2010)[2] was an Indian Marxist theorist, communist activist, and politician. He was one of the most prominent leaders of Communist movement in India.[3][4] He served as the 6th and longest serving Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000.[5][6][7] He was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was the member of Politburo of the party since its formation in 1964 till 2008. He was also the member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly 11 times.[8] In his political career, spanning over seven decades, he was noted to have been the India's longest serving chief minister in an elected democracy, at the time of his resignation.[9][a] He was proposed for the post of Prime Minister of India for four times.
Early life and education
Jyotirindra Basu was born on 8 July 1914 to a middle-class Bengali Kayastha family at 43/1 Harrison Road, Calcutta, British India.[2][11][12][13] His father, Nishikanta Basu was a doctor whose hometown was the village of Barudi in Dhaka District of the Bengal Presidency while his mother Hemlata Basu was a housewife.[14] He grew up in an Indian style joint family and was the youngest of three siblings.[14][10] He had an affectionate nickname called Gana.[5] One of his elder uncles, Nilinkanta Basu was a judge in the High Court.[15] His family also retained ancestral lands in Barudi where Jyoti Basu is described to have spent part of his childhood.[10] The Barudi home of Basu was later turned into a library after his death, reportedly on his wishes.[10][16]
Basu's schooling began in 1920 at Loreto School Kindergarten in Dharmatala, Calcutta.[15][14] His father shortened his name from Jyotirindra to Jyoti during the time of admission.[11][14] However, three years later he was shifted to the St. Xaviers School, Calcutta.[11] He completed his intermediate education from St. Xaviers in 1932.[17][15][18] Subsequently, he took an undergraduate course in English from the Hindu College, Calcutta (later renamed to Presidency College).[11][15] Following his graduation in 1935,[19] he acquired admission in the University College, London (UCL) to study Law and became a barrister at Middle Temple on 26 January 1940.[11][20] He had already left for India by the time he acquired his barristerial qualification which he received in absentia.[20]
During his stay in London, he became involved in political discourse and activism for the first time.[15][11][14] Besides his general curriculum at UCL, he would attend various lectures on political organisation, constitutional law, international law and anthropology at the London School of Economics (LSE).[21] Due to which, he is also credited as an alumnus of LSE.[22][21][23] He had reportedly attended the lectures of the political theorist and economist, Harold Laski and was influenced by his anti-fascism.[15] By 1937, Basu was an active member of several anti-imperialist Indian students unions such as the India League and the Federation of Indian Students,[11][14] and had become acquainted with young Indian communists such as Bhupesh Gupta and Snehangshu Acharya.[15]
In 1938, he had also become a founding member of the London Majlis and subsequently its first secretary.[15][11] Apart from raising public opinion for the cause of Indian independence, one of the primary function of the Majlis was to arrange receptions for Indian leaders who were visiting England at the time.[15] Through the Majlis, Basu came into contact with various Indian independence movement leaders such as Subhas Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru, Krishna Menon and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.[14][15]
Before 1947 and independence movement
On returning to Calcutta, India in early 1940,[24] Basu enrolled as a barrister at the Calcutta High Court,[15] and married Basanti Ghosh.[25][5] However, in the same year, he also inducted himself as an activist affiliated to the Communist Party of India (CPI).[24][18] His entry into the communist movement at the time had reportedly been in opposition to the wishes of his relatively well off family.[18][26] Following the Meerut conspiracy in 1929, the Communist Party had also been made illegal by British authorities,[11][27] as a result Basu was initially involved in providing liaison and safe houses for underground Communist leaders in the Independence movement.[18][15] However soon afterwards, he also became involved in organising railway workers, planning strikes and is described to have preferred direct action over ballot box in the initial years.[26][28]
In 1941, Basu was appointed as the party secretary of the Bengal Assam Railway (now Bangladesh Railway and Northeast Frontier Railway) and tasked with organising a workers union.[18] By May 1943, he had become the representative of the Calcutta Port Engineering Worker's Union in the All India Trade Union Congress,[29][30] while the Bengal Assam Railway Workers Union under him increased its membership to over 4,000 with union members present in Dacca, Calcutta, Kanchrapara, Mymensingh, Rangpur and Assam.[31]
In the following Bengal famine of 1943, the members of the Communist Party including Basu were involved in famine relief work.[15][32] The party also organised "People's Food Committees" which would attempt to force hoarders into releasing their stocks for distribution; Basu participated in the organisation of such committees in Calcutta and Midnapore.[33][32] According to Basu's testimony, they only had a small organisation at the time and did the best they could while the famine took the lives of over 3 million people.[34] Basu was elected to the Bengal provincial committee of the Communist Party in the same year.[18] He would later participate in the Tebhaga movement between 1945 and 1947 that sought to end the food crisis in Bengal, in a supportive capacity as a railway unionist.[35]
By 1944, Basu had started leading the trade union activities of the Communist Party.[36] He was again delegated to organise labourers working for the East Indian Railway Company (now Eastern Railway and East Central Railway) in order to further the interests of the Indian workers and is described to have been instrumental in the formation of the Bengal Nagpur Railway (now South Eastern Railway, East Coast Railway and South East Central Railway) Worker's Union of which he became the general secretary.[11][15] With the merger of the Bengal Nagpur Railway Worker's Union and the Bengal Delhi Railroad Worker's Union in the same year, Basu was elected the general secretary of the new combined union.[2][14] He would also be elected as the secretary of the All India Railwaymen's Federation.[37]
In 1946, Basu was appointed by the Communist Party to contest as the candidate for the Railway Employee's constituency in the Bengal Legislative Assembly.[38] He subsequently defeated Humayun Kabir of the Indian National Congress and was elected to the assembly.[39][40] He is noted to have given a "soul stirring speech" on the presiding food crisis in the Bengal Assembly;[39] according to him the only means of solving the issue was to completely dismantle the Zamindari system and the Permanent Settlement agreement, and to drive out the British with haste.[41] Basu had also organised a continuous railway strike in support of the 1946 Royal Indian Navy ratings revolt,[42][34] and later secured the release of various political prisoners on 24 July 1946.[28][30]
Communist Party of India (1947–1964)
Interim government in West Bengal (1947–1952)
| Part of a series on |
| Communism in India |
|---|
 |
 Communism portal |
| Part of a series on |
| Marxism |
|---|
 |