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Jyoti Basu: He was of a different mettle as far as politics goes!

MAJOR KULBIR SINGH. Dated: 8/18/2017 11:24:12 AM

‘Basu reached Kolkata
and was reunited with his parents on January 1, 1940. While he was in London, his parents had selected a suitable bride for him and
informed him of their choice. Like a normal Indian boy of his
generation, Basu had replied that if the girl was acceptable to
his parents, she was
acceptable to him.’


Major Kulbir Singh
Jyotirindra Basu (8 July 1914 – 17 January 2010); known as Jyoti Basu was an Indian politician belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from West Bengal, India. He served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal state from 1977 to 2000, making him the longest-serving Chief Minister in the country’s history. Basu was a member of the CPI(M) Politburo from the time of the party’s founding (The CPI(M) was formed at the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of India held in Calcutta from 31 October to 7 November 1964) in 1964 until 2008. From 2008 until his death in 2010 he remained a permanent invitee to the central committee of the party. Jyotirindra Basu was born 8 July 1914 at 43/1 Harrison Road (now Mahatma Gandhi Road) in Kolkata (then known as Calcutta) into a very affluent family. His father, Nishikanta Basu, was a doctor settled in Kolkata who hailed from the village of Barudi in Narayanganj District, East Bengal (Bangladesh), while his mother Hemalata Basu was a housewife. Basu grew up in a large Indian-style joint family, consisting of his parents, siblings, paternal uncles, their wives and children. The family, who had lived in a rented house in Kolkata in addition to retaining ancestral properties East Bengal, purchased a spacious mansion at 55-A, Hindustan Road in 1920, and this is where Basu grew up. Basu reached Kolkata and was reunited with his parents on January 1, 1940. While he was in London, his parents had selected a suitable bride for him and informed him of their choice. Like a normal Indian boy of his generation, Basu had replied that if the girl was acceptable to his parents, she was acceptable to him. The two sets of parents had then made arrangements for the wedding, and on Jan 20, 1940, only nineteen days after his return to India, Basu was married to Basanti Devi (née Ghose, fondly known as ‘Chobi’), a girl of his own caste and similar family background. Unfortunately, Basanti died in 1942, hardly two years after the wedding, and there were no surviving children. Basu’s mother, Hemalata Devi, also died a few months later, in 1942.
After returning to India, Basu had become an active member of the Communist Party, to his father’s chagrin. After Basanti’s death, he deepened his involvement, virtually giving up the pretense of earning a living as a lawyer. His legal practice was mostly about providing legal services pro bono to the party and its affiliates, in particular to trade unions. He lived as always with his father and extended family (as per Indian custom) and thus had little need to earn a living. As a young barrister studying in England, he had been a prize catch for any family with a marriageable daughter, but the situation was altered now, and proposals were not plentiful. Several years passed, and Basu’s father and other family members grew anxious to see him settled again. In time, they arranged for him to marry another suitable girl of their caste and background. This was Kamala, who Basu married on Dec 5, 1948. The marriage, which conformed in every way to Indian tradition and convention, was harmonious and lasted until their deaths more than sixty years later. On Aug 31, 1951, the couple became the parents of a girl child, born at Sishumangal Hospital in Kolkata. Tragically, the unnamed baby died only a few days later of diarrhoea and dehydration. In 1952, the couple were blessed with the birth of a son, Subhabrata Basu, fondly known as ‘Chandan’ by one and all. Chandan, who was to be the couple’s only surviving child, was born while Basu was in prison for allegedly seditious activities, having been incarcerated by the Congress-led government of independent India. Shortly after Chandan was born, Basu’s father, Nishikant Basu, wrote a will which disinherited Basu entirely and vested all his property, a considerable fortune which included the massive mansion in Kokata, in the name of his daughter-in-law Kamala, with provision that the property be inherited by Chandan eventually. The elderly bhadralok patrician had been aghast, even distraught, to find that his beloved son had returned from England a communist, and that he had developed over the next decade (the 1940s) into a violent revolutionary. Basu was to say later that the arrangement suited him perfectly, that indeed it had been devised in consultation with him; it ensured that Kamala was always able to feed the family and pay for her son’s education, which left Basu free from the tension of having to provide for his wife and son, and enabled him to pursue his political activities exactly as he wanted. Further, Kamala was a lady of traditional bent, who rarely if ever opposed her husband in anything, and it was only a convenient legal fiction to say that Basu had no assets which could be alienated from him, while his wife held significant property and wealth. Jyoti Basu’s first track in politics was his effort to organise the Indian students studying in United Kingdom, mostly for the cause of Indian independence. Basu subsequently joined India League and London Majlis, both the organisations being communities of overseas Indian students. Basu was later elected the General Secretary of London Majlish. Basu was given the responsibility for arranging a meeting with Jawaharlal Nehru during Nehru’s visit to London in 1938. The same was done after Subhas Chandra Bose went to England. As a member of London Majlis, Basu introduced the visiting Indian political figures to the leaders of the Labour Party.
Basu was introduced to the Communist Party of Great Britain by another communist leader and Basu’s friend in England, Bhupesh Gupta. It is told Basu showed interest to join CPGB but the then Secretary General Harry Pollitt suggested that he should not do so, possibly because CPGB was then banned in India and Pollitt speculated Basu could have difficulties in returning to India as a member of CPGB. However Basu returned to India in 1940 and immediately contacted the Party leaders. Though he enrolled himself as a barrister in Calcutta High Court, he never practised simply because he was determined to become a wholetimer of the Party. Basu became the secretary of Friends of Soviet Union and Anti-Fascist Writers’ Association in Kolkata. As a member of the Party, his initial task was to maintain liaison with underground Party leaders. He was entrusted with responsibilities on the trade union front from 1944. In that year, Bengal Assam Railroad Workers’ Union was formed and Basu became its first secretary. In 1944 Basu became involved in trade union activities when 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. In 1946, Basu was elected to the Bengal Provincial Assembly from the Railway Workers constituency. Ratanlal Bramhan and Rupnarayan Roy were the other two Communists who were elected. From that day on, Basu became one of the most popular and influential legislators for decades to come. Basu played a very active role in the stormy days of 1946–47 when Bengal witnessed the Tebhaga movement, workers strikes and even communal riots. In the late 1940s, Basu served as the Vice-President of the All India Railwaymen’s Federation until Communists expelled from the union for attempt to organize strikes after the union had withdrawn its strike notice.