By Sitaram
Yechury
July 8, 2013 marks the beginning of the birth
centenary of Comrade Jyoti Basu.
Even though all of us are aware of the
inviolable law of Nature that once life is born, it has to cease to exist one
day, this remains, universally, the most difficult inevitability to come to
terms with. Comrade Jyoti Basu’s absence,
particularly in today’s circumstances, is felt in every turn and twist. Yet, in
his absence, it is incumbent on our part to carry forward his legacy to advance
the objective for which he contributed all his life – the establishment of
socialism in India and eventually in the world.
The Legacy
Jyoti Basu’s seven decade long political life is
synchronous with the evolution of modern India.
For this very reason, he was always a source of inspiration and a `role model’ for the younger
generation. His legacy will continue to
be such a source. He, truly, was one of
the legends of modern India, not only of the Communist movement.
Having gone to England to return as a
Bar-at-Law, he was attracted to the Communist worldview, embraced the ideology
and returned to India in 1940 not to don the black robes but to plunge directly
into the freedom struggle by joining the Communist Party. Karl Marx had once said that when an idea
grips the minds of the masses, it becomes a material force. The desire for independence from British rule
had gripped the Indian masses when Jyoti Basu joined the Communist movement. He, however, was thinking ahead of what should
be the character and content of independent India. The political independence that would be
achieved needed to be converted into the
true economic independence of every Indian.
This meant the creation of a socialist society where exploitation of man
by man simply ceases to exist. It is
with this passion that remained undiluted till the end that he served the Indian people. During the course of his long and illustrious
life, he had to face many trials and tribulations but the commitment to the cause,
however, never wavered. He is a `role
model’ precisely for this reason: sheer power of his commitment to his
convictions.
Modern India, post independence, was evolving
through major struggles that led eventually to the integration of the feudal
princely States into the Indian Union.
The struggles led by the Communists brought to the fore the agenda of
land reforms and the abolition of feudal zamindari and other land tenure
systems. This was also the period when
the various linguistic nationalities in India who had united in the struggle
for freedom, were seeking their distinct identity. A process that finally led to the linguistic
reorganisation of the Indian States in 1956.
Jyoti Basu's political evolution converged with the evolution of modern India based
irrevocably on the premise that the recognition and celebration of India's
diversity can only be on the basis of its secular democratic foundations.
Jyoti Basu's firm commitment to our country's
secular democratic character and administrative structures remained a constant feature of his work and
activities. As communal forces represent
the very antithesis of this evolution of modern India, Jyoti Basu worked to isolate
and defeat the communal forces and strengthen the secular polity.
Simultaneously, his entire concentration was
on carrying forward the struggle to
convert India's political independence into economic independence for its
people – socialism. Within the Indian
Communist movement, however, a very intense ideological battle erupted on how
this was to be achieved. Steering clear
and battling against both the right and
left deviations, Jyoti Basu, alongwith his other comrades who eventually formed
the CPI(M), adopted the correct line of combining parliamentary and extra parliamentary
activity and struggles to achieve this objective. Jyoti Basu excelled in using parliamentary
democracy, its institutions and fora for both advancing this struggle and
simultaneously providing greater relief to the people.
The implementation of land reforms, the
deepening of democracy by developing the panchayati raj institutions and the
articulation of the need for better Centre-State relations to strengthen
India's federal character were some of his
important contributions to the process of the consolidation of modern
India. These apart, he was one of the first to constitute separate
ministries for environment and science and technology.
Apart from all these, the main facet of Jyoti
Basu's personality that attracted people towards him was his unassailable faith
in them. He would always urge the Party
and its cadre to go to the people and explain to them what we are doing and
take them into confidence. This faith in
the people was the strength of his credibility. They never questioned or even
doubted his integrity.
Jyoti Basu
as CM
Jyoti Basu voluntarily demitted office of the
Chief Ministership in West Bengal, in 2000, after a record tenure of 23 long
years setting new standards of political culture and morality in India. The
Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) had accepted his desire to step down since he was not satisfied with not being able
to discharge his administrative responsibilities as he was capable of doing earlier. In an atmosphere
where the lust for power has seldom seen people demitting office on such
considerations, this had come as a
breath of fresh air.
When Jyoti Basu took over as Chief Minister in
1977, the poverty ratio in West Bengal was nearly 52 per cent. In 1994, this
had come down to 26 per cent, a decline of 4.2 per cent per year. West Bengal
thus ranked the first, in poverty reduction, amongst all states in India.
Incidentally, the state ranking second is Kerala, with 3.7 per cent decline per
year. (source: India: Policies to Reduce
Poverty, World Bank, 2000). In
comparison, the rate for Maharashtra was 2.7 percent and in 1994 43.5 per cent
of its population lived in poverty.
Similarly, in terms of annual rates of growth of
the Gross state Domestic Product, West Bengal ranked No. 3, behind Gujarat and
Maharashtra with a 6.9 per cent growth per annum. Between 1991-92 and 1997-98
in per capita terms, it stood once again in third place following Gujarat and
Maharashtra with a 5.04 per annum increase. (source: Montek Singh Ahluwalia,
EPW, May 6, 2000).
Phenomenal advances have been made in the sphere
of agriculture. During this period, West
Bengal was transformed from being a chronic heavy food deficit state into one
with surplus. By the time Jyoti Basu demitted office, it became the highest
rice producing state in the country. West Bengal contributed nearly 20 per cent
of the increase in rice production in the entire country. The yield per hectare
has also shown substantial increase. More than 90 per cent of the state's
agricultural holdings belong to marginal and small farmers, as a result of the
success of Operation Barga. As a result of the successful
implementation of land reforms, noted economist Dr. Nilakant Rath then analysed
that the growth in per capita net domestic product of the agricultural
production between 1981-82 and 1994-95 went up by 22 per cent for the whole of
India but in West Bengal it went up by a whopping 70 per cent. In 1981-82, West
Bengal was amongst the lowest in the country with its per capita net
agricultural product being 18 per cent lower than the all India average. By
1994-95, it was above the all India average by about 10 per cent.
These phenomenal achievements in agriculture
have once again validated the position that land reforms are not an exercise
meant only to achieve distributive rights. While achieving this they also
unleashed rapid leaps in productivity which go a long way in reducing the
overall levels of poverty.
In terms of distributive justice, it merits
repetition that during Jyoti Basu's tenure as Chief Minister 13 lakh acres of
agricultural land were distributed amongst the landless. These were illegally
held by vested interests in the past. Even if a nominal value of Rs. one lakh
per hectare is considered, then the value of the land distributed would be to
the tune of Rs. 13 crore. Such has been
the dimension of asset redistribution in West Bengal in favour of the poor and
landless.
Thus by all counts, West Bengal during these 23
years under Jyoti Basu's stewardship had shown that it is possible to both
alleviate poverty and stimulate growth. But, one should not miss the wood for
the trees. All this was possible not because Jyoti Basu or the Left Front
government blindly embraced the economic policies of liberalisation. This was
possible because they made one fundamental departure from the economic
philosophy of liberalisation. And that is in the decisive role of State
intervention in achieving the objectives and priorities. Contrary to the
liberalisation pundits who advocate the withdrawal of the State from the economic
sphere and abdication by the State of its social responsibilities, the Left
Front government in West Bengal has played the role of the catalyst in
stimulating economic development and the role of the initiator in generating
sweeping agrarian reforms.
Sterling
Personal Qualities
During my association with Comrade Jyoti Basu in
our Party’s Central Committee for over two and a half decades, there are many
admirable qualities of his that need to be emulated. One, is his unassailable faith in the power
of reasoning based on the Marxist outlook.
No argument can ever be won with him on the basis of passion or
emotions.
The other facet of his personality is humaneness. During these years, I had on a few occasions
travelled abroad with him, when he held the office of the Chief Minister. Being the Chief Minister of West Bengal, he,
naturally, was entitled to a preferential treatment. But, he always preferred
to travel with other comrades and, till his last day in office, travelled only
in the economy class of Indian Airlines.
During such visits, he would,
forever, be concerned about the welfare of the other comrades always by taking
interest in their comforts and needs. I have, for instance, never seen him
loosing his patience even once!
Another enduring quality of his was a
self-imposed discipline with which he conducted his personal and political
life. He displayed the rearest of
soldier-like quality when his opinion in 1996 to accept the offer to become the
Prime Minister in the United Front government
was rejected by a majority of the Central Committee. Subsequently, the Party Congress at Kolkata
in 1998 had endorsed the Central Committee majority opinion. Notwithstanding his personal opinion, he,
till the end, upheld the majority view and worked steadfastly discharging his
responsibilities. Such steadfast loyalty
to the organisational principles of a Communist Party and its strict norms of
discipline is a quality that the younger generation needs to emulate.
Comrade Jyoti Basu had a unique sense of
humour. In September 1993, both of us
traveled to Cuba at the invitation of the Communist Party of Cuba for meetings
with Fidel Castro and the Party leadership.
We traveled via the Spanish capital, Madrid. On our return journey, we
had a full day waiting to catch the flight back to India. The Indian Ambassador to Spain asked if there
was anything in particular we would like to see in Madrid. Com. Jyoti Basu looked at me. I said that
since the original `Guernica’ of Picasso was in a museum in Madrid, it would be
nice to see that. This conversation was
on our way to Cuba. However, when we returned to Madrid, Com. Jyoti Basu was
not really feeling up to the mark to visit the museum. He suggested that I
should however go. Upon which the Indian Ambassador said that the museum was
being specially opened, on its scheduled off day, for Jyoti Basu. Hearing this, JB said, “How would they
recognize Jyoti Basu as they had never seen him before! Let Sitaram go, they
would not know the difference!”
Eventually I did go alone, the museum was opened and I saw the
`Guernica’!
Carry
Forward the Struggles
The consolidation of the modern Indian Republic
and elevating the much required bar of political morality can be achieved only
by pursuing this course as lived by
Jyoti Basu. The strengthening of the
secular democratic foundations and, importantly, to complete the unfinished
task of converting the political
independence of the country into the true economic emancipation of the people,
will define the contours of such a
consolidation. The widening hiatus
between `shining' and `suffering' India needs to be overcome.
This, in turn, requires, from all of us, the
strengthening of the spirit of selfless service to the people and the
country. Pledging his body to serve
medical science, Jyoti Basu on April 4, 2003, wrote : “As a Communist, I am pledged to serve humanity till my last
breath. I am happy that now I will
continue to serve even after my death.”
Jyoti Basu's indomitable fighting spirit that he
displayed all his life was there to be seen in death as well. Running his 96th year when he was
brought to the hospital with pneumonia, medical science and doctors, naturally,
saw not much hope. Jyoti Basu, as
always, was to surprise everybody. For
17 days, the fight continued. `Never say
give up' sums up the spirit of his life.
He is the last of the original nine member Polit
Bureau to leave us – the navaratnas that founded the CPI(M) and steered it through very troubling and exacting
times. The only homage that we can pay
to Comrade Jyoti Basu is by redoubling our resolve to carry forward the
struggle for human emancipation and liberty to its logical conclusion.
Lal Salam Comrade Jyoti Basu.
