By A K Padmanabhan
COMRADE Jyoti Basu, one
of the founders of the CITU and one of the great and popular leaders of Indian
political spectrum was born in Calcutta on July 8,
1914. Both his parents hailed from the Dhaka district of the present
day Bangladesh. His mother belonged to an upper middle class,
land owning family and father, from a “relatively lower middle class back
ground, was a doctor and had been to the US for higher studies”.
As he himself has noted
in his memoirs, “there was not even a whiff of politics in the family”. But
he also noted that though “politics was not the hot subject in our
household, a certain sense of sympathy and respect for the revolutionaries of
those days was not missing though it was underplayed”.
Growing up in an
atmosphere of increasing revolutionary movements, storming of
the Chittagong armoury, Gandhiji’s hunger strike, Netaji Subhash
Chandra Bose’s speeches in largely attended public meetings etc, he was
attracted to political developments.
In his memoirs Jyoti
Basu refers to the police beatings he and a cousin had to face at Netaji’s
public meeting. He says “The entire area resembled a battle
field. There were mounted policemen, ordinary constables
and sergents in uniform. When the sergents gave charge, we decided
we would not run for safety, naturally, as we started walking away in the face
of onslaught, a few canes fell on our backs. But, we did not flee,
we walked briskly to father’s chamber”.
Here we find a young boy
of 16 years, with a mind full of support to the freedom movement daring the
police beatings, which later on through his life developed into a leadership
quality of facing all challenges squarely.
IN LONDON
In the year 1935, Jyoti
Basu obtained his degree and then left for England for his studies in
Law. The four year period of study inLondon moulded him into an activist
of the India League, then under the leadership of V K Krishna Menon who later
became a cabinet minister in Nehru’s Cabinet. Later, an organisation
named London Majlis was formed and Jyoti Basu was its first
secretary. This organisation worked for generating support for the Indian
freedom movement and also hosted receptions to visiting nationalist
leaders. Through this, he came into contact with leaders like
Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose and others. A group of Indian
students including Jyoti Basu, attracted to the anti-imperialist movement and
Marxian thought, were active at that time inLondon and had close contact
with the Communist Party of Great Britain.
Immediately after his
exams, without even waiting for the results to be declared, he returned
to India in the early 1940s and established contacts with the
Communist Party of India. Though he got enrolled as a barrister in
Calcutta High Court, he started working actively as a whole timer of the
Communist Party.
TRADE UNIONS AND
ELECTIONS
In 1944 he started
organiSing the Bengal-Nagpur Railway Workers Union and was elected as its
general secretary. Thus began his active involvement in trade union
activities which continued till his last days.
It was during this
period that Jyoti Basu entered the electoral field. In the elections
to the legislative assembly in 1946 he was nominated as the candidate of the
Communist Party from the Railway Workers constituency. His main
opponent was Humayun Kabir, who was also the president of the Railway Employees
Association and was fully supported by the Congress.
His long period of
legislative work started with this election, which he could win despite various
malpractices. It is interesting to note what he had to say about the
election experiences in 1946.
“My very first
election as a candidate gave me a taste of what bourgeois elections were all
about. It was baptism by fire. There was a conscious
effort to buy votes. At another level, I saw what honesty and
idealism were all about. Not one person of the electoral college
(Railway workers eligible to vote) had betrayed us, the dedication,
perseverance and loyalty of our comrades ensured my victory and above all it
was a victory of Railway Workers”. The lessons of the 1946
election and victory in that would have helped him in all the elections to the
state legislature that he contested later!
Jyoti Basu continued to
be a member of the West Bengal legislature after
independence. After Bengal was partitioned, all members of the
legislature, elected in 1946 from West Bengal area continued as
members. He notes in his memoirs, on the first day of the session
after independence which was held in November 1947 – “It may be recalled
that on the very first day of the session the state police used lathis and teargas
to disperse a gathering of 25 thousand farmers and students organized by
the Bengal Provincial Krishak Sabha”. This was surely
a taste of things to come in the later days.
Jyoti Basu, played a
leading role in West Bengal and also at the national level in
developing the democratic and left movement. He was involved in
building a powerful trade union movement in the state. In between,
the Communist Party was banned, leaders including Jyoti Basu were
arrested. Braving all the attacks, the movement grew in
strength. Jyoti Basu, won the elections in 1952 and again in
1957. In 1957, he was the formal leader of the opposition in the
state legislature. He won again in 1962 from the same Baranagar
constituency.
The period from 1962 to
1967 was of great importance in the history of India. The
Communist Party of India faced a split and the CPI(M) was
formed. Jyoti Basu was elected as a member of the nine member Polit
Bureau of the Party and he continued to be in the highest body of the party
till his death.
PRO-PEOPLE GOVERNMENTS
1967 saw the defeat of
the Congress in many states and Jyoti Basu was the architect of the new setup
after the defeat of the Congress in West Bengal. In a
triangular contest, the Congress was defeated and the two fronts – one led by
the CPI(M) and another by the Bangla Congress – came together to form a United
Front government with Ajoy Mukherji of Bangla Congress as chief minister and
Jyoti Basu as deputy CM. Thus started the long history of coalition
governments in Bengal.
This government lasted
only eight months but created history by taking pro-people steps like
nationalisation of the Tram Company and repeal of draconian West Bengal
Security Act which was used to suppress the people’s movement. This
government declared that the police force will not take a partisan stand in
favour of managements in labour disputes.
The next elections in
1969 saw the two fronts contesting together against Congress. Jyoti
Basu became deputy chief minister again with Home and Police as his
portfolios. This government laid the foundation for the land reforms
in the state and took many pro-people decisions. This government
lasted only 13 months. President’s rule was promulgated on March 29,
1970.
This period was a
turbulent one in the history of West Bengal. The Naxalite
movement began its murderous attacks against the CPI(M) and its supporters and
was also joined by Congressmen in this. There was a planned
murderous attack on Jyoti Basu who was shot at on the railway platform
at Patna on March 31, 1970 and a comrade who came to receive him was
killed. Jyoti Basu escaped with bruises on his hand.
CITU FORMED
On the trade union front
also, new developments were taking place. With massive struggles in various
sectors and in different states, various questions were raised on the approach
of the predominant leadership of the AITUC at that time. It was in
such a situation that the decision to call an all India trade union
conference to discuss about the formation of a new central trade union
organisation was taken. Jyoti Basu was one of those who took the
lead in this along with others like Comrades B T Ranadive, P R
Ramamurti. InWest Bengal, the West Bengal Provincial Trade Union
Council fully supported this move. Jyoti Basu was the chairman of
the reception committee for the conference in Calcutta.
In his welcome address
to the Conference on May28, 1970, he dealt in detail with the situation
in West Bengal and achievements in the short period of the two United
Front governments. He also dealt with the tasks of the conference, underlining
building up of unity of the working class for struggle, mobilisation of allies
to shoulder the historic responsibilities of the working class along with
various other issues.
In the Founding
Conference, Jyoti Basu was elected as a Working Committee member and in the
Second Conference he was elected as vice-president, in which position he guided
CITU till his last days.
Jyoti Basu gave
leadership to the struggles of the working people in the turbulent days after
1970, and guidance in building up the most powerful unit of the CITU in the
country in the state of West Bengal.
The struggles of
the West Bengal people, the innumerable killings of leaders and
cadres of the CPI(M), the CITU and other mass organisations in the period of
1970-77 are all part of history. The working people of West
Bengal withstood all these cruelties, fought for restoration of democracy
and finally became victorious.
LEFT FRONT GOVERNMENTS
In 1977, the first Left
Front government was formed and Comrade Jyoti Basu was sworn in as chief
minister. For 23 years he continued as chief minister, winning five consecutive
elections. He then stepped down from the post and without contesting, spearheaded
the battle in the next two elections. A total of 34 years of Left
Front government is a record for any Left government in a bourgeois system.
Jyoti Basu created history as the longest serving chief minister in India.
The achievements of the
Left Front governments of West Bengal, starting from restoration of
democratic rights and release of all political detenues are also well known.
Jyoti Basu had made a declaration that “this Government will not rule
from Writers Buildingonly” immediately after taking over in 1977.
The limitations of a
state government were also made clear to the people of West
Bengal. In an interview he clarified about the experiment of the
Left Front government: “It is not a socialist economy and system
operating here. We have not made tall promises. Whatever
we can do, we have told them. One thing we cannot do, that is, bring
about fundamental changes. Because, we are not
a republic of West Bengal. We are part of India”.
The 34 year Left Front
government in West Bengal made an immense contribution to
the building up of the left and democratic movement in the country and
initiated innumerable pro-people programmes, especially for the workers,
peasants and rural workers.
FOR THE CAUSE OF PEOPLE
In the elections to the
Lok Sabha, in 2009, the Left Front faced a setback. At that time he
said “It is the people who determine the course of history. There can be
some who misunderstand us temporarily, but if we keep going to the people
repeatedly and make ourselves worthy of their love, they will most certainly
understand us. We will have to again draw to our side those who
opposed us in the last Panchayat and Lok Sabha elections”.
This is the immediate
task Jyoti Basu had outlined to the leaders of the working class movement in West
Bengal. The lofty ideals, for which he struggled all through his public life of
more than seventy years are there for us to achieve.
Though Jyoti Basu left
us forever on January 17, 2010, his life and teachings will surely guide us
towards our goals.
Let us never forget what
he said “There is nothing more valuable in life than the love of the
people. We are always ready to sacrifice our lives for a greater
cause… There should not be any regrets in having led a life of
disuse. That has always been my bottom line.”
Long live the legacy of
the great revolutionary Comrade Jyoti Basu.
