People's Democracy

People's Historic Farewell

to Comrade Jyoti Basu

Over 10 Lakh Participate in the Last Journey

N S Arjun

from Kolkata

THE amount of love, affection and gratitude that the people of Bengal have for Comrade Jyoti Basu was once again evident as over a million people spontaneously participated in his last journey on January 19, 2010. The Red Road, through which the body was taken to Mohur Kunj for performing of State honours and handing over of the body to the SSKM hospital for medical research, was so jampacked with people that even if one could throw sand it would not reach the ground! People from all walks of life and cutting across all age groups came to have a glimpse of their beloved leader. Most were emotionally overwhelmed. They came with flowers, photographs, greeting cards and marched in a very disciplined manner with a resolve to carry on the struggle amidst singing of Internationale intermittently.

What was striking was the fact that neither the CPI(M) state committee nor the Left Front has called for any big rally or mobilised for the last journey. The scale of participation was entirely spontaneous, so much so that it almost threw the plans of the last journey into awry. It was only the disciplined nature of Left Front organisers as also the people who came to have a glimpse of their beloved leader that prevented incidents of stampede from occuring.

The tall stature of Comrade Jyoti Basu was also reflected in the wideranging attendance of leaders across the political spectrum in the country and the sub-continent to pay homage � from UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina to BJP leader L K Advani and others.

AT ALIMUDDIN

STREET

At around 8 a.m. in the morning the body of Comrade Jyoti Basu was brought to Muzaffar Ahmed Bhavan, the state committee office in Alimuddin Street from Peace Haven. All the Polit Bureau members collectively carried the body from the vehicle into the office and placed on a special pedestal erected in the portico. Comrade Basu was the last surviving member of the  founding CPI(M) Polit Bureau of nine members. The body was then draped in the Red flag. Veteran Party leader and one year elder to Comrade Jyoti Basu, Samar Mukherjee first placed a wreath paying homage. Next, Party general secretary Prakash Karat and Polit Bureau members Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Sitaram Yechury, S Ramachandran Pillai, Brinda Karat, Mohd Amin, Manik Sarkar, Nirupam Sen, B V Raghavulu, Pinarayi Vijayan, K Varadharajan, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and V S Achutanandan paid their respects to the departed leader. This was followed by central committee members and leaders of the Left Front. Next, Bengal state committee members paid their homage. The family members and personal staff of Comrade Jyoti Basu also placed wreaths at the body. Most of those present at the office, including the leaders, were overcome by emotions and some even broke down, leading others to console them.

From here, the body was taken in a truck, the front of which sported a big cut-out of Comrade Jyoti Basu giving a red salute with clenched fist, and was bedecked with flowers. The last journey began from here at 9 a.m. passing through AJC Bose Road, Lenin Sarani, Esplanade to Writers Building. Scores of people lined up both sides of the road to catch a glimpse of the great leader while many more marched behind the cortege, shouting slogans of �Comrade Jyoti Basu ko Lal Salam� and �Comrade Jyoti Basu Amar Rahe�. Volunteers carried 96 flags, denoting his age, at half mast just behind the cortege. On Lenin Sarani road, thousands got on to their roof tops, balconies and every available place and paid their respects. As the cortege neared the Writers Building, the marchers took another road to the state assembly building while the body was taken into Writers Building, from where Comrade Basu functioned as chief minister uninterruptedly for 23 years. The chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and chief secretary paid homage.

UNPRECEDENTED

FLOW OF PEOPLE AT

ASSEMBLY HOUSE

Around 10:50 a.m., Comrade Jyoti Basu's body was brought from the Writers Building to the state assembly building, a place where he was an MLA for nearly 49 years of his life. Here arrangements were made for both the VVIPs and common people to pay their homage to the leader simultaneously by placing the body on a pedestal in a specially erected shamiana. The people could file past the body paying their respects in a three-lane queu. The national flag was draped on the body of Comrade Jyoti Basu, partially over the Red flag by Army personnel.

Even as people, who had gathered in front of the assembly building gate since early morning, started filing past the body paying their respects, a host of top political leaders of the country reached the place to pay homage. Among them included UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, CWC member Keshava Rao, BJP chairperson of parliamentary party, L K Advani, BJP president Nitin Gadkari, Bangladesh prime minister Shiekh Hasina along with a high-powered 12-member delegation consisting of foreign minister Dr Dipu Mani, industries minister Dilip Barua, deputy leader in National Assembly Begum Sajada Choudhury and others. Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, NCP chief and union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar along with party colleagues Tariq Anwar and D P Tripathi and former speakers of Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee and P A Sangma also paid their homage. CPI general secretary A B Bardhan along with D Raja, RSP general secretary T J Chandrachoodan along with Abani Roy, Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas along with Ashok Ghosh also paid their homage. Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav, Telugu Desam chief N Chandrababu Naidu, union minister S Jaipal Reddy, Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren, Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh, former chief minister of Bengal Sidhartha Shankar Ray were also among those who paid their homage. Wreaths were placed first on behalf of president of India and vice president of India. The three services representatives also paid their homage.

That Comrade Jyoti Basu commanded respect internationally was also evident from the fact that many embassies represented their countries in paying homage to him. Among them included the Venezuelan amabassador who flew in to Kolkata to place a wreath on behalf of her country's president Hugo Chavez. Embassy personnel from Germany, France, Bhutan, Italy placed wreaths on behalf of their governments paying homage to Comrade Basu. The mayor of Bangaldesh capital Dhaka also paid homage personally. Many other nations embassy personnel had earlier paid homage at AKG Bhavan in New Delhi.

The respect for Comrade Jyoti Basu among all sections of people was apparent as a host of personalities from the fields of sports, music, films, writers, corporate representatives, lawyers, doctors, media houses representatives etc trooped in to pay their respects. Prominent among them were Sandip Ray, son of the legendary Satyajit Ray, singer Usha Uthup, actor Viplav and actress Rituparna Sengupta.  The employees of state assembly also paid their respects.

By 1.30 p.m., around two lakh people had already filed past the body paying homage. The leaders of CPI(M) had to repeatedly urge the people to speed up their pace in order to let hundreds of thousands of more people waiting outside to get their chance to have a glimpse of their beloved leader. The lanes increased to six and still the serpentine queues outside were reportedly six kilometre long. The mix of people filing past was so varied � there were the youth with slogans resolving to carry forward the legacy, there were the aged silently shedding a tear for their departed leader, there were men carrying their kids on shoulders in order to give them a glimpse of history, there were women in large numbers. The people's outpouring of love and affection was starkly visible. Another striking feature was the largescale participation of minorities, particularly the Sikhs, who remain ever greateful to this day that Comrade Jyoti Basu did not allow a single loss of life in Bengal in 1984 anti-Sikh riots that raged across the country following Indira Gandhi's assasination. Muslims, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Parsis.. everyone were represented.

FINAL LEG OF THE

LAST JOURNEY

By 2:30 p.m., there was a real threat of stampede as thousands surged inside fearing that they may not get a chance to have a glimpse. The situation was brought under control with CPI(M) state secretary Biman Basu making an appeal to maintain order. As the gates were closed at 3 p.m. in order to take the body to Mohur Kunj, lakhs of others remained outside. However, they all got their chance when the military cortege carrying the body of Comrade Basu began the final leg of the last journey towards Mohur Kunj from assembly at 3:20 p.m. All these people joined the procession, making it clearly one of the biggest funeral processions held in the country.

With full State honours, the mortal remains of Comrade Jyoti Basu were handed over for the benefit of medical science to the doctors of SSKM hospital. From Mohur Kunj, eleven officers and six jawans of Indian army carried the body towards the SSKM hospital. Comrade Jyoti Basu was a leader who became a statesman while leading just a state government necessitating the accord of   State honours. Comrade Basu donated his two eyes and the body. The undisputed leader of the masses remained immortal in the hearts of crores of Indians. To mark this rare occassion, all the senior leaders of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau, including Party general secretary Prakasah Karat, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and a host of other dignitaries were present in front of the Mohur Kunj. After the ceremonial 21-gun salute, Biman Basu handed over the formal papers associated with the donation of the body of Comrade Jyoti Basu to Dr Ashis Dutta, the chief of the Anatomy department of SSKM hospital. Speaking on this occassion, Biman Basu said, �The last will of Comrade Jyoti Basu was that his mortal body should be donated for the benifit of medical science. He also donated his pair of eyes to enlighten the world of a blind person. As per his wishes, his eyes were donated on  January 17 itself. Following his will today, we are donating his mortal remains to the officials of SSKM hospital. How much dear Comrade Jyoti Basu was to the masses was once again reflected in his last journey. Going by the time schedule fixed by the army, we had to close the gate of the assembly at 3 p.m. Many of you could not pay your last homage to the beloved leader and we appologise for that.�

While the sound waves were spreading the words of Biman Basu to the lakhs of masses waiting outside at that time, people were shouting slogans of 'Red salute to Comrade Jyoti Basu'. The sun  was setting in the west and the Red tinge of twilight was reflecting on the banks of Ganges. The nature, along with lakhs of masses, appeared to offer its 'Red salute to Comrade Jyoti Basu'.