Jyoti Basu: The Last Gentleman
Writing an obituary for Jyoti Basu is as difficult a writing task as any I could have attempted. This is because he had a universal presence in my political consciousness. This presence was for real – he was the Chief Minister of the state I lived in for quarter of a century. I grew up seeing him as the Chief Minister, and he did not retire until after I left home and started living abroad. In a way, I have never known any other Chief Minister of West Bengal. Besides, there is another, emotional, dimension to that presence. He was the last of a generation of people who presented a linkage to our pre -independence past, those who shaped the ideas in modern India and carried it to the present day. In his imperious, Bengali babu style, Jyoti Basu was an unlikely communist. Though he created and led, with others, the pre -eminent Left party in India, he was Nehruvian , in his thinking, in his approach, in his ideas about Modern India. He will be sorely missed. He is possibly one person ...