Agencies: TOI, KOLKATA: Veteran communist and former chief minister Jyoti Basu passed away on Sunday at 11.47 am. CPM state secretary Biman Bose broke the news after all efforts failed to revive the 95-year-old leader suffering from multi-organ failure.
For the last 17 days while he dared the inevitable with his failing organs at a city hospital, India came down to Kolkata praying for Jyoti Basu — a scene Bengal never witnessed after Satyajit Ray. With his passing away on Sunday Bengal lost a voice that Delhi could hardly ignore. All roads led to the Salt Lake hospital as the news spread in the city. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described Basu as one of the "great sons of India". Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee who came to the city on Sunday paid his last tribute calling him a "colossus" in Indian politics. "His death marked the end of an era in Indian politics," said film-maker Mrinal Sen. Basu had donated his body. It will be kept in peace Haven, and the last journey will begin on Tuesday, CPM leaders said.In a political career spanning seven decades, Jyoti Basu never stepped out of the party line. Except once. Even his unflappable poise cracked in the face of his party’s obstinate resolve not to join the non-BJP, non-Congress National Front government at the Centre after the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. He could have gone where no communist had ever gone in India. The Prime Minister's chair was his for the taking. But the party would have none of it. Basu called the decision a "historic blunder."
But, Basu was not the one to split hairs over what could have been, He never contested the Lok Sabha polls, but continued to influence national politics till the very end.
Born into privilege (his father was a US-trained doctor) and educated in elite institutions ( Loreto, St Xavier’s School and Presidency College), few would have expected Jyoti Basu to grow into one of the most important communist leaders of his time.
Even in his last days, confined to a bed, Jyoti Basu had the power to influence national politics. The charismatic leader was confined to his home for the last two years due to his age and failing health. But that only made Indira Bhavan a must visit for politicians — from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat — ensuring Bengal’s visibility in the national scene.
Railway minister Mamata Banerjee, who seldom talks to anyone in the CPM, has been to Indira Bhavan on quite a few occasion. With Basu’s passing, the West Bengal CPM stands dwarfed, losing the mettle it had inherited since the days of the undivided CPI.
In his long political career starting with being elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1946, he was one of the driving forces behind the transformation of Indian communists from the days of ‘yeh azadi jhootha hai’ (this is fake Independence) to playing an integral role in the parliamentary system.
Basu influenced this course in his own way, aiming at a blend between communist principles of democratic centralism with the ideals of bourgeois democracy. It was this effort that gave the minority within his party a voice that no Stalin or Deng did offer.
What is the magic behind this state-level politician’s drawing attention at the national level? It was perhaps because Basu had been the kingmaker on several occasions though he stopped short of being king. Basu and former CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet threw up various political formations building bridges with new forces. Beginning his career as a trade unionist, Basu emerged as Leader of the Opposition. His meteoric rise did not escape the notice of chief minister Bidhan Chandra Roy.
Basu was not an orator like Somnath Lahiri or a party ideologue like Bhabani Sen, EMS Namboodiripad or BT Randive, but he was the one who could connect with the masses with his usual incomplete sentences. What’s more, he had the rare quality to strike the golden mean between diverse opinions without affecting the individual views.
There were occasions when Basu was a minority in the party. In fact, Basu and former CPM general secretary EMS Namdooripad were opposed to the split in Communist Party of India (CPI) in 1964. At a time when his comrades, such as Promode Dasgupta were pushing for the split, Basu sided with the ‘centrists’, floating a thesis to stop the divide. He joined CPM, a little later, as a politburo member.
But that is not the only occasion. Basu fell out with his colleagues in the CPM politburo when the party pulled the plugs on the Morarji Desai government in July 1979 on grounds that the government was taking anti-working class positions and was also silent over person’s holding dual membership of the Janata Party and the RSS. CPM stalwarts Harkishen Singh Surjeet and BT Randive had advocated the pull out while Basu held that the move would ensure the return of Indira Gandhi. The Surjeet-Randive line prevailed over the Bengal line leading to the formation of the Charan Singh government.
Basu never tried to marginalise his detractors inside the party, as is often seen in communist parties. As a result many who opposed him on one issue stood solidly by him on another. CPM hardliner BT Randive had come down to Kolkata in 1985 to give the necessary ideological support to Basu’s joint sector industry model with multinationals. The proposal had triggered a fierce debate within the Bengal CPM.
န A file photo of CPM leader Jyoti Basu with wife Kamal. The picture
Again Basu was a minority in the CPM politburo and the central committee when the party decided against joining the United Front government at the Centre in 1996 — the historic blunder phase. The party central committee took a decision by a show of hands. Prakash Karat led the brigade and host of comrades from Bengal namely Biman Bose, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Anil Biswas endorsed the party stand. Basu did not give up though. He bore with the party and helped in initiating intra-party discussions that finally led to the change in the CPM party programme over participation in the central government.
Even during the debate over the Indo-US nuclear deal, Basu was not keen on pulling the plugs on the Congress-led UPA government. He wanted the Left to oppose the deal and wait for the right opportunity to link issues such as price rise before the final pull out. But it did not happen. The ailing nonagenarian was quite upset with the development. He talked about it in close circles when the Left Front leaders called on him.
Bed-ridden in his last days, Basu slowly withdrew himself from the daily party affairs but could sense the downward slide. Basu’s passing away will hardly affect the day-to-day functioning of the CPM. It would rather have an impact on the generation that grew with Basu’s typical address at the Brigade Parade Grounds: bandhugan, mayera, bhayera, bonera...
The Left Front is at a crossroads, with declining vote shares and the prospect of losing its home base, West Bengal, in the Assembly elections next year.
India Talkies, Kolkata, Jan 17 – Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu will not be cremated but his body will be handed over Tuesday to a state-run hospital as he had donated his body, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) announced Sunday.Basu’s body, now preserved in a funeral parlour, Peace Heaven, will be taken in a procession Tuesday to state secretariat Writers’ Building and then to the West Bengal assembly, where it will be kept for the public to pay homage Finally, the body will be handed over to the SSKM Hospital, said CPI-M state secretary Biman Bose.
TOI, KOLKATA: A quarter-century ago, Jyoti Basu had made a pledge. In death, it was kept. Among the first people at his bedside on Sunday forenoon was a team of specialists from Sushrut Eye Foundation, who extracted his corneas so that his vision will live on.
Basu's mortal remains will be handed over to SSKM's anatomy department on Tuesday because the CPM veteran had pledged, seven years ago, to donate his body to science. "As a communist, I'm ple-dged to serve humanity till my last breath. I am happy now I will continue to serve even after my death," Basu had said on April 4, 2003, while inaugurating a workshop organised by Gana Darpan, an NGO that collects pledges for body donations. The two witnesses who signed on the pledge were Pratyush Mukherjee, minister of state in the health department, and Prasanto Sur, former health minister.
On Sunday, as soon as Basu's death was officially announced, Gana Darpan waited for a call from CPM headquarters.
Aaman Lamba, Kolkata:No sooner were the reports of Jyoti Basu's death at the age of 95 confirmed that Mamata Banerjee proclaimed him 'the first and last chapter of the Left Front government'. He had a strong camaraderie with even her, and his towering leadership over the Bengal Communist party cadre was in a large part responsible for the 23 years of uninterrupted rule of the CPI(M) in West Bengal. While West Bengal might have fallen behind in the developmental race, Jyoti Basu's land reforms and labour movements made a strong mark on West Bengal. The inability of the party and ideological freeze made it impossible for Jyoti Basu and the state to move into the market-led economic transformation in the nineties. Nevertheless, his legacy extends beyond strikes and industrial inaction.
His biography is almost a chronicle of international Communism, from his student organizing activities in the United Kingdom during the War. The Communist Party was declared illegal in India between 1940 and 1951, and Comrade Basu continued to work behind the scenes to facilitate underground leaders' meetings and interactions with the Congress Party. When the CPI split in 1964, he opted for the CPI(M) and joined the Politburo. He was first elected to the West Bengal Assembly in 1946, and became Deputy Chief Minister in 1969. His first stint as Chief Minister of West Bengal commenced in 1977, and he ruled uninterrupted upto 2000, when he retired for health reasons. He almost became the Prime Minster of India in 1996, until the Politburo vetoed the idea, which he termed a 'historic blunder'.
TOI: Following is a chronology of his life:
- Born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), July 8, 1914.
- Graduated from St Xaviers College,Calcutta with honours in English. He did his Bar at Law from London where he got introduced to Marxism and politics.
- Returned to India in 1940. Joined Communist Party of India (CPI).
- In 1944 he was a functionary of Bengal railway workers' union.
- In 1946 he was elected to the Bengal legislative assembly, defeating Humayun Kabir of Congress.
- He won from Baranagar assembly constituency in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1969 and 1971. He lost the seat in the 1972 snap polls.
- In 1964, he helped set up the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
- In 1967, he became deputy chief minister in a coalition government in Bengal.
- Became chief minister of West Bengal June 21, 1977 and headed the Left Front government till Nov 6, 2000.
- Narrowly missed a chance to become India's prime minister in 1996 after his party's veto. He later called the party decision a "historic blunder".
- In 2000, he announced his retirement from active politics and stepped down as chief minister on health grounds.
- In 2004, he played a key role to stitch an alliance between the Left parties and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
Gorkhaland an unfinished mission / Friend of Gorkhas Opposed to Gorkhaland
Keshav Pradhan TNN/TOI, Kolkata, 18 Jan: basically the Communist icon's immense goodwill in Darjeeling that had helped the Left Front government contain the Gorkhaland movement in the Eighties.
Right from 1977, when Basu took over as chief minister, Darjeeling had been a thorn in the flesh for Marxists. A number of hill outfits were clamouring for a separate state, highlighting neglect and apathy by Kolkata.
As a pragmatic politician, the Communist legend tried to make his party's long-standing demand for regional autonomy for Darjeeling a reality. To begin with, he overhauled the Darjeeling Hill Areas Development Secretariat set up by his friend and predecessor, Siddhartha Shankar Ray. He asked CPM to move a Bill in Parliament seeking autonomy for Nepali-dominated areas of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts. The Lok Sabha shot down the proposal. A year later, in May 1986, Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) led by Subash Ghisingh began an armed struggle for Gorkhaland.
The bloody 28-month statehood stir turned out to be the most trying period for CPM since the Naxalbari movement. Despite his party's opposition to TADA, Basu showed no qualms about using the controversial Act to contain the GNLF movement. With the Centre's help, he managed to bring Ghisingh to the negotiating table two years later.
All this while, the Communist leader continued to enjoy the support of hill organisations that had fought for the Nepali language alongside him. He first became the blue-eyed boy of Nepalis when he led their campaign against the BC Roy-led Congress government's bid to make Bengali the sole official language of the hills in 1961.
In May 1979, Basu again emerged as a hero of the hills when he opposed Morarji Desai's description of Nepali as "a foreign language". As the remark sparked riots in the region and hundreds began to march towards the Darjeeling Raj Bhavan, Basu, who was also in the hill town then, bluntly remarked, "I don't agree with the Prime Minister". These were perhaps the kindest words the hill people had ever heard from any politician from outside their community.
Aware of CPM's waning influence, Basu saw reason in giving space to GNLF in hill politics. On August 22, 1988, his government signed the Darjeeling Accord with the Gorkha party and the Centre, paving the way for the formation of DGHC. But his calculations began to go haywire after he turned a blind eye to Ghising's whimsical way of running DGHC. "Ghisingh sahib will again become chairman of DGHC," he told a CPM rally while campaigning for party candidates in the second DGHC polls in 1993.
At the same time, the CPM leadership did not allow Nepali cadres to contest more than half of DGHC seats to keep Ghisingh in good humour. Following this, a majority of Nepali cadres revolted against Basu's leadership and formed Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) in 1996. CPRM now supports the Gorkhaland demand.
By the time Basu decided to end his 23-year stint as CM in 2000, both DGHC and CPM were in a shambles. Not only CPM but the government also quickly lost control over Darjeeling as his successors utterly failed to handle the situation. Despite protests from non-GNLF parties, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government kept postponing the DGHC polls since 2003.
To appease Ghisingh, whose influence was on the wane, Kolkata backed his demand for tribal status for Darjeeling. Angered by this, the majority non-tribal Nepalis rose in revolt and rallied behind Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. GJM not only revived the Gorkhaland agitation but also virtually runs a parallel government. Bowing to its pressure, the state government has agreed to shut down DGHC and open negotiations on Gorkhaland. Only time will tell if CPM will ever find someone like Basu who forced GNLF to drop the statehood demand two decades ago.
Citizens can kill in self defence: SC
17 January 2010 PTI, New Delhi, 17 Jan: A person cannot be expected to act in a cowardly manner when faced with an imminent threat to life and has got every right to kill the aggressor in self defence, the Supreme Court has held. Such a killing is permissible under the law and cannot be equated with murder, a Bench of Justices Mr Dalveer Bhandari and Mr Asok Kumar Ganguly said.
“The law does not require a law-abiding citizen to behave like a coward when confronted with an imminent unlawful aggression. As repeatedly observed by this court there is nothing more degrading to the human spirit than to run away in face of danger."
“The right of private defence is thus designed to serve a social purpose and deserves to be fostered within the prescribed limits,” the Bench said a judgement.
The Supreme Court passed the judgement while acquitting a convict, Darshan Singh, of the murder of his uncle Gurcharan Singh on 15 July, 1991 in Punjab's Ludhiana district over a land dispute.
Darshan Singh shot dead Gurcharan Singh after the latter attacked the accused's father Bakthawar Singh with a lethal weapon and then proceeded to attack him. In the scuffle that ensued Darshan Singh shot dead Gurcharan Singh.
The sessions court had acquitted him on the ground that Darshan Singh had exercised his right of self defence provided under Sections 96-106 of the IPC.
However, on an appeal from the state, the acquittal was reversed and the High Court sentenced the accused to life imprisonment following which he appealed in the Supreme Court.
Interpreting Section 96-106 of the IPC which justifies the killing of an assailant, the Supreme Court said, the provision can be invoked where a person has a genuine apprehension that his adversary is going to attack him and reasonably believes that the attack will result in a grievous hurt.
“In that event, he can go to the extent of causing the latter's death in the exercise of the right of private defence even though the latter may not have inflicted any blow or injury on him. The question whether the apprehension was reasonable or not is a question of fact depending upon the facts and circumstances of each case and no straitjacket formula can be prescribed in this regard. The weapon used, the manner and nature of assault and other surrounding circumstances should be taken into account while evaluating whether the apprehension was justified or not,” the Bench held.
According to the Supreme Court, while enacting sections 96 to 106 of the Indian Penal Code: “The Legislature clearly intended to arouse and encourage the manly spirit of self defence amongst the citizens, when faced with grave danger”.
The Supreme Court said that the right to protect one's own person and property against the unlawful aggressions of others is a right inherent in man.
“The duty of protecting the person and property of others is a duty which man owes to society of which he is a member and the preservation of which is both his interest and duty. It is, indeed, a duty which flows from human sympathy, the Bench observed.
However, the Bench cautioned that such protection must not be extended beyond the necessities of the case, otherwise it will encourage a spirit or lawlessness and disorder. The right, therefore, has been restricted to offences against the human body and those relating to aggression on property, it said.
“A mere reasonable apprehension is enough to put the right of self defence into operation, but it is also settled position of law that a right of self defence is only right to defend oneself and not to retaliate. It is not a right to take revenge. The citizens, as a general rule, are neither expected to run away for safety when faced with grave and imminent danger to their person or property as a result of unlawful aggression,” the Bench said, while directing Darshan Singh's acquittal.
Agencies: TOI, KOLKATA: Veteran communist and former chief minister Jyoti Basu passed away on Sunday at 11.47 am. CPM state secretary Biman Bose broke the news after all efforts failed to revive the 95-year-old leader suffering from multi-organ failure.
For the last 17 days while he dared the inevitable with his failing organs at a city hospital, India came down to Kolkata praying for Jyoti Basu — a scene Bengal never witnessed after Satyajit Ray. With his passing away on Sunday Bengal lost a voice that Delhi could hardly ignore. All roads led to the Salt Lake hospital as the news spread in the city. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described Basu as one of the "great sons of India". Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee who came to the city on Sunday paid his last tribute calling him a "colossus" in Indian politics. "His death marked the end of an era in Indian politics," said film-maker Mrinal Sen. Basu had donated his body. It will be kept in peace Haven, and the last journey will begin on Tuesday, CPM leaders said.In a political career spanning seven decades, Jyoti Basu never stepped out of the party line. Except once. Even his unflappable poise cracked in the face of his party’s obstinate resolve not to join the non-BJP, non-Congress National Front government at the Centre after the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. He could have gone where no communist had ever gone in India. The Prime Minister's chair was his for the taking. But the party would have none of it. Basu called the decision a "historic blunder."
But, Basu was not the one to split hairs over what could have been, He never contested the Lok Sabha polls, but continued to influence national politics till the very end.
Born into privilege (his father was a US-trained doctor) and educated in elite institutions ( Loreto, St Xavier’s School and Presidency College), few would have expected Jyoti Basu to grow into one of the most important communist leaders of his time.
Even in his last days, confined to a bed, Jyoti Basu had the power to influence national politics. The charismatic leader was confined to his home for the last two years due to his age and failing health. But that only made Indira Bhavan a must visit for politicians — from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat — ensuring Bengal’s visibility in the national scene.
Railway minister Mamata Banerjee, who seldom talks to anyone in the CPM, has been to Indira Bhavan on quite a few occasion. With Basu’s passing, the West Bengal CPM stands dwarfed, losing the mettle it had inherited since the days of the undivided CPI.
In his long political career starting with being elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1946, he was one of the driving forces behind the transformation of Indian communists from the days of ‘yeh azadi jhootha hai’ (this is fake Independence) to playing an integral role in the parliamentary system.
Basu influenced this course in his own way, aiming at a blend between communist principles of democratic centralism with the ideals of bourgeois democracy. It was this effort that gave the minority within his party a voice that no Stalin or Deng did offer.
What is the magic behind this state-level politician’s drawing attention at the national level? It was perhaps because Basu had been the kingmaker on several occasions though he stopped short of being king. Basu and former CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet threw up various political formations building bridges with new forces. Beginning his career as a trade unionist, Basu emerged as Leader of the Opposition. His meteoric rise did not escape the notice of chief minister Bidhan Chandra Roy.
Basu was not an orator like Somnath Lahiri or a party ideologue like Bhabani Sen, EMS Namboodiripad or BT Randive, but he was the one who could connect with the masses with his usual incomplete sentences. What’s more, he had the rare quality to strike the golden mean between diverse opinions without affecting the individual views.
There were occasions when Basu was a minority in the party. In fact, Basu and former CPM general secretary EMS Namdooripad were opposed to the split in Communist Party of India (CPI) in 1964. At a time when his comrades, such as Promode Dasgupta were pushing for the split, Basu sided with the ‘centrists’, floating a thesis to stop the divide. He joined CPM, a little later, as a politburo member.
But that is not the only occasion. Basu fell out with his colleagues in the CPM politburo when the party pulled the plugs on the Morarji Desai government in July 1979 on grounds that the government was taking anti-working class positions and was also silent over person’s holding dual membership of the Janata Party and the RSS. CPM stalwarts Harkishen Singh Surjeet and BT Randive had advocated the pull out while Basu held that the move would ensure the return of Indira Gandhi. The Surjeet-Randive line prevailed over the Bengal line leading to the formation of the Charan Singh government.
Basu never tried to marginalise his detractors inside the party, as is often seen in communist parties. As a result many who opposed him on one issue stood solidly by him on another. CPM hardliner BT Randive had come down to Kolkata in 1985 to give the necessary ideological support to Basu’s joint sector industry model with multinationals. The proposal had triggered a fierce debate within the Bengal CPM.
န A file photo of CPM leader Jyoti Basu with wife Kamal. The picture
Again Basu was a minority in the CPM politburo and the central committee when the party decided against joining the United Front government at the Centre in 1996 — the historic blunder phase. The party central committee took a decision by a show of hands. Prakash Karat led the brigade and host of comrades from Bengal namely Biman Bose, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Anil Biswas endorsed the party stand. Basu did not give up though. He bore with the party and helped in initiating intra-party discussions that finally led to the change in the CPM party programme over participation in the central government.
Even during the debate over the Indo-US nuclear deal, Basu was not keen on pulling the plugs on the Congress-led UPA government. He wanted the Left to oppose the deal and wait for the right opportunity to link issues such as price rise before the final pull out. But it did not happen. The ailing nonagenarian was quite upset with the development. He talked about it in close circles when the Left Front leaders called on him.
Bed-ridden in his last days, Basu slowly withdrew himself from the daily party affairs but could sense the downward slide. Basu’s passing away will hardly affect the day-to-day functioning of the CPM. It would rather have an impact on the generation that grew with Basu’s typical address at the Brigade Parade Grounds: bandhugan, mayera, bhayera, bonera...
The Left Front is at a crossroads, with declining vote shares and the prospect of losing its home base, West Bengal, in the Assembly elections next year.
India Talkies, Kolkata, Jan 17 – Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu will not be cremated but his body will be handed over Tuesday to a state-run hospital as he had donated his body, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) announced Sunday.Basu’s body, now preserved in a funeral parlour, Peace Heaven, will be taken in a procession Tuesday to state secretariat Writers’ Building and then to the West Bengal assembly, where it will be kept for the public to pay homage Finally, the body will be handed over to the SSKM Hospital, said CPI-M state secretary Biman Bose.
TOI, KOLKATA: A quarter-century ago, Jyoti Basu had made a pledge. In death, it was kept. Among the first people at his bedside on Sunday forenoon was a team of specialists from Sushrut Eye Foundation, who extracted his corneas so that his vision will live on.
Basu's mortal remains will be handed over to SSKM's anatomy department on Tuesday because the CPM veteran had pledged, seven years ago, to donate his body to science. "As a communist, I'm ple-dged to serve humanity till my last breath. I am happy now I will continue to serve even after my death," Basu had said on April 4, 2003, while inaugurating a workshop organised by Gana Darpan, an NGO that collects pledges for body donations. The two witnesses who signed on the pledge were Pratyush Mukherjee, minister of state in the health department, and Prasanto Sur, former health minister.
TOI, KOLKATA: A quarter-century ago, Jyoti Basu had made a pledge. In death, it was kept. Among the first people at his bedside on Sunday forenoon was a team of specialists from Sushrut Eye Foundation, who extracted his corneas so that his vision will live on.
Basu's mortal remains will be handed over to SSKM's anatomy department on Tuesday because the CPM veteran had pledged, seven years ago, to donate his body to science. "As a communist, I'm ple-dged to serve humanity till my last breath. I am happy now I will continue to serve even after my death," Basu had said on April 4, 2003, while inaugurating a workshop organised by Gana Darpan, an NGO that collects pledges for body donations. The two witnesses who signed on the pledge were Pratyush Mukherjee, minister of state in the health department, and Prasanto Sur, former health minister.
On Sunday, as soon as Basu's death was officially announced, Gana Darpan waited for a call from CPM headquarters.
Aaman Lamba, Kolkata:No sooner were the reports of Jyoti Basu's death at the age of 95 confirmed that Mamata Banerjee proclaimed him 'the first and last chapter of the Left Front government'. He had a strong camaraderie with even her, and his towering leadership over the Bengal Communist party cadre was in a large part responsible for the 23 years of uninterrupted rule of the CPI(M) in West Bengal. While West Bengal might have fallen behind in the developmental race, Jyoti Basu's land reforms and labour movements made a strong mark on West Bengal. The inability of the party and ideological freeze made it impossible for Jyoti Basu and the state to move into the market-led economic transformation in the nineties. Nevertheless, his legacy extends beyond strikes and industrial inaction.
His biography is almost a chronicle of international Communism, from his student organizing activities in the United Kingdom during the War. The Communist Party was declared illegal in India between 1940 and 1951, and Comrade Basu continued to work behind the scenes to facilitate underground leaders' meetings and interactions with the Congress Party. When the CPI split in 1964, he opted for the CPI(M) and joined the Politburo. He was first elected to the West Bengal Assembly in 1946, and became Deputy Chief Minister in 1969. His first stint as Chief Minister of West Bengal commenced in 1977, and he ruled uninterrupted upto 2000, when he retired for health reasons. He almost became the Prime Minster of India in 1996, until the Politburo vetoed the idea, which he termed a 'historic blunder'.
TOI: Following is a chronology of his life:
- Born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), July 8, 1914.
- Graduated from St Xaviers College,Calcutta with honours in English. He did his Bar at Law from London where he got introduced to Marxism and politics.
- Returned to India in 1940. Joined Communist Party of India (CPI).
- In 1944 he was a functionary of Bengal railway workers' union.
- In 1946 he was elected to the Bengal legislative assembly, defeating Humayun Kabir of Congress.
- He won from Baranagar assembly constituency in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1969 and 1971. He lost the seat in the 1972 snap polls.
- In 1964, he helped set up the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
- In 1967, he became deputy chief minister in a coalition government in Bengal.
- Became chief minister of West Bengal June 21, 1977 and headed the Left Front government till Nov 6, 2000.
- Narrowly missed a chance to become India's prime minister in 1996 after his party's veto. He later called the party decision a "historic blunder".
- In 2000, he announced his retirement from active politics and stepped down as chief minister on health grounds.
- In 2004, he played a key role to stitch an alliance between the Left parties and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
- Born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), July 8, 1914.
- Graduated from St Xaviers College,Calcutta with honours in English. He did his Bar at Law from London where he got introduced to Marxism and politics.
- Returned to India in 1940. Joined Communist Party of India (CPI).
- In 1944 he was a functionary of Bengal railway workers' union.
- In 1946 he was elected to the Bengal legislative assembly, defeating Humayun Kabir of Congress.
- He won from Baranagar assembly constituency in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1969 and 1971. He lost the seat in the 1972 snap polls.
- In 1964, he helped set up the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
- In 1967, he became deputy chief minister in a coalition government in Bengal.
- Became chief minister of West Bengal June 21, 1977 and headed the Left Front government till Nov 6, 2000.
- Narrowly missed a chance to become India's prime minister in 1996 after his party's veto. He later called the party decision a "historic blunder".
- In 2000, he announced his retirement from active politics and stepped down as chief minister on health grounds.
- In 2004, he played a key role to stitch an alliance between the Left parties and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
The bloody 28-month statehood stir turned out to be the most trying period for CPM since the Naxalbari movement. Despite his party's opposition to TADA, Basu showed no qualms about using the controversial Act to contain the GNLF movement. With the Centre's help, he managed to bring Ghisingh to the negotiating table two years later.
All this while, the Communist leader continued to enjoy the support of hill organisations that had fought for the Nepali language alongside him. He first became the blue-eyed boy of Nepalis when he led their campaign against the BC Roy-led Congress government's bid to make Bengali the sole official language of the hills in 1961.
In May 1979, Basu again emerged as a hero of the hills when he opposed Morarji Desai's description of Nepali as "a foreign language". As the remark sparked riots in the region and hundreds began to march towards the Darjeeling Raj Bhavan, Basu, who was also in the hill town then, bluntly remarked, "I don't agree with the Prime Minister". These were perhaps the kindest words the hill people had ever heard from any politician from outside their community.
Aware of CPM's waning influence, Basu saw reason in giving space to GNLF in hill politics. On August 22, 1988, his government signed the Darjeeling Accord with the Gorkha party and the Centre, paving the way for the formation of DGHC. But his calculations began to go haywire after he turned a blind eye to Ghising's whimsical way of running DGHC. "Ghisingh sahib will again become chairman of DGHC," he told a CPM rally while campaigning for party candidates in the second DGHC polls in 1993.
At the same time, the CPM leadership did not allow Nepali cadres to contest more than half of DGHC seats to keep Ghisingh in good humour. Following this, a majority of Nepali cadres revolted against Basu's leadership and formed Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) in 1996. CPRM now supports the Gorkhaland demand.
By the time Basu decided to end his 23-year stint as CM in 2000, both DGHC and CPM were in a shambles. Not only CPM but the government also quickly lost control over Darjeeling as his successors utterly failed to handle the situation. Despite protests from non-GNLF parties, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government kept postponing the DGHC polls since 2003.
To appease Ghisingh, whose influence was on the wane, Kolkata backed his demand for tribal status for Darjeeling. Angered by this, the majority non-tribal Nepalis rose in revolt and rallied behind Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. GJM not only revived the Gorkhaland agitation but also virtually runs a parallel government. Bowing to its pressure, the state government has agreed to shut down DGHC and open negotiations on Gorkhaland. Only time will tell if CPM will ever find someone like Basu who forced GNLF to drop the statehood demand two decades ago.
Citizens can kill in self defence: SC
17 January 2010 PTI, New Delhi, 17 Jan: A person cannot be expected to act in a cowardly manner when faced with an imminent threat to life and has got every right to kill the aggressor in self defence, the Supreme Court has held. Such a killing is permissible under the law and cannot be equated with murder, a Bench of Justices Mr Dalveer Bhandari and Mr Asok Kumar Ganguly said.
“The law does not require a law-abiding citizen to behave like a coward when confronted with an imminent unlawful aggression. As repeatedly observed by this court there is nothing more degrading to the human spirit than to run away in face of danger."
“The right of private defence is thus designed to serve a social purpose and deserves to be fostered within the prescribed limits,” the Bench said a judgement.
The Supreme Court passed the judgement while acquitting a convict, Darshan Singh, of the murder of his uncle Gurcharan Singh on 15 July, 1991 in Punjab's Ludhiana district over a land dispute.
Darshan Singh shot dead Gurcharan Singh after the latter attacked the accused's father Bakthawar Singh with a lethal weapon and then proceeded to attack him. In the scuffle that ensued Darshan Singh shot dead Gurcharan Singh.
The sessions court had acquitted him on the ground that Darshan Singh had exercised his right of self defence provided under Sections 96-106 of the IPC.
However, on an appeal from the state, the acquittal was reversed and the High Court sentenced the accused to life imprisonment following which he appealed in the Supreme Court.
Interpreting Section 96-106 of the IPC which justifies the killing of an assailant, the Supreme Court said, the provision can be invoked where a person has a genuine apprehension that his adversary is going to attack him and reasonably believes that the attack will result in a grievous hurt.
“In that event, he can go to the extent of causing the latter's death in the exercise of the right of private defence even though the latter may not have inflicted any blow or injury on him. The question whether the apprehension was reasonable or not is a question of fact depending upon the facts and circumstances of each case and no straitjacket formula can be prescribed in this regard. The weapon used, the manner and nature of assault and other surrounding circumstances should be taken into account while evaluating whether the apprehension was justified or not,” the Bench held.
According to the Supreme Court, while enacting sections 96 to 106 of the Indian Penal Code: “The Legislature clearly intended to arouse and encourage the manly spirit of self defence amongst the citizens, when faced with grave danger”.
The Supreme Court said that the right to protect one's own person and property against the unlawful aggressions of others is a right inherent in man.
“The duty of protecting the person and property of others is a duty which man owes to society of which he is a member and the preservation of which is both his interest and duty. It is, indeed, a duty which flows from human sympathy, the Bench observed.
However, the Bench cautioned that such protection must not be extended beyond the necessities of the case, otherwise it will encourage a spirit or lawlessness and disorder. The right, therefore, has been restricted to offences against the human body and those relating to aggression on property, it said.
“A mere reasonable apprehension is enough to put the right of self defence into operation, but it is also settled position of law that a right of self defence is only right to defend oneself and not to retaliate. It is not a right to take revenge. The citizens, as a general rule, are neither expected to run away for safety when faced with grave and imminent danger to their person or property as a result of unlawful aggression,” the Bench said, while directing Darshan Singh's acquittal.
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