There is a pre-1977 Jyoti Basu, a Jyoti Basu from 1977 to 2000, and a Jyoti Basu from 2000 to 2010, though one naturally leads to the other. Had events unfurled otherwise and had there not been a ?historic blunder? in 1996, India might have had the first ?communist? as PM.

Since his death, most commentators have focused on the man who was West Bengal?s CM for 23 years from 1977 to 2000 and the legacy he left for West Bengal. Since 2005, and more formally since 2008, Jyoti Basu hasn?t been that important in national politics. Pre-1977, there was the influence of Harold Laski and Rajani Palme Dutt, the Communist Party of Great Britain, trade unions and railway workers, the Tebhaga movement, the formation of CPM in 1964 and the siding with China in 1962, deputy chief ministership in 1967 and 1969 under United Front governments and boycotting of assembly elections between 1972 and 1977. These are legacies Jyoti Basu distanced himself from, post-1977.

Most people have forgotten that then-CM Ajoy Mukherjee of Bangla Congress undertook a public hunger strike in protest against his communist cabinet colleagues and issued a press statement: ?This left Communist and its associate parties should not be given the opportunity of ruling the country even for another day by being in the ministry.?

But that?s not quite what happened in 1977. Somewhat against the tide of a priori expectations, the Left Front came to power in 1977 and Jyoti Basu became the CM. In the turbulent Naxalite days of the early 1970s, the Left Front wouldn?t have won had rural voters not turned against the Congress, a phenomenon that would drive much of the CPM?s subsequent politics. Kerala in 1959 and West Bengal in both 1967 and 1969 also made CPM distrustful of the democratic inclinations of both the Congress and Indira Gandhi.

These days, most people have forgotten the hard-line ideology of Pramod Das Gupta. It wasn?t easy to bring in outside expertise and those who weren?t mass leaders as finance ministers (Ashok Mitra, Asim Dasgupta). In pre-1991 (pre-reform) days, most people would have described Jyoti Basu the CM as a pragmatist and capable administrator.

Here was a person who, as transport minister in the United Front government, had pushed for the nationalisation of the Calcutta Tramways Corporation. Before he opted out, in 1995-96, he pushed for privatisation of the Great Eastern Hotel. And there were others, like Lily Biscuits and West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation. Operation Barga, panchayats, Centre-state relations, social empowerment, the insulation of West Bengal (until recently) from caste and religion-based politics?all these are part of the Basu legacy.

The Marxist downgrades the role of individuals in history. But in these, much credit accrues to Jyoti Basu.

West Bengal doesn?t score well on several economic indicators and it is unnecessary to catalogue that litany of woes. By the same token, much culpability also accrues to Jyoti Basu. (It is a separate matter that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee found it difficult to fill those shoes.) Agricultural transformation didn?t extend beyond low-productivity small-holder agriculture. There was no industrialisation. Work ethics were ruined. And the flight of financial capital was reinforced by the flight of human capital. As one who had obtained the best of education (St Xavier?s School, Presidency College, Middle Temple), Jyoti Basu ought to have appreciated that the party?s conscious attempt to control education and ?culture? would ruin West Bengal?s strength in human resources.

West Bengal might have trundled along had it not been for 1991 and reform-orientation in several states, Bihar included. It is undoubtedly true that West Bengal, even before Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, found it impossible to handle this. Especially since 2003, it wasn?t only western and northern India that outstripped West Bengal, but also southern and parts of eastern India.

Taken uncharitably out of context, ?Though we did not have any clear idea about what was happening around us, one feature stood out; we did not like it at all.? This is a quote from Jyoti Basu?s memoirs With the People. But that?s essentially what?s happened to the Left Front in West Bengal, with violence under Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee not being something ?bhadralok? Jyoti Basu would have liked. Ashok Mitra once said he (Mitra) was a communist and not a gentleman. Jyoti Basu was both and more the gentleman than the communist.

A CM for five consecutive terms (a record) hasn?t had to witness certain demise of the CPM in Legislative Assembly elections of 2011. But he has seen the writing on the wall, even if he hasn?t presided over it, and he has also witnessed marginalisation of the Left and demise of the Third Front in national politics. A far cry from the days of Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu. And one can?t help feeling that Jyoti Basu would have been a happier man had he passed away in 2008. But the atheist is unlikely to have prayed to God for that.

The author is a noted economist