Kolkata and the nation bid a tearful farewell to Comrade Jyoti Basu on Tuesday. The 95-year-old leader?s body was ultimately handed over to the government-run SSKM hospital, after being taken through various parts of the city, beginning from the Alimuddin Street CPI(M) party headquarters early in the morning.
There was an outpouring of emotion as thousands, cutting across political affiliations and age groups, marched alongside the body before it was laid to rest with full state honours following a 21-gun salute by the Kolkata police armed forces at Mohurkunj. The army was in full command of the ceremony.
Biman Bose and Brinda Karat were in tears while Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee stood transfixed for almost a minute by Basu?s body. Almost the entire CPI(M) Politburo, including general secretary Prakash Karat, was present.
National and international leaders descended in Kolkata today from early in the morning to pay their last respects. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi flew in to Kolkata in a special aircraft to pay her homage to Basu who had been a long-standing friend of the Gandhi family. Standing in the midst of CPI(M) comrades at the West Bengal state assembly, including Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Prakash Karat, Sonia Gandhi looked for Chandan Basu and personally conveyed her condolence to the family.
Sonia Gandhi described Basu as a leader of vision and accomplishment. ?On behalf of the Congress party and on my own behalf I mourn the death of Comrade Jyoti Basu, a leader of vision and conviction, idealism and accomplishment, practical realism and high values, who served his people, his country and his party with total dedication and absolute selflessness. He will be missed by us all,?? Sonia wrote in the condolence book. Pranab Mukherjee, accompanying Sonia, described him a ?veritable colossus in Indian politics?.
TMC sources said requests had come from Congress leaders for Mamata Banerjee to accompany Sonia during her visit to Kolkata in the day but she chose not to respond, triggering speculation of a growing distance between the two. Earlier, Mamata had avoided meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, when he came to Kolkata twice in quick succession. The TMC, however, sent Partho Chatterjee, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, to attend the Basu funeral.
Among others who came to Kolkata to bid Basu farewell were Lalu Prasad Yadav, HD Deve Gowda, Chandrababu Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Pranab Mukherjee, Sharad Pawar, VS Achutanandan, Manick Sarkar, General Ershad, Sibu Soren, Amar Singh, Jaipal Reddy and others.
