By IANS,
New Delhi : Condoling the demise of veteran Marxist icon Jyoti Basu Sunday, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said “the nation has lost one of its tallest leaders”.
“The nation has lost a visionary and a leader of stature. During his tenure as West Bengal chief minister, the state made significant progress towards inclusive growth and development,” said CII president Venu Srinivasan in a statement here.
“During his tenure, West Bengal played host to the maiden edition of partnership summit in 1995, CII’s flagship programme on building linkages across the globe. We had one more edition during his tenure and Basu played a pivotal role in both these editions,” he added.
Basu, who had a record 23-year stint as West Bengal chief minister – the longest in any Indian state – and almost became the country’s prime minister in 1996, died at 11.47 a.m. at a private hospital in Kolkata.
“With Basu’s death, West Bengal has lost a towering icon as also a wonderful human being, who devoted himself for the well-being of the people of West Bengal,” said Chairman, CII’s Eastern Region Mukul Somany.
Tracing the long-standing association of CII with Basu, Somany recollected the “unstinted support of the West Bengal government under Basu’s dynamic leadership, for various CII initiatives”.
“Basu was a visionary leader and West Bengal prospered under his dynamic leadership. He will always be remembered not only as an able politician, but also as a great statesman,” he added.