By IANS,
Kolkata : A day after giving a tearful and memorable farewell to Marxist icon Jyoti Basu, Kolkata plunged into the puja spirit Wednesday worshipping Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning.
Marquees have come all over this city and elsewhere in West Bengal on the occasion of Saraswati Puja. The goddess is also being worshipped in homes, schools and colleges.
But everywhere, the human deluge during Basu’s last journey continues to dominate conversation.
The handing over of Basu’s body and eyes for medical research and treatment as per his wish is also being spoken of in glowing terms with near unanimity that the act will inspire more people to do the same.
With Saraswati Puja a public holiday, government and private offices and banks are closed Wednesday in the state, which has been virtually stalled since Sunday when the 95-year-old former chief minster died at a private hospital.
The mass leader’s life and the last journey were covered extensively by the media over the past three days. In fact, it had been just about the only item on local television news channels till Tuesday.
Basu’s state funeral, attended by hundreds of thousands of people, dominated the pages in all local dailies Wednesday though some opposed to the Marxists found several flaws.
The largest circulated Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika came out with a banner headline “Jana-Kurnishe biday” (people bow in farewell), but pointed out in front-page articles that three other former chief ministers who died during Basu’s 23-year-long tenure did not get a state funeral as the Basu government sent no such proposal to New Delhi.
Another Bengali newspaper Bartaaman, known for its staunch opposition to the Left Front government, prominently mentioned the near-stampede in the state assembly where Basu’s body had been kept for public homage Tuesday. It also claimed that the proletariat was absent in Basu’s last journey.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist’s Bengali mouthpiece Ganashakti waxed eloquent about the people’s participation in the last journey of the party icon. “Sesh Bidaeo itihas” (The last farewell also makes history) was the banner headline in the paper over a big picture of the huge gathering of mourners on the streets Tuesday.