By IANS,
Kolkata: Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat mourned the death of veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu and described him as “a symbol of left, democratic and secular forces” in India.
“Jyoti Basu was a great leader of the CPI-M, the Left movement and India. With his passing away, an era has passed.
“Although he died at the age of 95, he leaves us bereft because there will be none like Jyoti Basu again,” Karat told a press conference here.
Talking about the 95-year-old Communist leader, he said that 70 years of Basu’s public life and political activity marked him out as the most distinguished Left leader of the country.
According to the CPI-M general secretary, Basu was an ardent Communist and one of the few political leaders in independent India who actually deepened democracy, strengthened secularism and brought the working people to the centre-stage of Indian politics.
“As the chief minister of West Bengal for a record 23 years, his lasting contributions were land reforms, which gave land and security of tenure to millions of peasants, the vitalisation of panchayat institutions and the creation of an enduring atmosphere of secularism in the state.
“He taught us how to work and serve the people in parliamentary forums in order to bring about changes in public policy,” Karat said.
He said Basu always stood with the struggles of the working classes and became a symbol of left, democratic and secular forces.