“After the sweeping victory of the Left Front in 1977, Jyoti Basu became the Chief Minister of the Left Front government, a position he held continuously for more than 23 years... Under his leadership, the Left Front government embarked on land reforms on a scale unprecedented in the country; it instituted a Panchayati Raj system which was radical for its times, which gave the poor peasants and small farmers a say in running the Panchayati institutions. West Bengal became an oasis of communal harmony and secular values under his leadership. One has to recall how as the Chief Minister he dealt with the situation after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984 when violence against Sikhs broke out in various parts of the country, but nothing was allowed to happen in West Bengal. Similarly, he dealt firmly with efforts to instigate trouble after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992,” the party said.

It said Basu became a symbol for the Left, democratic and secular forces in the country and became the role model for all Communists and progressives on how to work in parliamentary institutions and serve the people.

“He played a prominent role in bringing together the Left and secular parties against the Congress in the 1980’s and against the BJP in the 1990’s,” it noted.

The Politburo said Basu was a Marxist who never wavered in his convictions. “After the fall of the Soviet Union and the setbacks to Socialism, he provided leadership along with his colleagues in the Politburo to make a reappraisal of the experience of building socialism and to pinpoint the errors and to correct wrong notions and understandings while remaining true to Marxism-Leninism. He was a Marxist who was not dogmatic and continued to learn from his vast experience in charting out the course for the party,” it added.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, in his condolence, described Basu’s death as the end of an era. “Although he died at the age of 95, he leaves us bereft — because there will be none like Jyoti Basu again,” Karat said.