Russian Marxists condole death
MOSCOW: The death of former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu is a “great loss” for the world workers’ movement, the Russian Communist Party said on Monday. Leader of the Communist Party of Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov has sent a condolence message to the leadership of the CPM. “Jyoti Basu’s death is a great loss for the world Communist and Workers movement and all friends of India,” the Russian Communist Party said on its website. Describing Basu as a “great friend of USSR and Russia” who had visited the country at several occasions, the party has also put up a brief biography and a photo album of the Marxist leader on the website.

China’s great friend, says diplomat’
KOLKATA: A top Chinese diplomat described Basu as “China’s great friend” and India’s “greatest Communist” while paying floral respect to the leader. “Deepest condolence for the passing away of India’s greatest Communist and China’s great friend, comrade Jyoti Basu,” the Consul General of China in Kolkata Mao Siwei wrote in the condolence book.

Nepal minister pays homage
NEW DELHI: Nepal Home Minister Bhim Bahadur Rawal paid tributes to the departed Marxist leader. “We pay solemn homage to the great Communist leader of India and deep condolences to leaders and members of CPM and Indian people,” Rawal — a member of the Central Committee of Communist Party of Nepal-UML — said.

Communist who believed in democracy, says UK media
LONDON: The British media, too, paid a tribute to Basu, describing him as the Marxist chief minister who learnt his radicalism as a student in London during the 1930s. “Basu was a Communist who believed in parliamentary democracy,” The Daily Telegraph said in its obituary column. While it complimented him for bringing peace to West Bengal after a violent uprising by Naxalites in 1960s and 1970s, he was criticised for holding back progress by preventing English from being taught in primary schools.

The Guardian said Basu was a “stalwart of the much-fractured communist movement, but his devoutsocialism was tempered by pragmatism and an unerring political instinct... Had he become prime minister in 1996, he might well have restored prestige to that much-damaged office through his honesty and other old-fashioned virtues.On the other hand, his instinct for hands-on control might have brought India's modern boom to a shuddering halt," the daily said.