Jyoti Basu Expired

Veteran leader of the Communist Party of India(Marxist) and the former Chief Minister of  West Bengal died in Kolkata on 17 January 2010. He was 95 years old at the time of his death. Jyoti Basu was born on 8 July 1914 in Calcutta. He studied at St. Xavier's School and did his B.A Honours in English from Presidency College of Calcuta. He went to Middle Temple, London to study law. On return to India became a member of the Communist Party of India. He was an important functionary of the Bengal-Assam Railroad Workers' Union and the All India Railwaymen's Federation. He was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1946.

He remained a member of the CPI(M) Politburo since the time the party was founded in 1964 till 2008. From 2008 until his death in 2010 he was a permanent invitee to the central committee of the party.He was elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1991 and 1996. He remained Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1957 to 1967. He was the Deputy Chief Minister of the two United Front Governments in West Bengal in 1967 and 1969. He took oath as Chief Minister of West Bengal on 21st June, 1977. He held the reigns of Bengal politics for over three decades and headed the Left Front government in the State for five consecutive terms and continued in office till 6 November 2006. He was the longest-serving Chief Minister of any Indian state.