Veteran CPI-M leader Jyoti Basu dead

Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu is dead. He was 95. The end came following multiple organ failure on Sunday. The announcement was made at5 12.15 p.m outside the private AMRI Hospital where Basu had been undergoing treatment since January 1. Basu failed to respond to doctors’ treatment. His condition had turned extremely critical on Saturday night.

Only yesterday, Prime minister Manmohan Singh had saluted Jyoti Basu as a 'great son of India' . and wished him quick recovery. The PM had visited the veteran CPI(M) leader in hospital on January 7. The medical board constituted at the private AMRI Hospital, had been consulting specialists of AIIMS, New Delhi.

Basu’s five organs -- heart, lung, kidney, liver and brain – were malfunctioning, and the doctors lost all hope of his recovery. Basu was on full ventilation and full life support.

Basu’s next of kin, including son Chandan Basu, his wife and son besides his sister-in-law and her husband, were among many party leaders who were at the hospital when the tragic news was announced by the Chairman of the Left Front coordination committee, Biman Basu.

Jyoti Basu, born July 8, 1914, served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000, making him India's longest-serving Chief Minister. He was a member of the CPI(M) Politburo from the time of the party's founding in 1964 until 2008.

- Asian Tribune -