Jyoti Basu leaves a generational gap in Indian Politics

Com. Jyoti Basu's demise left with a generational gap in Indian politics. Jyoti Basu is the last out post in Indian politics who represents the generation of freedom fighters. He, through out his life upheld the spirit of freedom movement and worked for the betterment of lakhs of people. During his tenure as chief minister, he had done as much as possible with the spectrum of democratic constitution in India. He also stood for the rights of State governments and became a rallying point for chief ministers either in the case of Sarkaria recommendations implementation or in the case of allocation of financial resources. He not only championed the rights of minorities but also ensured that they would live a respectable and protected life when the country is filled with communal riots. With his innovative administration he turned the administration from oppressor to protector of the common man's rights. Educated in the West during the high noon of enlightenment he imbibed the ideals of enlightenment and his ideals enriched with application of Marxism. He became a true disciple of Marxism and did a lot to apply the principles of Marxism in the Indian context to advance the interests of toiling masses with in the state government limitations. Under his tenure, the state of Bengal became of testing ground to know how to apply the principles of Marxism in such a situation. Even the successive winning of state elections caused a surprise to Fidel Castro who asked in his encounter with Jyoti Basu, how they are able to win tremendously for that much long time even under democracy.

The CPI(M) rule in Bengal gave a new definition for participative democracy. It was under his tenure the downward linkages participatory democracy were strengthened with the strengthening of grass root level democratic institutions at village level. This helped the people who were benefited out of land reforms to consolidate those benefits.

He also represents a cultured interaction through which he became dearer to all strands of politicians. He was part of England educated freedom fighters who were disciplined their political understanding during the peak of international developments such as first and second world wars and also cold war era. His demise left the Indian political spectrum with a generational gap.