[Marxistindia] Comrade Buddhadeb Bhattacharya

[news from the cpi(m)]

August 8, 2024

Press Release

 

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the
following statement:

 

Comrade Buddhadeb Bhattacharya

 

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) expresses its profound grief at the passing
away of Comrade Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, outstanding leader of the Party and
former Chief Minister of West Bengal.  He was aged 80 years and had been in
ailing health for some time.  

 

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya joined the Party in 1966 in his student days.  He
participated in various struggles of the student and youth movements.  He
became the state secretary of West Bengal Democratic Youth Federation in
1968.  He was elected to the West Bengal state committee of the Party in
1971 and became a state secretariat member in 1982.  In this period,
Buddhadeb emerged as an important Party leader who undertook various
responsibilities as a dedicated cadre.  

 

Buddhadeb became a member of the Central Committee of the Party at the 12th
Congress of the Party in 1985.  He was elected to the Polit Bureau in 2000.
As a member of the Polit Bureau till 2015, he made important contributions
in shaping Party policies.  

 

Buddhadeb's distinctive role was as a minister and Chief Minister of the
Left Front government, in which he served  nearly three decades. He
succeeded Jyoti Basu as the Chief Minister in November 2000 and was sworn in
after that for another two terms.  He had thus played a key role in the
approach and policies of the Left Front government.

 

Buddhadeb made a significant contribution to the development of cultural
institutions and sustaining progressive cultural values. His passion was
literature. He was a poet, play right  and writer.  He translated many
international literary works into Bengali.  He wrote extensively on changes
in China and published a book on the subject.

 

Buddhadeb, as a dedicated Communist, led a simple life and throughout his
tenure as Chief Minister and subsequently, lived in a modest two-room
apartment.

 

With his death, a chapter in the Communist and Left movement of West Bengal
has ended.  The Polit Bureau pays revolutionary homage to his memory  and
conveys its deepest condolences to his wife Meera and his son Suchetan.  

 

 

 

(Muralidharan)

For CPI(M) Central Committee office

 

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