Lal Salaam Comrade’ Jyoti Basu's last journey begins

Kolkata: Amid shouts of ‘Jyoti Basu amar rahe’, the body of the Marxist veteran, draped in red flag, was taken out on its final journey here early Tuesday.

The last journey of the former West Bengal chief minister began at 7.30 am from a private mortuary ‘Peace Haven’ as the hearse, fitted with transparent fibre glass for people to have a glimpse of the leader, set out towards the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) headquarters at Alimuddin Street, where it was kept till 9 am.

Tearful CPI-M politburo members, including general secretary Prakash Karat and chief ministers of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, carried the body on their shoulders from the hearse and placed it on a makeshift platform, as slogans like 'Long Live Jyoti Basu' rent the air.

Basu’s grand daughters - Koel, Doel and Payel - broke down as they garlanded him. The tallest Communist leader had passed away at a private city nursing home Jan 17 after a long battle for life.

The atmosphere at the party office was sombre as senior leaders of the CPI-M and other partners of the Left Front looked crestfallen, some of them sobbing, as they filed past the body covered with a red party flag

From the party headquarters, the body was taken to the Writers’ Buildings (state secretariat), where it was kept for a short while to enable chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and chief secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty to pay their homages.

From Writers’ Buildings, the body was taken to the state legislature where it will be kept till 3.30 pm, from where a procession will start with the body for the SSKM hospital where Basu’s body will be handed over to the hospital authorities for medical research
.

Leaders from across the political spectrum will also pay their final tribute to the former West Bengal chief minister. Besides Sonia Gandhi, LK Advani, and Pranab Mukherjee; Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Nepalese premier Madhab Kumar Nepal are in the city to pay their last respects.

Former Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangma, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav are also expected to take part in the final journey.

Basu will also receive Guard of Honour and a 21-gun salute before his body is donated to a hospital.

Doctors and staff of the Anatomy department of the State-run hospital have been making preparations to receive the body of Basu.
Source: Zeenews

Posted in: India News