Jyoti Basu

Key facts

Born

8 July 1914, Kolkata

Died

17 January 2010, Kolkata

State of birth

Kolkata, West Bengal

Sector

Politics & governance

Profession

Indian politician (1914-2010)

Gender

Male

Biography

Jyoti Basu was an Indian Marxist theorist, communist activist, and politician. He was one of the most prominent leaders of the Communist movement in India. He served as the 6th and longest serving Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000. He was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was a member of Politburo of the party from its formation in 1964 until 2008. He was also a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly 11 times. In his political career, spanning over seven decades, he was noted to have been India's longest serving chief minister under elected democracy at the time of his resignation. He declined the post of Prime Minister after the 1996 Indian general election, after the CPM refused to let him head a multi-party coalition as it would not be able to implement Marxist programs, and relinquished the prime ministership to Deve Gowda.

Summary based on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), reviewed by the RochakDuniya editorial team.

Timeline

1. 1914Born in Kolkata
2. 1952Becomes Member of the 1st West Bengal Legislative Assembly
3. 1957Becomes Member of the 2nd West Bengal Legislative Assembly
4. 1962Becomes Member of the 3rd West Bengal Legislative Assembly
5. 1967Becomes Member of the 4th West Bengal Legislative Assembly
6. 1969Becomes Member of the 5th West Bengal Legislative Assembly
7. 1971Becomes Member of the 6th West Bengal Legislative Assembly
8. 1977Becomes Chief Minister of West Bengal
9. 1977Becomes Member of the 8th West Bengal Legislative Assembly
10. 1982Becomes Member of the 9th West Bengal Legislative Assembly
11. 1987Becomes Member of the 10th West Bengal Legislative Assembly
12. 1991Becomes Member of the 11th West Bengal Legislative Assembly
13. 1996Becomes Member of the 12th West Bengal Legislative Assembly
14. 2010Dies in Kolkata