Jyoti Basu's last journey begins

A huge concourse of mourners today filled the streets of Kolkata as the body of Marxist legend Jyoti Basu was taken out of a funeral parlour for the last journey in a hearse decked with white flowers and red CPI(M) flags.

Led by a pilot car of the Kolkata Police, the hearse slowly made its way at around 8 am to the CPI(M) party headquarters at Alimuddin Street, a distance of two km, where a large crowd had gathered on both sides of the A J C Bose Road. CPI(M) volunteers, dressed in white, stood in attention as party flags flew in half mast as the hearse reached Alimuddin Street. Senior party leaders gave it a clenched fist salute.

The body was lowered from the hearse by CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Left Front chairman Biman Bose, Industry minister Nirupam Sen and other senior leaders and placed on a platform.

All senior CPI(M) leaders sported white paper badges on their chests with the inscription ‘Comrade Jyoti Basu Lal Salam’ Senior-most member of the CPI(M) in West Bengal, 97-year-old Samar Mukherjee, was the first to place a wreath.

He was followed by Karat, Yechury, S R Pillai, M K Pandhe, Brinda Karat and then by central committee members of the party.

Mourners filed past the body, dressed in a beige kurta with a waistcoat of a slightly deeper shade, pausing a moment to give the clenched fist salute.Some offered flowers while some others placed garlands and wreaths on it.

The body was taken from the CPI(M) party headquarters a little before 9:00 am to Writers’ Buildings, the state secretariat.

It was carried in a truck decorated in red, the party colour, with a large portrait of the veteran communist leader forming the backdrop. The truck was escorted by police motorcycles and jeeps.

A lone CPI(M) cadre, dressed in red, drove along the cortege on a motorcycle with two large party flags fluttering.

A huge hoarding with inscription of ‘Jyoti Basu Amar Rahe’ on another truck followed the mourners. Basu’s personal assistant Joykrishna Ghosh, who had served him for 32 years, was on board the truck.

He was flanked by CPI(M) leaders Amitabha Nandi and Mohammed Selim.

At the Writers’ Buildings, the chief minister and Chief Secretary, Asok Mohan Chakraborty placed wreaths on Basu’s body.

The body will be taken to the Assembly, from where it would set out on its final jouney to the SSKM hospital in the afternoon.

Since Basu had donated his body for medical research there will be no funeral and it will be handed over to the state-run hospital.