Kolkata, August 08 (The Street Press India) – Former Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee passed away at his Palm Avenue residence in South Calcutta on Thursday morning. He was 80.
Bhattacharjee, the last Marxist chief minister, succeeded Jyoti Basu and led the state until May 2011, when Trinamool Congress came to power. He breathed his last around 8:20 a.m.
Bhattacharjee had been ailing for a long time with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and had withdrawn from public life over five years ago due to his deteriorating health.
His push for rapid industrialization is considered one of the reasons for the CPM’s ouster after 34 years of uninterrupted rule under two chief ministers, Basu and Bhattacharjee. He attracted Tata Motors to build an automobile factory in Hooghly’s Singur soon after the Left Front returned to power for its final term. However, anti-land acquisition movements in Singur and Nandigram, led by Mamata Banerjee and a diverse coalition, ultimately ended the Left Front’s rule.
Born into a family of priests, with the poet Sukanta Bhattacharjee as a cousin of his father, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee studied Bengali literature at Presidency College. He joined the CPM in 1966 and led the party’s youth wing from 1968 to 1981.
In 1977, as a member of the CPM’s state committee, Bhattacharjee made his debut as a legislator from Cossipore Belgachhia and was appointed the minister of information and public relations. He lost the Assembly elections in 1982 but later shifted to Jadavpur, where he served as an MLA until 2011.
Always clad in traditional Bengali dhuti-panjabi, Bhattacharjee had a deep appreciation for art and culture. In addition to being a poet, he was a playwright. After his work at the Writers’ Buildings and the party’s state headquarters at Alimuddin Street, he often spent his evenings at Nandan.
Bhattacharjee personally intervened when the screening of the Russian film “Taurus” faced violent protests during the Kolkata International Film Festival.
An ardent admirer of filmmaker Satyajit Ray, Bhattacharjee frequently visited Ray’s Bishop Leffroy Road flat. While inaugurating a statue of Ray, Bhattacharjee once shared an anecdote about the filmmaker.
“I went to his flat one evening soon after the Left Front government had come to power. As was his custom, he opened the door and on seeing me said, ‘aapnara Monument (Shahid Minar) er matha ta o lal kore dilen. Chhi Chhi (You have painted the top of the Monument red. It’s a shame).”
Bhattacharjee recounted that the white color was restored.
Known for his clean image, as pristine as the white dhuti-panjabi he wore at state and party events, Bhattacharjee had withdrawn from public life due to his ill health. Over the last few years, he had been hospitalized several times. Despite doctors advising him to move out of his small Palm Avenue flat, where he had lived for several decades, Bhattacharjee chose to remain there.
“He was ailing for a long time but he continued to fight. The doctors were also trying his best,” said Mohammad Salim, CPM Bengal secretary. “His mortal remains will be kept at the state office tomorrow since many leaders are coming from Delhi and elsewhere.”
Like many Marxist leaders, including his predecessor and political mentor Jyoti Basu, Bhattacharjee had donated his body for medical research. State CPM leaders are now coordinating with the state health department to complete the formalities.
The last journey of the former chief minister and CPM’s tallest leader after Basu will begin from Alimuddin Street at 4 p.m.
During the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the CPM released an AI-generated speech of Bhattacharjee, in which he urged Bengal voters to reject both the BJP and Trinamool.
In 2022, the Narendra Modi government announced the Padma Bhushan for Bhattacharjee, which he declined.
A poet and translator, Bhattacharjee was an avid reader and regarded Gabriel Garcia Marquez as one of his favorite authors.
