Left Front chairman urges current leaders to emulate Buddhadeb for bringing change in Bengal

Kolkata, Aug 22 (PTI) Left Front chairman Biman Bose on Thursday urged its current generation of leaders to emulate former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in forging close bonds with people as a recipe for bringing political change in the state.

He said Bhattacharjee, his close associate for decades in the CPI(M), never shied away from organisational work and that he interacted with people tirelessly.

"If you want to bring change, you have to build relations with people and sway their minds in the right direction," Bose said, speaking at a condolence meeting in memory of Bhattacharjee at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here.

He said that Bhattacharjee, who started as a young student activist in the 1960's, worked to organise the youth force in the direction of bringing social and political change.

The former CM, who was the first president of DYFI in the state, died on August 9 at the age of 80 following prolonged illness.

He was a politburo member of the CPI(M) from 2000 to 2015 till he resigned owing to health issues.

Having become a minister for the first time in 1977, he took over the mantle of chief ministership from Jyoti Basu in November 2000.

"Not only did he execute this role efficiently, Bhattacharjee worked to implement the policies of the Left Front in the interest of the next generation and the all-round development of the state," CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim said.

Stating that Bhattacharjee worked towards Bengal's industrial rejuvenation, he lamented that the Tata Motors' Nano car factory at Singur was 80 per cent complete when it had to be shifted to Sanand in Gujarat in 2008, owing to a "violent agitation" by the opposition.

Maintaining that Bhattacharjee was an example of democratic politics, Salim said that amid a "violent agitation in Nandigram”, he had announced that land would not be acquired if people were against it.

The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress had defeated the Left Front government under the stewardship of Bhattacharjee in 2011, after its uninterrupted 34-year-old rule. PTI AMR RBT