I WORKED with Jyoti Basu for about six decades. He contributed to the trade union movement not only in West Bengal but also in the rest of the country. I met him first in 1950 after the communal riots.

Large numbers of Muslims had left West Bengal, and in their deserted houses the government had settled the refugees from East Pakistan. When the Muslims returned, they demanded their homes back. This issue was raised by Jyoti Basu on the floor of the Assembly. He demanded that the refugees be rehabilitated properly.

The houses were returned to their rightful owners in 1967 when the United Front formed the government in the State; Jyoti Basu was the Deputy Chief Minister and Ajoy Mukherjee [from the Bangla Congress] was the Chief Minister.

On every issue of the working class, he led movements both inside the House and out on the streets. In 1953, a six-month-long strike took place in the Titagarh Paper Mill factory. Under his leadership, a good settlement was arrived at and when the factory opened, he was present at 6 a.m. at the gates along with the workers.

In 1969, jute workers went on a seven-day strike seeking wage increase. It was because of his untiring efforts that the wages were raised to Rs.30 a month. In the villages, a movement for land for the landless was developing. But in 1967, the Congress at the Centre dismissed the United Front government. In the next elections, the United Front was elected for a second time; but the government lasted only for 13 months. A good amount of land was distributed to the landless people until 1971. In 1972, as you know, the Congress won amid large-scale rigging. Some 1,100 CPI(M) workers were killed and nearly 20,000 were driven out of their homes. It was a turbulent period for the Left.

I was in Jyoti Basu’s Ministry for 10 years from 1977. I observed him very closely over a period of 15 years. He was a person of extraordinary honesty; he was able to understand every issue quickly and found a solution as well.

He was a trade union person until the time of his death. He was vice-president of the CITU. He used to come to all our conferences; he would tell the workers that the government would support them if they agitated peacefully and were united in their demands. No other Chief Minister has a record of supporting striking workers. There were six to seven strikes by jute workers during his tenure. He used to say that the Left Front was in the government because of the poor and that the government should be with the people. The trade union movement will feel his absence.

Jyoti Basu was very consistent in his position against communalism. After the Left Front came to power, not a single riot was allowed to take place. When anti-Sikh riots engulfed the country in 1984, he himself came out saying that comrades, apart from the police and his government, would protect the lives of Sikhs .

I learnt a lot from him. His simplicity of expression and profundity of thought were striking. That is why he was popular in the party and outside it. Not everyone who came to pay tribute to him was a communist. Many of them said he had helped them in some manner or the other.

As told to T. K. Rajalakshmi