The demise of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya will be mourned deeply by the people of West Bengal and political affiliations will not matter. For more than a decade as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has shown qualities which are becoming increasingly rare among those who govern. He was the epitome of decency in public life. This remains true even after he lived with his family in a humble two-room apartment throughout his career as a politician.
Buddha da, as he was affectionately called by many within his generation, like many others came to communism through involvement in Bengal’s students’ movement of the 1960s and 1970s. A disciple of veteran communist Pramode Dasgupta and leader of youth front for CPI(M), at the age of thirty three, Buddhada became one of the Ministers for Information & Public Relations in Left Front government formed in 1977 i.e., at its very inception. Thus, outlasting all other Cabinet colleagues from 1977 till 2011 (except for LF II when he narrowly missed winning elections in ’82) being part and parcel of LF I is nothing but an honourable achievement.
Throughout this lengthy ministerial career, Buddhada always stood out due to his incorruptibility and respectability. In fact, he once resigned from the ministry in protest against what he saw as malpractices during left front rule and it took Jyoti Basu himself several months to convince him to come back into cabinet again. It was during this period that Buddhadad wrote a Bengali play which examined how values had decayed since yesteryears’ leftist movement.
In comparison with any other communist leader belonging to that era in Bengal, Buddhada had been most associated with literature, arts and culture. His interests in dissenting literature combined with personal experience following collapse of USSR late eighties led him to question a number of Marxist-Leninist dogmas.
It was his unusual way of governance and decision making as the Chief Minister of West Bengal since 2000 that earned him popularity, especially among those youngsters who were born and brought up in Left Front regime. His relentless focus on unemployment issues in West Bengal which led to massive youth migration out of the state coupled with commendable election victory in 2006 enjoyed much public support.
History took a different direction from this point onwards. The policy for industrializing the state as well as land acquisition for industry adopted by him drawing inspiration from Chinese model became highly contentious resulting together with popular resentment against other aspects of the thirty four year long rule into an end of Left Front’s hegemony in 2011. It was through his gentlemanliness that he accepted defeat at the polls gracefully and gradually retreated from public life too.
The last Left Front government’s rights and wrongs on Buddhada’s dream of modernizing West Bengal economy and creating decent job opportunities in the state for its young population will always be a central topic to the state. After Sachar committee results and Ranganath Mishra panel, this led to OBC reservation quota increase by his government in West Bengal so as to cover a significant portion of the minority Muslim community. However, a recent High Court verdict reversed this progressive policy that had been translated into law during the subsequent Trinamool Congress rule.
India has been committed to the preservation of her secular and democratic constitutional order, something that Buddhada believed in with all his heart. Even when he was gravely unwell at the eve of 2019Loksabha Election, he appealed to people not shift from Trinamool Congress misrule frying pan to communal fire lit by BJP. In fact, neither in 2019 nor in 2021 and 2024 have they done so; still waiting is party’s revival which Buddhada had headed for over ten years up until 2011. It would have made him most happy if that revival ever happened.
