A Demise: An End

A Confession: Am not a political expert nor am i much interested politics. But i'm interested in people and how they mould the History of our World with their own hands.


Jyotirindra(better known as Jyoti) Basu: a leader, an icon...a man who reigned over Bengal for over two decades, 23 yrs to be precise. Died yesterday, 17th January 2010, at 11:47pm. With him ended an era...almost a century...a chapter closed in the history of Bengal.
Bengal has always played an important part in shaping or at least contributing to the history of our country. It was in Bengal that Nawab Siraj-ud-duallah lost the skirmish, dubbed in History as the Battle of Plassey. Bengal was the only state in India to witness Renaissance. Bengal was home to Rabindranath Tagore, Mother Teresa, Amartya Sen...even Ronald Ross worked in Bengal. Jagadishchandra Bose, Prafullachandra, Vidyasagar, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Michael Madhusudan Dutta. Bengal gave India her first Martyr...Khudiram was the first to die in India's struggle for Freedom... Raja Rammohon Roy ("the first Modern Man of India"-Rabindranath Tagore)...Netaji...
Bengal gave to the country Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramkrishna....
Bengal was the only Indian state which was said to have had maintained its independent existence right through the ages...remember Gopala, Bengal's Raja....he was elected by the people to rule the people for the people!
Uncountable contributions...lets not count them any more. Except this one...the man named Jyoti Basu.
His achievements, his victories...also his failures, yes he did have his shortcomings...his 23 yrs as CM of West Bengal has given India a reason to add a new chapter to its History.
Initially what Basu had done in his reign, was a need of the hour. But two decades were a bit too long. His ideas got stagnated. The world changed but his outlook remained just the same. Finally in the year 2000, he stepped down from the post of CM of West Bengal. Even after stepping down from his political post, his connections and allies remained. The respect people had for him remained. And Basu remained in Indira Bhavan.
At 96 yrs of age, Basu breathed his last in AMRI hospital Salt Lake, after fighting for his life for 17 days. He has reportedly donated his eyes. The very eyes which saw the world for 96 yrs...fought battles...sought arguments...planned strategies...shed tears...and even loved....
Basu believed: "it is man and man alone who creates history..." 
...and he did create history.
 Even in death he created History. He is the only India politician to be a trending topic on Twitter that too twice....see that too counts as history...genZ type!!

# iconic Jyoti Basu: Alive or dead??

Trust me, this is crazy...

check this out...at twitter

Realtime results for jyoti basu dead 

slaith @sahaanirban I dun get it. Is Jyoti Basu dead or nt? less than a minute ago 

Ok...let me explain. This afternoon i saw a tweet which claimed that Mr. Jyoti Basu (aged 96), Ex-CM of West Bengal, has passed away today, 6th Jan 2010. there were retweets of that tweet and soon the entire Social Networking Community came alive with the news of Mr. Basu's death.

Media reports and Medical Bulletins insisted that Basu was still alive but on life support.

Confused?? Join the club, so am I.

Google it...you'll get a variety of search results. Some confidently report his death, some report other reports of his death while the rest remain uncommittal about his health condition.

even Wikipedia reported Basu as being dead...but later edited the content as Basu's death remained unconfirmed.

Basu was Chief Minister of West Bengal from June 1977 until November 2000, heading a Left Front government led by his Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). He stepped down on health grounds. 

Chronology of events:

Kolkata, Jan. 1, 2010: Jyoti Basu was hospitalised with pneumonia. Since Thursday, Basu had been suffering from chest congestion and having trouble breathing. He also had a cough and had been put on a semi-solid diet.

Doctors conducted a chest X-ray. And, at around 5.45pm, he was shifted to the hospital and a CT scan and blood tests were done and pneumonia was confirmed.

Kolkata, Jan. 3, 2010: Jyoti Basu had to undergo blood transfusion on Saturday night and Sunday evening after his haemoglobin level dipped. A BiPap machine was being used to pump air into Basu’s lungs.

Kolkata, Jan. 6, 2010: Later on Wednesday morning he was put on ventilator. Rumours of his death started in the afternoon.

As of now the truth remains in the hospital room...with the Ex-CM and perhaps a few 

selected individuals.

The use of ventilator or life support clearly indicates major deterioration in health condition. Often death is masked by the use of such devices.

Political play or media fad??

Remember a certain Mr. Priyoranjan Das Munshi?? he was on life support n ventilator for almost 8 months or more. German doctors had assured stem cell cure. All at the Govt.'s expenses. He has recently been put off life support. Supposedly his respiration has improved but his neurological condition remains unchanged.

The truth remains veiled.


information sources: Telegraph, Google.