Lal Salaam, Comrade Buddhadeb

He was reviled by critics in his party as a neo-liberal in disguise but till the end, he retained his belief in secularism and the humanity of Communism.

He began his life in politics as an angry young man. In his later years, he tried to reconcile ideology with practical politics.

But the effort met with limited success. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, a lifelong member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, or CPI-M, and former chief minister of West Bengal, died on Thursday at the age of 80.

He was reviled by critics in his party as a neo-liberal in disguise but till the end, he retained his belief in secularism and the humanity of Communism, while arguing with his more dogmatic colleagues in vain that in order to survive one has to change.

In 1994, when he resigned from the Jyoti Basu cabinet in West Bengal as minister for culture, he announced he could no longer coexist in a 'cabinet of thieves'.

His mentor, then CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat, ensured he returned to the government two years later with the added responsibility of the charge of the home and police departments.

In 2000, he would replace Basu as CM. Things started changing in Bengal, influenced by changes in Delhi.

The 1991 economic liberalisation led to a review of ideas of equity, redistribution of wealth and the role of the state.

The CPI-M along with its Left allies (Forward Bloc, RSP and CPI) had been in power in West Bengal since 1977. It had fixed ideas but it kept getting re-elected.

Under Basu's leadership, the 1996 assembly elections fetched the CPI-M 157 seats out of 294, while its allies brought another 69 seats.

But as CM, Buddhadeb led his party in two elections -- 2001 and 2006 -- and delivered better numbers.

In the 2001 elections, the CPI-M got 143 seats and needed its allies to form the government.

But in the 2006 elections, Buddhadeb was projected as the face of the CPI-M and his party won 176 seats.

It was a moment of great triumph for him.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, the CPI-M and its allies got 35 out of the 42 seats in the state.

The Left bloc had its strongest presence in Parliament in the 14th Lok Sabha.

Buddhadeb believed he must have done something right, and pushed for review and reform of shibboleths.

For instance, he told a group of industrialists from CII: 'Sometimes I say that our contribution to the Oxford dictionary is the word 'gherao'.'

He toyed with the idea of opening up the retail sector to big companies, including those that had a tie-up with foreign firms like Walmart.

In 2007, he asked CII to suggest ways -- in collaboration with the state government -- for new policies on land acquisition.

Scores of companies - foreign and Indian, especially in the IT sector - flocked to Bengal.

Agriculture was all very well. But the government wanted to industrialise Bengal. The CPI -M heard. Not everyone agreed.

Along with agitations in Singur over allegations of forcible land acquisition for a Tata car factory, there was violence in Nandigram, the severest bloodshed in the history of Left rule.

Armed locals -- dismissed as Maoists by the Left Front -- resisted the state's proposal to create a chemical hub there and chased the administration out, forcing the government to move the plant to Nayachar in 2008.

One of the worst cyclones in Bengal's history followed, pushing people to the wall.

Mamata Banerjee had already walked out of the Congress and launched the Trinamool Congress in 1998.

The Congress-led government in Delhi was using Buddhadeb as its poster boy, dubbing him India's best CM.

The number of people in his party who disagreed was growing. Mamata insisted the Singur land be returned to the farmers. The Tatas and the Left Front government refused.

Finally, on October 8, 2008, Ratan Tata packed his bags and left Bengal. It was a massive denouement for the state government and a personal defeat for Buddhadeb.

The panchayat elections that followed presaged the Left Front's defeat in 2011, a blow from which it never recovered.

The CPI-M itself won only 40 seats. The party was still an actor in Delhi. But the sheen was gone.

Buddhadeb gradually withdrew from the party and later state politics. His last public appearance was in 2019.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com