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I wish Left Front gets yet another term: Basu

Special Correspondent

Win over those voting against us, says leader who enters 95

— Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

LEGENDS MEET: The former Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, and legendary Rabindra Sangeet singer Suchitra Mitra at the celebration of the 95th birthday of Mr. Basu at his residence in Salt Lake, Kolkata, on Tuesday.

KOLKATA: Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu, who stepped into his 95th year on Tuesday, has a message for his party on his birthday: “We need to listen to those who have been voting against us, behave well with them and win over their confidence. No, they are not our enemies.”

It is his wish that the Left Front gets yet another term in office “though I do not know whether I will live to see it.”

Mr. Basu also had a poser for the people at large who will have to determine “who is a friend and who is the enemy.” “Whom will you go to? Will it be the opportunists who have no [political] programme or will you come to us whom you have been watching for all this time [30 years of the Left Front being in power]?”

“We have still not been able to understand many. There is need to connect with them, try to learn about their problems. We should not be angry,” he said, referring to those who had not sided with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the past years.

He was addressing a congregation of well-wishers outside his residence in Salt Lake, who had come to greet him on his 94th birthday.

“Let me remind you that what has happened in West Bengal is unique in any parliamentary democracy not just in India but in the world. We have been functioning with limited powers yet people of this State have come out time and again [during the elections] for the past 30 years and helped us form the government,” Mr. Basu said.

The former West Bengal Chief Minister also had a word of the Left parties’ successes in Kerala and Tripura.

Campaign

Despite his ill-health, Mr. Basu addressed a few rallies as part of his campaign for the Left Front for the 2006 Assembly elections. I was not in a position to stand for too long, so addressed the gathering sitting “after seeking the forgiveness of those assembled.”

“I had told them [the organisers of the birthday function] to make it brief for, I can no longer sit for long.”

“I still feel good when I see people and am thankful for those who have congregated. I could not sleep [in excitement] last night wondering whether I would be in any condition to be here. It is a matter of joy and pride that I have been able to come [to address the congregation]”, he said.

Donates gift cheque

Mr. Basu donated a gift cheque of Rs. 10 lakh presented to him by Pather Panchali, a local organisation, to the CPI(M) for distribution among those affected in the recent floods, which hit parts of south Bengal. “They are in distress; the money is for them … Communists are expected to work for the people till their last breath.”

Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi was among those who visited Mr Basu.

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