Saurabh Mukherjee
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, former Chief Minister of West Bengal and one of the tallest leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), passed away at around 8:20 a.m. on Thursday (August 8) in Kolkata after a prolonged illness. He was 80 years old.
He is survived by his wife, Meera Bhattacharya, and his son, Suchetan (formerly Suchetana).
He had been unwell for some time, suffering from respiratory issues that led to frequent hospitalizations. Last year, he was placed on life support after contracting pneumonia, but the veteran CPI(M) leader made a remarkable recovery.
He had been suffering from fever and respiratory distress for the past few days. In the early hours of Thursday, Bhattacharya succumbed to a cardiac arrest, leaving the medical experts with no chance to intervene.
Bhattacharya became the Chief Minister in 2000 when Jyoti Basu, the then longest-serving chief minister in the country, stepped down due to health reasons. As Chief Minister, he led the Left Front to consecutive victories in the assembly elections of 2001 and 2006.
Also, a former member of the CPI(M)'s top decision-making body, the Polit Bureau, the stalwart communist leader adopted a relatively open policy towards business as compared to the Jyoti Basu regime. Bhattacharya’s first five-year tenure saw significant development in various industries and IT services across the state. Bengal’s IT Policy was formulated in 2003, and the state's IT industry experienced a 70 percent growth from 2001 to 2005.
Bhattacharya stepped down from the CPI(M) Polit Bureau and central committee in 2015 and relinquished his membership of the party's state secretariat in 2018.
In recent years, he largely stayed away from public engagements and remained confined to his two-room government apartment on Palm Avenue in South Kolkata.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed condolences on Bhattacharya's death and announced that the state government would accord him full respect and ceremonial honours during his final journey and rites.
In an X post, Banerjee wrote, “Shocked and saddened by the sudden demise of the former Chief Minister Sri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. I have been knowing him for last several decades, and visited him a few times when he was ill and effectively confined to home in the last few years.”
Bhattacharya was born on March 1, 1944, in North Kolkata. He completed his school education at Sailendra Sarkar Vidyalaya and pursued a BA Honours in Bengali from Presidency College. He joined the CPI(M) in 1966.
In 1977, he was elected an MLA for the first time from Cossipore in North Kolkata, the same year the CPI(M) came to power in West Bengal under the leadership of Jyoti Basu. Bhattacharya lost his seat in Cossipore to Congress' Prafulla Kanti Ghosh in the 1982 elections. However, he made a comeback five years later, winning from the Jadavpur constituency.
He is survived by his wife, Meera Bhattacharya, and his son, Suchetan (formerly Suchetana).
He had been unwell for some time, suffering from respiratory issues that led to frequent hospitalizations. Last year, he was placed on life support after contracting pneumonia, but the veteran CPI(M) leader made a remarkable recovery.
He had been suffering from fever and respiratory distress for the past few days. In the early hours of Thursday, Bhattacharya succumbed to a cardiac arrest, leaving the medical experts with no chance to intervene.
Bhattacharya became the Chief Minister in 2000 when Jyoti Basu, the then longest-serving chief minister in the country, stepped down due to health reasons. As Chief Minister, he led the Left Front to consecutive victories in the assembly elections of 2001 and 2006.
Also, a former member of the CPI(M)'s top decision-making body, the Polit Bureau, the stalwart communist leader adopted a relatively open policy towards business as compared to the Jyoti Basu regime. Bhattacharya’s first five-year tenure saw significant development in various industries and IT services across the state. Bengal’s IT Policy was formulated in 2003, and the state's IT industry experienced a 70 percent growth from 2001 to 2005.
Bhattacharya stepped down from the CPI(M) Polit Bureau and central committee in 2015 and relinquished his membership of the party's state secretariat in 2018.
In recent years, he largely stayed away from public engagements and remained confined to his two-room government apartment on Palm Avenue in South Kolkata.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed condolences on Bhattacharya's death and announced that the state government would accord him full respect and ceremonial honours during his final journey and rites.
In an X post, Banerjee wrote, “Shocked and saddened by the sudden demise of the former Chief Minister Sri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. I have been knowing him for last several decades, and visited him a few times when he was ill and effectively confined to home in the last few years.”
Bhattacharya was born on March 1, 1944, in North Kolkata. He completed his school education at Sailendra Sarkar Vidyalaya and pursued a BA Honours in Bengali from Presidency College. He joined the CPI(M) in 1966.
In 1977, he was elected an MLA for the first time from Cossipore in North Kolkata, the same year the CPI(M) came to power in West Bengal under the leadership of Jyoti Basu. Bhattacharya lost his seat in Cossipore to Congress' Prafulla Kanti Ghosh in the 1982 elections. However, he made a comeback five years later, winning from the Jadavpur constituency.
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