A comrade remembers

It was over six decades ago,when the country had just been born and we were both young men,that I first met Jyoti Basu. It was in Calcutta,1948,the venue for the second Party Congress. Since then,we have been colleagues.

Starting with the third Party Congress in 1953,Basu used to visit Tamil Nadu often,campaigning for our candidates several times. He was familiar with the state and had a good understanding of it politics,and was especially interested in the non-Congress parties. Conversely,all here were also familiar with Basu,mainly due to the land reforms that he initiated.

According to me,his outstanding contributions could be seen in three key areas: land reforms,establishing and strengthening Panchayati Raj institutions,and the staunch secular stance.

Basu was the pioneer advocate in demanding more autonomy from the all-powerful Union. Even DMK and AIADMK recall the role he played in taking up this demand.

N Sankaraiah, CPM Control Commission chairman and one of the founding members of the party.