Kerala leaders express grief at Basu's death

CPI-M leaders in Kerala, including Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan, today termed the death of party patriarch Jyoti Basu as an irreparable loss.

CPI-M leaders in Kerala, including Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, on Sunday termed the death of party patriarch Jyoti Basu as an irreparable loss.

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Achuthanandan said Basu's death was a great loss to CPI-M in particular and the Indian Left in general.

With Basu's death, the CPI-M had lost its most prominent founder leaders who made lasting contributions to make the party a force to reckon with in Indian politics, CPIM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said in a message.

"Basu's departure is an irreparable loss, which is not easy to make up", he said.

His unflinching commitment to the party's ideals and programmes, dedication and punctuality had been exemplary and a source of inspiration to party workers down to the lowest rung, he said.

Home Minister and CPI-M Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said Basu was one of the greatest Marxist-Leninist India ever had.

Recalling the episode of Basu renouncing the Prime Ministership under the party directive, Balakrishnan said this showed that he was a model communist who was always prepared to go by the party decision.

Basu also showed how a Communist ruler should govern by heading the government in West Bengal for so long.