Kolkata: Glowing tributes were paid to former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu in the assembly amidst charges by Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee saying successors of the late CPI-M patriarch were not following his footsteps.
Speaking on a condolence resolution in the House, Chief
Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee recalled his association with
him and said Basu had played an important role in
consolidating and improving parliamentary democracy in the
country.
Basu, he said, believed in democracy, never introduced
black laws and was the first to set up the Human Rights
Commission.
Dubbing him as a secular leader, Bhattacharjee said he
efficiently handled the riots in the state after the killing
of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and after the Babri
Masjid incident.
Even the way Basu functioned as opposition leader in the
House should also be emulated, he added.
Speaking after him, Chatterjee (Trinamool Congress) said
Basu's successors were not following him or his ideology.
He described Basu as a mass leader and political
stalwart. TC had criticised some of his acts "but at the same
time Basu also talked to Mamata Banerjee and expressed his
reservation on the role of the present LF government."
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 17:23