Chitta Basu (25 December 1926 – 5 October 1997) was an Indian politician and a leader of the All India Forward Bloc. He served as the General Secretary of the party from 1977 till his death in 1997. In his obituary, ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' described Basu as belonging to the rare tribe of politicians who did politics for a cause and practiced what they preached. Barasat was his Indian Parliamentary constituency for over two decades.

Education

Basu graduated from Daulatpur College in Khulna district (

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

). He later earned his masters from the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, ...

Political life

Chitta Basu joined the Forward Bloc formed by Subhas Chandra Bose in 1939, after Bose resigned from the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

. Basu worked for the party since he had joined it as a promising student leader in 1945. He rose to become the party's youth wing, All-India Yuba League's general secretary in 1947–48. After India's partition, Basu immersed himself in refugee rehabilitation work. In 1972, he became the party's central committee member and then the general secretary in March 1979, after the 10th Party Congress succeeding R. K. Haldulkar, a post that he held until his death. In 1957, Basu was first elected to the West Bengal state legislative assembly from Barasat of the then undivided 24 Parganas district. In 1966, he became a member of the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

. He was elected to the 6th Lok Sabha from Barasat constituency in 1977, before getting re-elected in 1980, 1989, 1991 and 1996 from the same constituency. In 1996, he became a member of the United Front steering committee. Basu was one of the All India Forward Bloc leaders who struggled for the party's survival immediately after independence; other political parties (particularly Left and a section of Indian socialists) abused the Forward Bloc over

Bose Bose may refer to: * Bose (crater), a lunar crater * ''Bose'' (film), a 2004 Indian Tamil film starring Srikanth and Sneha * Bose (surname), a surname (and list of people with the name) * Bose, Italy, a ''frazioni'' in Magnano, Province of Biella ...

's alliance with the Axis.

Death

Basu died of a

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and poss ...

on the Howrah-bound Danapur Express between Madhupur and Jasidih railway stations in

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

in the early morning of 5 October 1997. He was returning to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

after attending an anti-

Lalu Prasad Yadav Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009), and a former Member of Parlia ...

rally organised by a 17-party left and democratic front in

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

. Travelling alone in an AC first class coupe, he complained of abdominal pain to a railway attendant soon after the train left Patna. Soon, a wireless message was sent to the Jhajha station, before he was examined and given medication. He was found dead at around 2:30 a.m. (

IST Ist or IST may refer to: Information Science and Technology * Bachelor's or Master's degree in Information Science and Technology * Graduate School / Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Japan * Graduate School ...

) when doctors boarded the train to check his condition at the Madhupur station.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Basu, Chitta 1926 births 1997 deaths People from Dhaka All India Forward Bloc politicians India MPs 1977–1979 India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 West Bengal MLAs 1957–1962 Lok Sabha members from West Bengal Rajya Sabha members from West Bengal University of Calcutta alumni People from North 24 Parganas district

Education

Political life

Death

See also

References

External links