Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee: This shipwrecked sailor finds recluse in a reign of silence
KOLKATA: “But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” Ernest Hemingway’s Santiago crosses the mind on seeing Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, one of the last patriarchs of communism in India.
The comrade drapes himself in a shroud of silence as he sits forlorn in his shabby chamber at the CPM’s Alimuddin Street headquarters. He turned 73 on Wednesday.
Bhattacharjee has withdrawn himself from all public interactions but communism runs deep down his veins even today. He never fails to make it to the party office twice a day, as long as his health permits.
This birthday was no exception. Bhattacharjee shares his birthday with peers like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and DMK chief MK Stalin. There was no dearth of celebration among their followers, but Alimuddin Street looked no different from any other day.
Bhattacharjee attended the state secretariat meeting on Wednesday morning at the CPM headquarters and returned after lunch at home. The septuagenarian looked a little surprised on being greeted by ET. “We cannot discuss these,” the comrade said with a smile when asked about greetings he received from others.
Jyoti Basu, the towering comrade and Bhattacharjee’s predecessor, however, would receive birthday greetings from all quarters, including the prime ministers. “Jyoti Babu was a legend, his case has always been different,” said another CPM leader, reminding of the exceptions the Marxists make for a couple of iconic leaders.
Since the 2016 drubbing at the Assembly elections, Bhattacharjee has pulled himself away from public glare and resigned from the politburo and the central committee. But the invitee member of the central committee remained as vigilant as ever and never stopped commenting on the party’s policies and stating its stand on various issues.
In the last few years, Bhattacharjee has written 15 non-fictions on the state of politics in Bengal, the national political scenario and the global affairs plaguing China and Latin America. His ‘Phire Dekha (Looking Back)’ that chronicled the first 10 years of the Left Front government (1977 to 1987) was released in 2016 and a sequel, documenting the last five years of the Left regime, was released this year.
The sailor who had set sail in the last days of the glorious days of Marxist rule, looks shipwrecked after repeated routs in elections, yet he retains a glint in his eyes that moves thousands of youths even today.
The comrade drapes himself in a shroud of silence as he sits forlorn in his shabby chamber at the CPM’s Alimuddin Street headquarters. He turned 73 on Wednesday.
Bhattacharjee has withdrawn himself from all public interactions but communism runs deep down his veins even today. He never fails to make it to the party office twice a day, as long as his health permits.
This birthday was no exception. Bhattacharjee shares his birthday with peers like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and DMK chief MK Stalin. There was no dearth of celebration among their followers, but Alimuddin Street looked no different from any other day.
Bhattacharjee attended the state secretariat meeting on Wednesday morning at the CPM headquarters and returned after lunch at home. The septuagenarian looked a little surprised on being greeted by ET. “We cannot discuss these,” the comrade said with a smile when asked about greetings he received from others.
Jyoti Basu, the towering comrade and Bhattacharjee’s predecessor, however, would receive birthday greetings from all quarters, including the prime ministers. “Jyoti Babu was a legend, his case has always been different,” said another CPM leader, reminding of the exceptions the Marxists make for a couple of iconic leaders.
Since the 2016 drubbing at the Assembly elections, Bhattacharjee has pulled himself away from public glare and resigned from the politburo and the central committee. But the invitee member of the central committee remained as vigilant as ever and never stopped commenting on the party’s policies and stating its stand on various issues.
In the last few years, Bhattacharjee has written 15 non-fictions on the state of politics in Bengal, the national political scenario and the global affairs plaguing China and Latin America. His ‘Phire Dekha (Looking Back)’ that chronicled the first 10 years of the Left Front government (1977 to 1987) was released in 2016 and a sequel, documenting the last five years of the Left regime, was released this year.
The sailor who had set sail in the last days of the glorious days of Marxist rule, looks shipwrecked after repeated routs in elections, yet he retains a glint in his eyes that moves thousands of youths even today.
