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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 1979 till his death in 1997. In his obituary, The Indian Express 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). He later earned his master's from the University of Calcutta.

Political life

Chitta Basu joined the Forward Bloc formed by Subhas Chandra Bose in 1939, after Bose resigned from the Indian National Congress. 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. 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's alliance with the Axis.

Death

Basu died of a cardiac arrest on the Howrah-bound Danapur Express between Madhupur and Jasidih railway stations in Bihar in the early morning of 5 October 1997. He was returning to Calcutta after attending an anti-Lalu Prasad Yadav rally organised by a 17-party left and democratic front in Patna. 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) when doctors boarded the train to check his condition at the Madhupur station.

See also

• Indian independence movement

References

1. Mishra, Mayank (6 October 1997). "Chitta Basu: A Man of Determination And Courage". Business Standard. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
2. "Forward Bloc leader Chitta Basu dead". Rediff.com. 6 October 1997. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
3. ^ Banerjee, Santanu (6 October 1997). "Chitta Basu dies in sleep aboard Howrah-bound train". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 23 August 1999. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
4. "History – AIFB". forwardbloc.org. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
5. "Quicktakes -- Chitta Basu is dead". The Indian Express. 6 October 1997. Archived from the original on 5 November 1999. Retrieved 12 October 2018.

External links

• "General Secretary : Chitta Basu (1979)". forwardbloc.org. Archived from the original on 17 October 2016.

v t e Members of the 1st to 10th Lok Sabha from West Bengal
Zainal Abedin Basudeb Acharia Mamata Banerjee Anil Basu Chitta Basu Kamal Basu Joachim Baxla Nani Bhattacharya Renu Chakravartty Somnath Chatterjee A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury Sachindra Chaudhuri Tridib Chaudhuri Pratap Chandra Chunder Basanta Kumar Das Mono Mohan Das Biplab Dasgupta Khagendra Nath Dasgupta Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi Sushil Kumar Dhara Ram Chandra Dome Atulya Ghosh Ganesh Ghosh Nalini Ranjan Ghosh Sudhir Kumar Giri Phulrenu Guha Samar Guha Indrajit Gupta Kansari Halder Lutfal Haque Dinesh Chandra Joarder Humayun Kabir Sanat Kumar Mandal Abha Maiti Hannan Mollah Geeta Mukherjee Hirendranath Mukherjee Samar Mukherjee Ananda Gopal Mukhopadhyay Amar Roy Pradhan Debi Prasad Pal Rupchand Pal Ajit Kumar Panja Renuka Ray Siddhartha Shankar Ray Saugata Roy Satish Chandra Samanta Nikhilananda Sar Ashoke Kumar Sen Deben Sen Prafulla Chandra Sen Atish Chandra Sinha Chowdhury Abu Taleb Pius Tirkey Tarit Baran Topdar Golam Yazdani Mahboob Zahedi
11-14th LS members

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Sultan Ahmed Mohammed Amin Subrata Bakshi Sudip Bandyopadhyay Ambica Banerjee Biman Banerjee Mamata Banerjee Subodh Banarjee Jyoti Basu Bratya Basu Chitta Basu Manju Basu Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Chandrima Bhattacharya Ujjal Biswas Upendranath Biswas Sujit Bose Chiranjeet Manoj Chakraborty Subhas Chakraborty Sujan Chakraborty Sovan Chatterjee Partha Chatterjee Sovandeb Chattopadhyay Alamohan Das Asim Dasgupta Gautam Deb Rabin Deb Kanti Ganguly Ganesh Ghosh Manish Gupta Sankar Gupta Firhad Hakim Joy Krishna Halder Kansari Halder Hashim Abdul Halim Choudhury Mohan Jatua Ahmed Javed Khan Jyotipriya Mallick Chittabrata Majumdar Amit Mitra Ashok Mitra Ila Mitra Madan Mitra Somendra Nath Mitra Shyamal Mondal Abdur Razzak Molla Giasuddin Molla Bankim Mukherjee Subrata Mukherjee Subhas Naskar Manturam Pakhira Sadhan Pande Ajit Kumar Panja Dr. Shashi Panja Tapas Paul Siddhartha Shankar Ray Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy Arup Roy Debashree Roy Saugata Roy Haider Aziz Safwi Subrata Saha Mohammed Salim Nalinaksha Sanyal Abdus Sattar (West Bengal politician) Manikuntala Sen Niranjan Sengupta Kalimuddin Shams Majulkrishna Thakur

• 1926 births
• 1997 deaths
• Politicians 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