We will remember you Jyoti Da

We will remember you Jyoti Da
We will remember you Jyoti Da for rising from being the third son of one Dr Nisikanata Basu to the 21st Chief Minister of West Bengal.
We will remember you Jyoti Da for getting elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly a record 13 times after Independence.
We will remember you Jyoti Da for being the longest serving Chief Minister of a state in India- 23 years- from 1977 to 2000
We will remember you Jyoti Da for undertaking one of the most successful rural land reforms movement in India- Operation Barga.
But we will also remember you Jyoti Da for transforming Calcutta- a hub of intellectual and industrial activity into Kolkata- a stagnant economic and professional hub.

We will remember you Jyoti Da for exhibiting the power of ambition. Your willingness to lead the nation in 1996, at the age of 82 showed that no age is old enough for harbouring an ambition. At an age when the body and mind refuse to be agile you wanted to lead the nation into the 21st century ! You had not ruled Bengal for 19 years from 1977 to 1996 but rather taken Bengal back to 1958-19 years back.
We will remember you Jyoti Da for displaying the power of will. When one wills to do nothing, nothing can force him/her to do anything !. You had the best of resources at your disposal- educated manpower, natural resources, basic logistic infrastructure; yet you failed to realize their potential.You ruled Bengal for 23 years and had all the time and resources in the world to bring a change which you used to advocate earlier; but your promise and claims remained just like that. Today Kolkata is not where it used to be in 1977. It is no more one of the 4 metros. Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune among others have leaped ahead of Kolkata in all fronts except one- Labour Union !
We will remember you Jyoti Da for promoting Labour Unions to such an extent that today any Company thinks more than twice before investing in Bengal. In some or the other way you or rather policies initiated during your days had a role to play in driving out the Nano from Singur. For each debacle you had someone else to put blame on !
We will remember you Jyoti Da for patronizing the cadres of your party to such an extent that today when they are being dealt with in their same manner by the opponents, your party calls others -goons ! You did not or rather could not control the discipline of the cadres, and they in turn resorted to all forms of measures to garner votes. In the country side, those who dared to vote against your coalition/party were either given punishments of some kind or the best way- they were not allowed to exercise their franchise. Absolute power corrupted them absolutely and you did absolutely nothing ! Today your own party men are acknowledging the highhandedness of the cadres , though in muted voices only. It is a culture which is ingrained in your party so much so that it would take be a herculean task to get rid of it.
We will remember you Jyoti Da…for sure....