An era ended: Naveen

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and senior leaders of other political parties have mourned the death former West Bengal chief minister and veteran communist leader Jyoti Basu.Describing him as a leading light of Indian politics and a visionary, Naveen said that with Basu’s demise an era has ended.He was in the forefront of communist and democratic movements in the country for 40 years, Naveen said and added that Basu was very close to his father Biju Patnaik. The country has lost a principled politician and an idealist, he said.Former Union minister and State unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Jual Oram described Basu as a towering personality and said that his death is a great loss for the country.
Expressing profound grief over the demise of Basu, former Union minister and Congress MP Bhakta Charan Das said that he believed in value based politics. This was the reason why people of West Bengal reposed confidence in him for more than two decades and he was the chief minister of the state till he retired from active politics, he said.Stating that his death is a great loss for the Left movement in the country, State secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) Dibakar Nayak said that Basu was the chief architect of the Left Front government in West Bengal.A condolence meeting was organised at the CPM headquarters here today following the demise of Basu. The meeting was presided over by senior leader and former MP Shivaji Patnaik. State secretary Janardan Pati said that Basu was the first to implement the three-tier panchayat system and fought for more powers to the states within the federal system. He ceaselessly worked for decentralisation of power and distribution of land among the landless, he said.Secretary of the CPI (ML) Liberation Khitish Biswal said that Basu’s death is a loss for the secular and democratic forces in the country. President of Samruddha Odisha Jatish Chandra Mohanty said that even though he was the chief minister of West Bengal for such a long period, power did not corrupt him.