Kolkata, Jan 17 (Inditop.com) Jyoti Basu faced lot of economic hurdles during his long years of struggle as communist leader before becoming chief minister, and fish was a luxury in his kitchen, former West Bengal chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray said.
“At the beginning of his career as a communist, he had faced lots of economic hurdles. I have seen how simple a life he led whenever I visited his house. I have seen his wife cooking simple food… seldom I found them cooking fish or meat,” Ray, who was Basu’s contemporary, said.
“His wife (boudi) used to tell me ‘Apnar pagol bondhu ke ektu bolun ki bhabe sansar cholchhe’ (Please tell your crazy friend how I run the household),” said Ray, the last Congress chief minister of the state (1972-1977) and a grandson of freedom fighter Chitta Ranjan Das.
Basu used to get Rs.250 monthly as a legislator’s salary in those days, he said.
Ray, 89, was a close friend of Basu for over six decades despite mostly being political adversaries.
“It was a big loss. We had been friends for long. Our political fight never figured in our friendship,” he said.
Ray twice visited — on Jan 11 and Jan 16 — the private hospital where Basu was admitted Jan 1 following an attack of pneumonia.
