Waiting for Jyoti Basu

WAITING for political leaders at public rallies and press conferences is part of the routine for all political journalists. Political leaders in India also quite routinely arrive late at functions. More often than not, such forced waiting simply spells boredom.

But waiting for Jyoti Basu in Satgachia the Assembly constituency that he represented for 19 years, from 1977 to 1996 one afternoon during an election campaign in 1987 was a unique experience. It was not as though Basu, a stickler for time throughout his life, was late for the function, but we I and a fellow journalist from Ganashakti, the organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Bengali had decided to reach early so that we could go around the constituency that the Chief Minister had represented for 10 years.

One of the first things that would have struck any visitors to Satgachia two decades ago was that it had no characteristics of a VIP constituency at all. The special care that most politicians accord to their individual political base was conspicuous by its absence in the Satgachia of 1987.

It was a nondescript town with minimal or even substandard infrastructure facilities in terms of roads, buildings, power and water supply. In keeping with this background, there was hardly any publicity for Jyoti Basus public meeting, apart from, of course, a few printed and handwritten posters announcing the meeting. And one hour before the scheduled meeting, there were hardly a handful of people at the ground where it was to be held.

But as we started moving around the small town, its narrow streets and dusty, commonplace markets, I heard one phrase getting repeated by almost everybody we passed by ascherey, ascherey. It was almost like a mantra that was being passed on from one person to another in Satgachia.

The journalist friend accompanying me seemed to have realised my curiosity about this phrase and explained that the people were just telling one another about the imminent arrival of Jyoti Basu. Ascherey he is coming. In the next one hour that phrase seemed to reverberate in every nook and corner of Satgachia. And along with it started a steady flow of people to the meeting ground. People who clearly did not require any external motivation or help to attend this election meeting.

There were agricultural labourers, whose mud-ridden vests and dhotis made it obvious that they had just taken a break from the fields; there were head-load workers and rickshaw pullers, who huddled their trolley poles and rickshaws just outside the maidan; and there were rural women who said that they had finished their household chores early to be present at the meeting. Suddenly, as it were, the meeting ground overflowed with people.

With the help of my Bengali colleague, I engaged one of the agricultural labourers and threw a provocative question at him: Jyoti Basu has not taken any special care of this constituency; there are no roads, buildings, or new projects. Why do you come to listen to him so eagerly and why do you elect him repeatedly when he has not really given you anything?

The man was obviously not pleased when my question was explained to him. Staring at me, he began his answer with a telling phrase tini amader jeeban diyechen (he is the one who gave us a life). He went on to explain how he and his fellow villagers had come to possess land through Operation Barga, how that had enhanced their social stature and standard of living, how water supply and irrigation facilities were improving in the whole area and, above all, how the administration had become responsive to their demands in the 10 years that Jyoti Basu was Chief Minister.

Even as he continued speaking, Jyoti Basu arrived in a white Ambassador, with only a police vehicle as escort, and the rapturous greeting that emanated from the crowd made it clear that there were many others in the crowd like the man who said Basu had given him a life.

One also saw groups of women, who were on the right side of the stage, standing up and prostrating as though they were in the presence of a living deity.

While the audiences reaction to the leader was clearly emotional, Basus speech was matter of fact. He explained in a conversational style the various past initiatives of the Left Front government and outlined plans for the future. He warned against the misinformation campaign of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and cautioned the voters not to fall prey to it. The need to re-elect the Left Front was put across in about 30 minutes and, evidently, the rural audience lapped up every sentence.

Colleagues in the Ganashakti had arranged for my travel with Basu for the rest of the day and even to spend the night at his residence so that I could record a day in the leaders life during election time. I sat in the front seat of the car, and as it moved on from Satgachia I asked him about his morning chores. He dismissed the query with unmasked disapproval in one sentence: It is like everybody elses and there is nothing special about it.

I moved on to politics and development immediately and paraphrased the question I had asked the agricultural labourer. I specifically referred to the poor condition of roads in West Bengal, particularly in the Chief Ministers constituency, and wondered why it was not an important election issue in the State.

Jyoti Basu raised his eyebrows in his characteristic style and then replied that the condition of roads was indeed an issue in West Bengal, albeit at a lesser level than in many other States.

That is because the vital and most pressing concerns of the people here are more basic and include the fight against hunger and poverty, [the question of having] some land to cultivate, water to irrigate [the fields] and drink, and amenities for health care and education. And the people are essentially comparing the situation they have now with what they had in the past. And they know that we are trying hard and trying to make it better than in the past. It is because of this comparison that we are repeatedly getting the support of the people. Not because we have created any heaven on earth.

The question-and-answer sessions continued through the car ride, which was interspersed by election meetings at regular intervals. At the end of the second meeting after Satgachia, he asked me to shift from the front seat to the back. You have been constantly turning your head to speak to me, you will end up with a stiff neck, he said.

Basus election meetings that day got over by 8 p.m. and we proceeded to his residence. I was to be put up in the outhouse but was invited for dinner with him.

He was not yet ready when I turned up for dinner. The attendant there asked me to wait and said that like every other day, Jyoti Babu is washing his undergarments. He joined me shortly for a dinner that consisted of chapattis, rice, dal, vegetables and fried fish.

Venkitesh Ramakrishnan