Kolkata (West Bengal): In a world where success is often equated with wealth and social status, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the former Chief Minister of West Bengal, who passed away on Thursday, stood as a stark contrast with his simple living. In a befitting gesture of respect to him, on his last journey on Friday, the CPI-M leadership declined the offer of a “gun salute” for their late comrade, as announced by his successor and current Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee.
The party’s decision to decline the gun salute was a profound gesture of respect for Bhattacharjee’s lifelong commitment to a modest lifestyle in his two-bedroom apartment at Palm Avenue in South Kolkata.
Party insiders added that his family members, including his widow Mira Bhattacharjee, are also against any ceremonial practice.
According to the CPI-M politburo members and the party’s Secretary in West Bengal, Md Salim, the announcement of the gun salute has nothing to do with the party’s own programmes regarding the former Chief Minister’s last journey.
“Throughout his life, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee practised simplicity. So there is no question of gun salute,” he said.
Party insiders said that after his last exit from the then-state Secretariat of Writer’s Buildings in 2011 as Chief Minister, Buddadeb Bhattacharjee refused to accept any state government facilities to which he was entitled as a former Chief Minister.
“Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee never sought luxury or extravagance. He found happiness in his modest two-bedroom accommodation. It is the wish of his family and the party that his unassuming lifestyle be respected in his final journey,” a state committee member of CPI-M emphasised.
During the last couple of years, he had been hospitalised a number of times. However, his doctors recall that whenever hospitalised, the former Chief Minister always insisted on an early discharge so that he could return to his abode of peace — his two-bedroom apartment.
–IANS
