Basu for all seasons

On his last day in Lok Sabha, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee never mentioned the name of his former party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), but recalled his ‘mentor’, former West Bengal chief minister and CPI(M) heavyweight Jyoti Basu, on a few occasions. He spoke of Basu’s ‘guidance, encouragement and affection’ in his valedictory speech. When leaving Parliament, Chatterjee found himself surrounded by photographers. Again, Chatterjee quoted Basu: “Jyoti Basu used to say, you click so many photographs, but none of them is finally published.” The next day, however, most newspapers did carry Chatterjee’s photographs.