Jyoti Basu

About

Jyoti Basu was Chief Minister of West Bengal for 23 consecutive years (1977–2000) — the longest serving CM in Indian history — under the Left Front government. Born in Calcutta, he studied law in London where he was influenced by communist ideology. He led the Left Front to power in 1977 and presided over land reform (Operation Barga) that redistributed land to sharecroppers and increased their security of tenure. Considered as a possible Prime Minister in 1996 (his party did not allow it, which he later called 'a historic blunder'), he retired in 2000. He died on 17 January 2010.