Left icon Jyoti Basu dead

Jyoti Basu, the patriarch of Indian communism whose pragmatic politics twice saw him coming close to becoming prime minister, died on Sunday. He was 95.

Regarded as the country's most elderly statesman, Basu's death is seen as a possible blow to unity among a disparate group of communists who face a tough election next year in West Bengal, a traditional leftist stronghold.

"Jyoti Basu played the role of the elderly patriarch whose more mature, considered view and his ability to retain the broadbase of support were very important," political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan told Reuters.

Basu died from multiple organ failure at a city hospital, where he was treated for the past 15 days.

A London-trained barrister, Basu debuted in politics as a union leader and later gained legendary status with his five unbroken 5-year terms as chief minister of West Bengal.

He led the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) which is at the head of a ruling leftist coalition in West Bengal and which faces an election next year amid sliding popularity.

Basu retired from active politics a decade ago, but his towering stature retained its unifying influence among the leftist groups and he continued to play what often seemed the role of a crisis manager and political arbitrator.

"Without him I doubt if the left unity in India, especially in West Bengal, would survive," Kshiti Goswami, a West Bengal minister and a coalition ally, told Reuters.

"It will be difficult for us to manage left unity during crisis situation without him."

Basu's party and its allies, despite their long years in power, have often differed over policy issues such as acquiring farmland for industry.

It was his brand of liberal communism that ensured wide acceptability for Basu and he was offered the job of prime minister twice in 1996, but he had to decline because of opposition from within his party.

Basu described that decision as an "historic blunder" in an open criticism of a section of his party's dogmatic ideologues.

Born into a middleclass family of a doctor, Basu went to study law in the United Kingdom where he came in touch with the Communist Party of Great Britain.

The short, reticent politician, always seen in a white flowing shift and an Indian wraparound, began his political career as a leader of dock and railway workers in Kolkata.

His staid and sometimes brusque style earned him the sobriquet of "a field marshal in a gentleman's garb".

"He was a colossus who strode India's political scene for many decades," India's Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi.