Kolkata, March 10 (IANS) The West Bengal assembly Wednesday adopted a condolence resolution on former chief minister and veteran Marxist Jyoti Basu, who died Jan 17, terming him a “legislator par excellence”.
“Basu, the tallest man of contemporary Indian politics, consistently stressed upon international peace and friendly relations with all neighbouring countries and very rightly won the acclaim of all the peace-loving people of the world,” the resolution said.

Basu was the chief minister of West Bengal for 23 years.

“He was a symbol of secularism, democracy, integrity, consensus and pragmatism and was held in high esteem for his tireless crusade against all sorts of obscurantism and for his deep belief in the unshakable basic values that he had championed throughout his political career,” Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim said while reading out the resolution.

“Basu will be ever-remembered for the speeches he delivered at different times as the leader of the opposition and also as the chief minister and the deputy chief minister in this august house,” Halim said.

Terming Basu as an “eminent statesman”, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said: “He was the first politician who brought the workers and the farmers to the political platform.”