Kolkata, Jan 27 (IANS) The ’sradh’ ceremony of Marxist patriach Jyoti Basu, a firm atheist who died Jan 17, was performed by his son Chandan in an all-religious ceremony here Wednesday.
Sources in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), of which Basu was a founding member, confirmed the ceremony.

None of the party leaders, with the exception of Ramala Chakraborty and Basu’s aide Joy Krishna Ghosh, were present at the ceremony attended by family members and close friends.

Ghosh saw nothing wrong in the communist leader’s son performing the religious rites of his atheist father.

“Jyotibabu was a communist. But his son is not. He is within his rights to perform such ceremonies as per societal norms,” he said.

However, Ghosh said he left after offering his floral tributes.

Ramola, widow of Subhas Chakrabarty, long-time state minister and one of the closest confidants of Jyoti Basu, said: “I went to Chandan’s house and garlanded Basu’s portrait and stayed there for 10-15 minutes.”

Basu died of multiple organ failure Jan 17 in a private hospital where he was admitted Jan 1 with severe pneumonia.