Biman Bose in the autumn of his life at 86 is the loneliest man in the CPM with the passing of former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday morning.

Bose has rarely ever hid his anger or his emotions in public. Following the deaths of Jyoti Basu and before that Subhas Chakraborty, Bose had cried in public while announcing the deaths.

On Thursday after returning from Bhattacharjee’s Palm Avenue residence Bose sat in a room at the CPM’s Alimuddin Street headquarters – which has also been his home for many years now – in silence.

Biman Bose and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee TTO Graphics

Those at the CPM headquarters said Bose was in his room when he was informed of Bhattacharjee’s death early in the morning.

Bhattacharjee and Bose, like the other CPM leaders of their generations, were PDG boys. Young men from a non-elitist background handpicked by then CPM state secretary Promode Dasgupta, aka PDG.

Apart from Bhattacharjee and Bose, the others were Anil Biswas, the two Chakrabortys Subhas and Shyamal, and Dinesh Majumdar. Of all the PDG boys only Bose remains.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose at a party meeting Sourced by the correspondent

Bose was the only one among them to have joined the undivided Communist Party and later sided with Jyoti Basu and PDG and joined the CPM after its formation.

If Basu as chief minister was the face of the party, PDG sitting in his office at Alimuddin Street, puffing Cuban cigars with a single-minded devotion towards building the CPM in Bengal was the man behind the iron-curtain.

Promode Dasgupta Wikipedia

After PDG’s death in Beijing almost 42 years ago, the CPM for most of its existence in Bengal continued to be run by the PDG boys and in similar fashion. After Anil Biswas, Bose was the last among them till he quit the post of state secretary in 2015.

“Buddha da was in the government, while Anil da ran the organisation,” said a CPM leader. “Biman da at that time was an important leader and the rest of them looked up to him as an elder brother, but he lived in the shadows till he became the party’s state secretary.”

The late Anil Biswas after his elevation as state secretary was instrumental in convincing Jyoti Basu to step down and anoint Bhattacharjee as his successor in the government. Biswas died in 2006 and was replaced by Bose, who was already the Left Front chairman.

“After Anil da’s death, Buddha da and Biman da developed an understanding but it was not as smooth as it was during Biswas’s time. Though there were never any open differences Bhattacharjee had reservations about Biman da though at the same time the two shared a bonhomie,” said a CPM observer.

Anil Biswas Wikipedia

During the Emergency days, while in hiding the two had to share a bed.

When Bhattacharjee was a student at Presidency College, two places he frequented like most students from several generations across decades were the Coffee House and Rakhal da’s canteen. It was at the Coffee House in the mid-60s that the two had met. While their political career took off in different directions, the bonds of ideology and friendship remained strong.

A CPM leader narrated the following incident which happened well after CPM was out of power, but Bhattacharjee was still active in the party. Bose who had spent some part of his youths with the tribals in present day Chhattisgarh still retains the habit of padyatras in district.

“A meeting was called over an important issue. All the other leaders were present except Biman da. When Buddha da asked about him he was told, he is in the districts for padyatras,” said the CPM leader.

A visibly irate Bhattacharjee is believed to have said, “Hentei cholechhe, shudhu hentei cholechhe. Aar koto haantben [He is walking, he goes on walking. How much more will he walk]?”

Bose on the other hand always kept a protective ring around the other PDG boys, some of whom like Bhattacharjee and the late Subhas Chakraborty (a minister in Bhattacharjee’s cabinet) held polar opposite views on most issues.

While he was chief minister Bhattacharjee had once commented, aar (the long-whiskered catfish), which he said was his favourite, has disappeared from the market. That evidently was not the case as is known to any Bengal resident who frequents the markets.

Bose later explained in private: “The doctors have advised him against consuming aar. O to aar nije bajare jaaye na, oke bola hoyechhe aar paoa jachchhe na. Setai bollo, tomrao tai niye hoi choi kore dile [He doesn’t go to the market. He was told the fish is not available and he repeated that. You media guys created a furore].”

After ill-health forced Bhattacharjee to stay in the confines of his flat at Palm Avenue, Bose remained a frequent visitor. A chain-smoker for many years, Bhattacharjee had to give up smoking at the insistence of his doctors. Bose had often chided Bhattacharjee for smoking and drinking black coffee.

But Bose refused to believe.

“I have seen a matchbox lying under the dining table,” Bose had told some people. “He still smokes.”

On Friday, Bhattacharjee’s cortege will be taken to the state Assembly and then the CPM office at Alimuddin before heading towards Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College Hospital – another PDG boy Anil Biswas’ mortal remains too were donated to the same institution – after a brief halt at the DYFI’s state office named after another PDG boy, Dinesh Majumdar, in the presence of the last PDG boy, Biman Bose.