In October 2008, Ratan Tata drove out of Singur, taking away with him the Nano plant and what appeared Bengal’s last hope for jobs and industry.

But 16 years later, and a day after the death of the man who had kindled that hope, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, a pocket of Calcutta seemed bathed in a strange afterglow from that burnt-out hope.

Thousands turned up on Friday at Alimuddin Street to pay their last respects to the former chief minister, widely loved as a man of honour and integrity, with even his failure to deliver on the dream he had aroused written off as a result of his being too good a man for the rough and tumble of politics.

Those who couldn’t make it through the gates of the state CPM headquarters, shut at 3pm for the last journey to begin, stood on both sides of the route to the NRS Medical College and Hospital in Sealdah, where his body was donated for the benefit of medical science.

The outpouring of love and respect for Bhattacharjee forced the gates at Alimuddin to be shut several times to ease the crush inside. The queues stretched beyond Moulali, prompting the police to close down one flank of AJC Bose Road.

As mourner after mourner filed past their leader, lying in rest, some party members standing at a distance discussed among themselves whether Bhattacharjee had in death been touched by the Fidel Castro moment — “History will absolve me.”

Much vilified after alleged police firing killed anti-land-acquisition protesters in Nandigram on March 14, 2007, Bhattacharjee would during informal chats with younger party members often refer to Castro’s historic July 26, 1953, speech.

“Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me,” Castro had said, defending the attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba.

And indeed, in Calcutta on Friday, the predominant point of conversation seemed to be about how history would judge Bhattacharjee favourably. Many of the gatherers rued the circumstances that doomed his dream, panned those who had painted him as a villain, and defended his drive for industrialisation to generate jobs.

Leaders pay tributes to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s mortal remains on Friday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

The Telegraph presents a few vignettes from the Marxist’s last journey, culminating at the NRS anatomy department, where the bodies of his late comrades Anil Biswas, Sailen Dasgupta and Benoy Chowdhury too were donated:

⦿ The cortege was yet to arrive from Vidhan Sabha. Around 11.15am, an announcement was made over the public address system for people to queue outside the Alimuddin gates.

The small knots of people talking about “Buddhababu” began lining up along the road leading to AJC Bose Road. Two among a queue of around 250 stood out for their attire. Both wore black trousers and white shirts; one of them held a large bouquet of white flowers.

A prod from this correspondent revealed that the duo had come on instructions from their CEO.

“We have come here on our CEO’s instructions to pay homage to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,” S. Kabiraj, plant head, Ramco Cements Limited, said.

Why, when Bhattacharjee had not been chief minister for 13 years?

“True, but because of him we could set up our plant at Kolaghat in 2007. It became functional in 2010. We cannot forget his role,” Kabiraj said.

A man overhearing the conversation chipped in: “That was Buddhababu’s dream. It happened in small measures but we missed out on the big one.”

The Bengal Chamber remembered “Buddhadeb Babu with fondness and respect not only as a man who shaped Bengal’s new millennium dreams, but also as someone who effortlessly traversed the worlds of high intellectualism and strategic economic leadership. He inspired us with his simplicity, candour, vision and erudition — qualities that belong to the rarest of individuals. He also brought IT to Bengal — a most important business brand for our state. We cherish the many interactions that we had with him.”

⦿ People from across the social and age spectrums seemed overwhelmed with emotion, some chanting slogans, a few singing Tagore songs – which the Marxist stalwart loved -- others breaking down inside and outside the state CPM headquarters.

Tushar Kumar Mitra, 62, had rushed to Alimuddin after visiting a relative who underwent oncological surgery on Friday morning.

“Once the surgery was over, I rushed here. I wanted to see our ‘Captain’ one last time,” Tushar, who was accompanied by his daughter Neha, 24, said.

“My daughter never misses her CA classes; today she made an exception for Buddhababu. Such is the love for our Captain. It cuts across age, religion and, at times, political lines,” he added.

After Bhattacharjee’s body arrived at Alimuddin around noon and was taken inside to be placed on a platform built specially for him, the gates were opened for the public.

People placed flowers and bouquets on the glass casket; while many offered the red salute, others folded their hands. One of them was 50-year-old Souvik Saha. On his way out, he grabbed the gates and broke down.

“I don’t belong to any party. When I was struggling to get a job, I saw how his desperation to bring industry to Bengal and create employment was thwarted. We will miss him. My tears are my apology to him for what we did to him,” the private-sector employee said.

⦿ The cortege was yet to leave Bidhan Bhavan. The crowd was swelling. Among them were members of the city’s cultural fraternity. Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Debshankar Halder, Chandan Sen, Shankar Chakraborty, Debdut Ghosh — they had all turned up. Not least the 91-year-old Purna Das Baul.

“Even the moon has its spots but Buddhadeb babu had none,” Purna Das said while being helped out of the premises.

Singer and minister Babool Supriyo, who has been part of the BJP and is now in Trinamool — both staunch enemies of the CPM — was seen paying tributes to the former chief minister.

⦿ While CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, recuperating from eye surgery, could not make it to Calcutta, most politburo members — Manik Sarkar, Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, Nilotpal Basu, M.A. Baby — were present.

In keeping with party tradition, they joined hands with their Bengal counterparts as Bhattacharjee was lifted into the hearse to be carried out of Alimuddin for one last lap of the city.

Left Front leaders D. Raja (CPI), Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and Manoj Bhattacharya (RSP) were there; so were a bevy of political opponents.

BJP leaders Tapas Roy and Ashok Ganguly had come early to pay their respects.

Asked how he would sum up Bhattacharjee, Roy said: “I am too small a person to speak about the great man.”

Congress veterans Pradip Bhattacharya and Abdul Mannan stayed for a while.

At the end of the public viewing, the rally crawled towards NRS, prompting state CPM secretary Md Salim to prod the marchers to move on.

“People have taken over the streets. It’s pure emotion. Can’t do much. The time at NRS (for donation of the body) has passed but what can I do if there is an upsurge of people’s love?”

It was as though the people were conveying their final assessment of Bhattacharjee, the man who had dared to dream for them.