A young man with special needs jostled through the crowd on Thursday morning for a glimpse of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

But unlike the hundreds gathered at 59, Palm Avenue, Bhattacharjee was not just a former chief minister for Debrup Banerjee, but dadu who would spend time with him “every morning before setting out for Writers’ Buildings.”

Banerjee, 26, lives on the third floor of the same building as Bhattacharjee. On Thursday he was accompanied by his mother.

“It was around the same time that my son would leave for school when Buddha Babu would be going to Writers’. Despite being a chief minister he would stop to speak to my son and was extremely affectionate towards him,” said Lipika Ghosal Banerjee, his mother.

“There were days when my son would be unwell and Buddha Babu would ask why he hadn’t come down. My son would call him dadu,” said Ghosal Banerjee.

Bhattacharjee’s kindness extended beyond these daily interactions, said Ghosal
Banerjee.

“He would often bring chocolates and other treats for my son whenever he would travel outside Calcutta,” said Ghosal Banerjee.

On Debrup’s birthday every year he would visit Bhattacharjee, his mother said. “We would go to his apartment to seek his blessings. Off late, because of Bhattacharjee’s declining health, we couldn’t go to see him,” she said.