Kolkata/IBNS: Former West Bengal Chief Minister and Marxist icon Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's last journey was on Friday marked by a massive march of thousands of his followers, Communist supporters and Left-leading personalities in a show of respect to their leader, who passed away yesterday at age 80 after a prolonged illness.

Thousands of Left supporters thronged the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan, the party headquarters at Alimuddin Street, since Friday morning to catch a glimpse of their leader for one last time, leaving the party volunteers struggling to manage the crowd in the Taltala area of Kolkata.

At around 3:30 pm, Bhattacharjee's body was taken out of the building amid 'Lal Salam' slogans and was headed to the Dinesh Majumder Bhavan (DYFI state committee office) and then taken to the NRS Medical College and Hospital, where his mortal remains were donated for research purposes.

Top Left leaders Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, CPI-M state secretary Md. Salim led the march while the students hummed songs, gave slogans in their final emotional adieu to the Marxist leader, who served as the Chief Minister from 2000 to 2011.

Actors Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Usashi Chakraborty, CPI-M leader Satarup Ghosh, young Left leader Srijan Bhattacharya were amongst those who were in the march, which saw common people running to the balconies and windows of their houses to witness the last journey.

Prior to the final journey, Bhattacharjee's mortal remains were in the morning taken to the state assembly where Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, other MLAs, Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, Trinamool Congress top leader Abhishek Banerjee, former West Bengal Governor Shyamal Kumar Sen paid their last respect.

Though West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who paid her respect to Bhattacharjee at his South Kolkata residence on Thursday, had offered a gun salute for her immediate predecessor, the CPI-M leader's family has reportedly turned it down in tune with his spartan lifestyle.

The political journey of Bhattacharjee

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was known for his unconventional stance towards the policies, economy in contrast to the Left's ideas.

Under his tenure, Bhattacharjee was proactive in attracting investments besides maintaining the agricultural base of West Bengal, which lacked industries for decades of Left rule marred by militant trade unionism.

However, his bid to attract investments was met with stiff resistance from local people and then opposition parties after Tata went to build a car factory in Singur.

Singur witnessed protests which were led by then opposition leader and now Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress.

Besides Singur, Bhattacharjee's aim to build a chemical hub in Nandigram too faced hurdles in 2007. After police firing killed 14 protesters, the CPI-M government came under massive criticism from all corners.

The under-fire Bhattacharjee government eventually collapsed in the 2011 assembly elections with the 34-year Left rule being brought to an end by Mamata Banerjee's TMC.

(Images by Avishek Mitra/IBNS)