Glaring Gaffes

Several glitches in Surabhi Banerjee’s 331- page tome on Jyoti Basu has ruffled both the CPI(M) and the publishers, Penguin-Viking, no end. Some examples:

Outlook Web Desk

Updated on: 6 February 2022 12:10 am

Glaring Gaffes

Jyoti Basu was not general secretary of the undivided Communist Party of India in 1953 as stated in the book— Ajoy Ghosh held the post from 1951 to 1962. Basu was secretary of only the West Bengal unit from 1953 to 1961. Also, Promod e Das Gupta was never the general secretary of the part y — he was secretary of the state unit. Then, on Page 77, there is a line which reads, "Basu’s stature as an organiser grew as well." In the state’s M a rxist movement, Pramode Das Gupta was the key organiser, not Basu.
"During his underground days he (Basu) had spent a lot of time at the house of ideologue Snehangsu Acharya..." Acharya had been expelled from the party by then and Basu would have found it difficult to keep in touch with him.
Jyoti Basu’s code name was Bakul in 1948-49, and not during the Quit India movement which occurred in 1942.
Mahatma Gandhi was at Hydari Mansion, Beliaghata before August 15 in 1947, and not on August 25 in 1946.
The CPI’s Dacres Lane office was not a regional office.
Talking about the famous teachers’ movement, the book claims ‘five people were killed’. Wrong. No one was killed.
Harkishan Singh Surjeet was not the president of the Amritsar congress. There are no presidents at the Communist party congress meets, unlike the procedure in other parties.
The CPI(M) was born at Thyagaraja Hall in south Calcutta, not at Tenali, Andhra Pradesh as mentioned.
In 1962, the headquarters of the undivided Communist Party of India was not on Alimuddin Street, but at 64, Lower Circular Road.