Kolkata, January 17: Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu will not be cremated but his body will be handed over on Tuesday to a state-run hospital as he had donated his body, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) announced on Sunday.
Basu’s body will be kept at Peace Haven, a mortuary till Tuesday morning. On Tuesday, it will be taken to Writers’ buildings, the seat of Basu’s government for 23 years and then to the assembly where Basu has spent more than five decades.
Then it will be taken to Bengal CPI(M) headquarters at Alimuddin Street. The next stop will be SSKM hospital, where Basu’s body will be donated for medical study and research.
Personnel of an eye bank had come to take his eye on Sunday noon itself.
All members of the CPI-M politburo and central committee will attend the last journey.
Basu was the last surviving member of the party’s first politburo.
A condolence book will be kept open at the Alimuddin Street office for people to pay their condolences.
–Agencies