Funeral of veteran communist leader Jyoti Basu

(19 Jan 2010) SHOTLIST
1. Body of Communist leader Jyoti Basu arriving on hearse in front of Writers Building, the state government''s administrative office
2. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Chief Minister of West Bengal state, with flower garland in front of coffin
3. Close of body of Jyoti Basu in coffin
4. Men walking and singing
5. Wide shot, funeral procession
6. Woman crying
7. Lal Krishna Advani, leader of Bharatiya Janata (opposition) Party leader, placing garland
8. Sonia Gandhi, leader of India''s (governing) Congress party, placing garland
9. Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh Prime Minister, waving to crowd
10. Various, body on hearse being followed by procession
11. Military buglers
12. Various, military gun salute
STORYLINE
Scores of top Indian political leaders and the prime minister of neighbouring Bangladesh joined hundreds of thousands of mourners who crowded the streets of Calcutta, in India''s West Bengal state, on Tuesday for the funeral procession of veteran communist leader Jyoti Basu.
Basu, a leader of the Communist party of India (Marxist) died of multiple organ failure in the eastern city of Calcutta on Sunday.
Aged 96, he had been ailing for a few months.
On Tuesday a hearse carried Basu''s body in a procession first to the party''s headquarters and then to the state legislative assembly building.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the leader of India''s governing Congress party Sonia Gandhi and the leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party Lal Krishna Advani joined several other top leaders in laying wreaths and garlands on the coffin.
The streets were packed with hundreds of thousands of supporters shouting "Red salute to Jyoti Basu".
Television footage showed several people weeping inconsolably as they lined the streets.
There will be no religious rituals to mark Basu''s death and his body was set to be handed over to a local Calcutta hospital - Basu having pledged it to medical research.
Basu became chief minister of West Bengal state in 1977 and served for 23 years, making him the longest-serving chief minister in India''s political history.
In 1996, a group of parties asked Basu to head a federal coalition government in New Delhi.
However, the communist party declined, saying it did not want to be part of a government in which it did not have a majority.
Basu later described that decision as an "historic blunder."
A charismatic leader, Basu in his later years assumed the role of an elder statesman whose advice and opinion was sought and respected across the political spectrum. ===============

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