Chitta Basu

Chitta Basu (25 December 1926 – 5 October 1997) was an Indian politician and a leader of the All India Forward Bloc. He served as the General Secretary of the party from 1979 till his death in 1997. In his obituary, The Indian Express described Basu as belonging to the rare tribe of politicians who did politics for a cause and practiced what they preached. Barasat was his Indian Parliamentary constituency for over two decades.

Education Basu graduated from Daulatpur College in Khulna district (British India). He later earned his master's from the University of Calcutta.

Political life Chitta Basu joined the Forward Bloc formed by Subhas Chandra Bose in 1939, after Bose resigned from the Indian National Congress. Basu worked for the party since he had joined it as a promising student leader in 1945. He rose to become the party's youth wing, All-India Yuba League's general secretary in 1947–48. After India's partition, Basu immersed himself in refugee rehabilitation work. In 1972, he became the party's central committee member and then the general secretary in March 1979, after the 10th Party Congress succeeding R. K. Haldulkar, a post that he held until his death. Soon, a wireless message was sent to the Jhajha station, where he complained of chest pain before he was examined and given medication. He was found dead at around 2:30 a.m. (IST) when doctors boarded the train to check his condition at the Madhupur station.