India’s religious leaders pay tributes to West Bengal’s former Chief Minister
(Jan.20,2010): Church leaders in eastern India’s West Bengal State on Tuesday, organized
a multi-religious prayer meeting and offered Mass for the former Chief Minister
of the State Jyoti Basu, who died on Jan. 17 at the age of 95. Some 5,000 people
attended the meeting at the Jesuit St. Xavier’s College and School in Kolkata. Representatives
from Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism paid tributes to the
late leader. The college also held a Mass for the former communist leader on Jan.
19. On the same day, a 30-member Catholic delegation led by Cardinal Telesphore Toppo
of Ranchi and Archbishop Lucas Sirkar of Calcutta paid tribute to the late leader
at West Bengal Assembly House. Several Church leaders hailed Basu’s contribution to
communal harmony and to Blessed Teresa of Kolkata’s Missionaries of Charity congregation.
Basu studied in St. Xavier’s School for eight years. Calcutta Jesuit provincial
superior Father George Pattery said Basu’s great humanism helped him befriend even
his adversaries. The Christian community is grateful to Basu for his support for Blessed
Teresa and her works, he said. And Catholic lay leader Sunil Lucas said Basu’s help
in the congregation’s initial years had helped it to grow. He noted that Basu allotted
land belonging to his Marxist Communist Party of India to the nun. Fr. Pattery commended
the late leader for donating his body for medical research, and hoped many would follow
his example. Fr. Reginald Fernandes, who directs Seva Kendra, the social service
center of Calcutta archdiocese, noted that the Church grew in West Bengal during Basu’s
23-year tenure as the state chief minister. He said this was because Basu’s party
did not interfere with people’s religions. Church leaders from other states also hailed
Basu as a towering statesman.