Jyoti Basu not to be cremated

Kolkata: 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, now preserved in a funeral parlour, Peace Heaven, will be taken in a procession on Tuesday to state secretariat Writers' Building and then to the West Bengal assembly, where it will be kept for the public to pay homage.

Finally, the body will be handed over to the SSKM Hospital, said CPI-M state secretary Biman Bose.

Giving details of Basu's last journey, Bose said at 9.30 a.m. (IST) on Tuesday, Basu's body will be taken to Writers' Building, from where he ruled the state as chief minister from 1977-2000.

At 10.30 a.m. (IST), the body will be taken to the state assembly, and kept there till 2.30 p.m.(IST).

"Important dignitaries and the masses can pay their tributes only at the assembly," Bose said.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader's body will then be brought to the party's state headquarters at Alimuddin Street and kept there till 4 p.m. for the party leaders to pay their last repects.

The last journey will start at 4 p.m. (IST) and traverse AJC Bose Road, Shakespeare Sarani, Cathedral Road, Harish Mukherjee Road before terminating at the SSKM hospital.

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.

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