Former Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee passed away at his residence on Palm Avenue in South Calcutta on Thursday morning. He was 80 years old.

Bhattacharjee, the last Marxist chief minister of Bengal, took over from Jyoti Basu and led the state until May 2011, when the Trinamool Congress came to power. He breathed his last at around 8:20 am.

Battling chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases for a prolonged period, Bhattacharjee had retreated from public life over five years ago due to his deteriorating health.

Bhattacharjee's drive for rapid industrialization in Bengal is often cited as a key factor behind the ousting of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) after an uninterrupted 34-year rule under two chief ministers, Basu and Bhattacharjee. Shortly after the Left Front returned to power for its final term, Bhattacharjee facilitated Tata Motors in setting up an automobile factory in Singur, Hooghly. However, anti-land acquisition movements in Singur and Nandigram, spearheaded by Mamata Banerjee and a broad coalition of opposition, led to the end of the Left Front's reign.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the CPM released an AI-generated speech by Bhattacharjee urging voters in Bengal to reject both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress.

An avid reader, poet, and translator, Bhattacharjee held Gabriel Garcia Marquez in high regard as one of his favorite authors.

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