CPI-M patriarch Jyoti Basu passed away in Kolkata today following multi-organ failure. He was 96. He was on a temporary pacemaker since late last night and continued to remain extremely critical with fluid accumulating in his body this morning. He was admitted on January six to AMRI hospital with pneumonia. <br/><br/><br/><br/>Biography<br/><br/>Jyoti Basu was born on July 8, 1914 at Harrish Road in Kolkata. He graduated with honours from the Arts Faculty of the Presidency College in 1935. He went to UK to study law. Returning to India, he started practicing law.Basu became the opposition leader in 1957 in West Bengal Legislative Assembly. In 1977, the first Left Front Government was founded in West Bengal and Basu became the Chief Minister and remained the Chief Minister till 2000.<br/><br/>His government is credited with restoring political stability to West Bengal after it was wrecked by a Maoist insurgency in the 1970's. He made land reforms, which provided land to more than one million sharecroppers. The government improved West Bengal's agricultural and fishery production.<br/><br/>The C.P.I. (M.) voted against a proposal in 1996 to allow Basu to lead a national coalition government in the Centre. Basu described the decision as a 'historic blunder'.<br/>