KOLKATA: Jyoti Basu, the charismatic Indian Marxist who headed the world’s most electorally successful communist party for two decades, died today

at the age of 95.

Basu, who was the longest serving chief minister in Indian political history, led the Communist Party of India-Marxist to power in West Bengal in 1977 and ruled the state for an unbroken 23 years. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid tribute to Basu’s “legendary skills in building consensus” and praised “his style of democratic and decentralised governance”. He died of multiple organ failure in Kolkata.