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The Statesman dares Jyoti Basu

Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta

The Statesman, an English daily published from Calcutta and Delhi, has dared West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to take it to court over an editorial which accused him of "justifying the burning of 18 Ananda Margis in Bijan Setu in 1981."

Basu, through his counsel Ujjal Chakraborty, had sent a legal notice to The Statesman asking its editor-in-chief C R Irani to publish a front-page apology for printing and publishing the "grossly defamatory editorial."

The editorial - 'Unending Violence' - had criticised Basu and his Communist Party of India (Marxist) for encouraging violent attacks against their political opponents, particularly the Trinamul Congress led by Mamata Banerjee.

Irani, however, denied that the editorial was defamatory or scandalous in any way. "We complimented Basu when he advocated an all-party meet to discuss political violence in the context of Nanoor killings. But when he did not call the meeting, we criticised him," Irani wrote.

Basu has often alleged that a section of the media is carrying out a smear campaign against him.

While exclusively speaking to rediff.com on his retirement plans last week, Basu had accused The Statesman, The Telegraph and Bengali dailies Bartaman and Ananda Bazar Patrika of being hand-in-gloves with 'bourgeios elements.'

rediff.com's repeated attempts to contact top CPI-M leaders were futile. However, a source said that the party was determined to take the defamation case to its logical conclusion primarily to discourage "irresponsible journalism."

A senior editor at The Statesman, however, said the threats would not prevent the paper from making objective and fearless comments.

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