of the Communist Party including Basu were involved in famine relief work. The party also organised "People's Food Committees" which would attempt to force hoarders into releasing their stocks for distribution; Basu participated in the organisation of such committees in Calcutta and Midnapore. According to Basu's testimony, they only had a small organisation at the time and did the best they could while the famine took the lives of over 3 million people. Basu was elected to the Bengal provincial committee of the Communist Party in the same year. He would later participate in the Tebhaga movement between 1945 and 1947 that sought to end the food crisis in Bengal, in a supportive capacity as a railway unionist. By 1944, Basu had started leading the trade union activities of the Communist Party. He was again delegated to organise labourers working for the East Indian Railway Company in order to further the interests of the Indian workers and is described to have been instrumental in the formation of the Bengal Nagpur Railway Worker's Union of which he became the general secretary. With the merger of the Bengal Nagpur Railway Worker's Union and the Bengal Delhi Railroad Worker's Union in the same year, Basu was elected the general secretary of the new combined union. He would also be elected as the secretary of the All India Railwaymen's Federation. In 1946, Basu was appointed by the Communist Party to contest as the candidate for the Railway Employee's constituency in the Bengal Legislative Assembly. He subsequently defeated Humayun Kabir of the Indian National Congress and was elected to the assembly. He is noted to have given a "soul stirring speech" on the presiding food crisis in the Bengal Assembly; according to him the only means of solving the issue was to completely dismantle the Zamindari system and the Permanent Settlement agreement, and to drive out the British with haste. Basu had also organised a continuous railway strike in support of the 1946 Royal Indian Navy ratings revolt, and later secured the release of various political prisoners on 24 July 1946. Communist Party of India (1947-1964) Interim government in West Bengal (1947–1952) Following the partition of India, Basu remained as the member of the now divided West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Prafulla Chandra Ghosh of the conservative Indian National Congress became the first Chief Minister of West Bengal. The Congress however faced civil unrest from the