The funeral ceremony for India's veteran communist leader Jyoti Basu has began in the eastern city of Calcutta.
Mr Basu's body has been taken in a convoy from the Peace Haven mortuary to the headquarters of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM).
Mr Basu died at the age of 95 on Sunday after a long illness. Tributes have been pouring in from around the world.
He was chief minister of West Bengal state from 1977 to 2000 and led the CPM party.
Mr Basu was credited with restoring stability to the state, and bringing in land reforms.
In 1996 he was offered the post of prime minister in a national left-of-centre coalition, but his party chose to support the government from outside the coalition.
Mr Basu described his party's decision not to join the coalition as a "historic blunder."
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