Veteran Indian politician dies

A prominent Indian politician and senior communist leader, Indrajit Gupta, has died in his house in Calcutta.

He was eighty-one.

The longest serving parliamentarian and a former home minister, Mr Gupta was considered one of the most articulate politicians in India.

The chief minister of his home state, Marxist-Communist dominated West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, said the country had lost a man deeply committed to the welfare of the people and secular ideals.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service