Ghulam Nabi Azad condoles Jyoti Basu's death

Union Health and Family Welfare minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today condoled the death of former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu and called him "an extremely popular mass leader".     "Jyoti Babu was not only one of the longest serving chief ministers in the country but also an extremely popular mass leader. He was among the leading lights of the left movement in the country," Azad said in a condolence message.     "In his death we have lost one of our tallest national leaders and an ideological sage who always worked for the downtrodden," the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.