Basu ya zama Mataimakin Shugaban Majalisar Bengal a 1946, yana takara a mazabar Railway. Ya yi aiki a matsayin Shugaban 'Yan adawa na dogon lokaci lokacin da Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy ya kasance Babban Ministan West Bengal. Jyoti Basu ya jagoranci wasu zanga-zanga a kan Gwamnatin Jihar kuma ya sami farin jini a matsayin dan siyasa musamman a tsakanin dalibai da matasa. Baya ga shirya ƙungiyoyin ma'aikatan Railway, ya jagoranci wani motsi da malamai suka buƙaci haɓaka a cikin albashi. Lokacin da Jam'iyyar Kwaminis ta Indiya ta rabu a 1964, Basu ya zama ɗaya daga cikin membobin farko na Politburo na sabuwar Jam'iyyar Kwaminis ta Indiya (Marxist). A cikin 1967 da 1969, Basu ya zama Mataimakin Shugaban Ministan West Bengal a cikin gwamnatocin United Front.
Shekara ta 1964