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Opinion
Bengal's Misfortune: Follies of Mamata and Marxists
by Amulya Ganguli
It is West
Bengal's misfortune that its political fate is in the hands of some of
the most short-sighted and petty-minded politicians in recent memory.
Nothing brings out this fact more than the fiasco over the Nano plant of
the Tatas in Singur.
In the normal course of things, all sensible politicians would have
welcomed the project, which has attracted worldwide attention because of
the technological marvel of so cheap a car.
Yet, the Tatas, who happen to be one of the most respected industrialist
groups in a country where the business community is not always held in
high esteem, are on the verge of closing shop. The reason is the
obstructionism of Mamata Banerjee, whose sole political objective in
life is to block anything which the Marxists may try to do.
As a result, she is not bothered if the leaders of the Communist Party
of India-Marxist (CPI-M) are belatedly trying to rectify their earlier
mistake of driving out the corporate sector from the state by
encouraging militant trade unionism.
Instead of welcoming the dawning of sense in the Marxist camp, she has
decided to pursue exactly the same kind of irresponsible policies which
the Left introduced in West Bengal in the 1950s and 60s.
At that time, frequent strikes, the burning of trams and buses and the
physical assault and intimidation of business executives used to be the
hallmark of Leftist politics. Hence, the flight of capital and West
Bengal's slide downwards from the top of the chart of industrialized
states.
It took more than three decades and a change of guard in the Marxist
hierarchy from Jyoti Basu to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for the CPI-M to
reverse the process. But the nihilistic spirit bred by its destructive
politics had struck such deep roots by then that it took Mamata Banerjee
little time to carry on from where the comrades had left off.
Not surprisingly, her party, the Trinamool Congress, has been joined by
assorted groups of Maoists and extremist Leftists in the Socialist Unity
Centre of India (SUCI) along with professional do-gooders like Medha
Patkar and followers of the Jamaitul-Ulema-i-Hind to ensure that work at
the Singur factory cannot proceed according to schedule.
If it doesn't matter to her that her recklessness will ensure that the
investors will continue to stay away from the state, letting it stagnate
as an industrial wasteland, the reason is not only that she knows no
other kind of politics but also that her limited outlook is out of sync
with the modern world.
She still mouths the old socialist slogans of jobs for everyone but is
suspicious of the private sector playing a role in providing them. Her
simple lifestyle and the customary crumpled saris that she habitually
wears tend to reinforce her image of a honest politician with nothing
but popular welfare in her mind.
But this socialistic brand is gradually losing its appeal in today's
more glitzy India where middle class aspirations have grown by leaps and
bounds. Now she is mostly seen as the purveyor of negative politics,
eager to exploit popular dissatisfaction irrespective of their
justification.
The Left, of course, pursued similar politics, but the years in power
made it appreciate the value of responsible conduct. By the same token,
the years out of power have made Mamata Banerjee persist with her
unreasonable ways, concerned solely with throwing a spanner in the
CPI-M's works.
Arguably, her task has been made easy by some of the Left's own follies.
For a start, the continued reliance of the Marxists on their cadres, who
are mostly from the ranks of anti-social elements, to terrorize and even
eliminate their political adversaries has built up a kind of latent
anger against them which Mamata Banerjee can exploit.
Nandigram was a typical example of the Marxist militias violently
driving out their opponents while the police are made to stay away.
While it was an incident which made the rest of India aware for the
first time of vicious Communist tactics, such onslaughts were always
fairly common in West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress supporters
were the targets in places like Keshpur, Chhoto Angaria and elsewhere
for years.
Mamata Banerjee's resistance to such attacks helped her to consolidate
her base of support. However, she is now in danger of squandering it by
her agitation in Singur, which will be seen by the middle class, her
main group of supporters, as anti-development. For the first time,
therefore, groups of people, who expected jobs in the Nano plant and in
its ancillary units, have begun voicing their dissent against her.
Even if a solution is found at the initiative of Governor Gopalkrishna
Gandhi, it is unlikely that the investors will be rushing to West Bengal
in future. Ratan Tata's observation that some people had thought that he
was "mad" to invest in the state is relevant in this context.
The very fact that the governor's good offices have had to be sought
shows that West Bengal is burdened with a political class it can happily
do without.
(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. He can be reached at aganguli@mail.com)
September 6, 2008
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