An interesting aspect of the upcoming Assembly election in Bengal is a remarkable attempt at role reversal by the principal rivals — Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
While Mr Bhattacharjee is painstakingly reassuring his rural constituency that his government will never sacrifice the interest of farmers for the sake of industry, Ms Banerjee is going out of her way to allay the misgivings of the industrialists about her stand on industry.
After facing strong backlashes from rural voters in panchayat, Lok Sabha and civic elections in the past three years, the Chief Minister has realised that his industrial overdrive in general and agressive land acquisition in particular had alienated a large section CPI(M)’s traditional voters. The erosion in the ruling party’s support base is causing nightmares to Mr Bhattacharjee.
Mr Bhattacharjee had made industrialisation the main poll plank in the 2006 Assembly election, but, in the 2011 Assembly poll, his party has applied brakes on industrial overdrive. This shift has been clearly reflected in the Left Front manifesto. It desperately tries to woo back its core constituency — rural poor.
Mr Bhattacharjee, who had stirred the hornet’s nest by acquiring land from unwilling farmers of Singur for Tata Motors’ defunct Nano plant, now insists that industrialists should purchase land directly from farmers instead of expecting the state government to acquire it for them.
After the exit of Nano from Singur, the Left Front relentlessly projected Ms Banerjee as anti-development and anti-industry.
Ms Banerjee, who is confident of coming to power, is working overtime to shed this negative image. She has released a Vision Document along with her her party manifesto. “We propose to rebuild the industrial might of Bengal with an eye towards massive employment generation,” it says.
This Vision Document is Ms Banerjee’s blueprint for the state’s industrial rejuvenation. She has sent this blueprint to leading corporate honchos including ITC chairman Y.C. Deveshwar, Ambuja Realty chief Harsh Neotia, RPG Enterprises chairman Sanjiv Goenka and others.
“Not only Indian investors, but even many NRIs are eagerly waiting to invest in Bengal after Trinamul Congress comes to power,” Ms Banerjee recently announced.