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Buddha
Is Smiling
When West Bengal CM Jyoti Basu named Buddhadeb Bhattacharya as his successor five years ago, reactions ranged from scepticism to guarded optimism. Today, the Communist leader has turned a symbol of born-again capitalism
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saying it with flowers: Buddhadeb and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh see eye-to-eye on liberalisation |
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| By Rajeev Sharma |
With his clean image in politics and his culturally mandated intellectualism and love for literature, none could have predicted that the mild-mannered man in his immaculate white dhoti and kurta would emerge as the darling of investors and would fondly be referred to as the CEO of the teeming state of 80 million people that is ruled by an alliance of Communist and left-leaning parties.
As Bhattacharya completed five years in office last month, it is his image makeover that is most noticeable. Bhattacharya still watches art house cinema and patronises culture, but he is equally at ease with Salim (the Indonesian investors in West Bengal) and Singapore.
He has proved that Marxism and capitalism can go hand in hand. More importantly, in marked departure from his predecessor's high-chin attitude, Bhattacharya is seen as a people-friendly chief minister.
Bhattacharya has been able to walk the tightrope, balancing a popular government and an ideological straightjacket imposed on any communist leader in power. He has largely been successful in making the party a partner in “ideological sacrilege” to woo industry. |
| Patients still head to south India for better treatment as cases of medical negligence continue unabated |
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“Hooliganism by outsiders (read Centre of Indian Trade Union) will not be permitted,” he warned in an interview to a Kolkata daily while relentlessly struggling to keep the emerging IT sector outside the purview of trade unionism and frequent shutdowns in West Bengal.
“September 29 will not be repeated - under no circumstances,” said the Chief Minister referring to the day this year when the CITU men not only heckled the IT sector personnel on their way to the IT hub at Salt Lake here but also intercepted Bhattacharya's wife on her way to office.
“I can tell you, except for some small firms with special problems, the employees in the big IT companies will not be interested in forming trade unions. It's not a question of what we wish; it's the reality,” he said and it seems for the moment the party agrees. The party in West Bengal now fully backs Bhattacharya though he continues to face opposition by comrades against his pro-foreign investment policies.
The controversy over handing over farmland for development to Indonesia-based Salim Group was put to rest last month when CPI-M state secretary Anil Biswas stated: “All those who oppose the chief minister's pro-industry policies, be it a minister or an MP, will face stern action from the party.”
We had agreed to pursue a pro-industry line during our last state conference in February and not a single delegate then had opposed this. So, it is futile to oppose it now and if any one does do so, he will face action from the party” Biswas said.
This was a big thumbs-up for Bhattacharya who not only had to contend with Mamata Banerjee but also his own cabinet colleagues like Abdur Rezzak Molla and the maverick Transport Minister Subhas
Chakraborty, who had opposed the deal.
His industry friendly image apart, Bhattacharya has largely failed on the education and health front. Hospitals in the state are the same old morbid canvas of a surreal painter while disease and death continue to stalk not only villages but also this flyover—and shopping mall—streaked state capital.
Patients still head to south India for better treatment as cases of medical negligence and fleecing of patients by the private hospitals continue unabated. The chief minister himself has been dragged to the Supreme Court in a case for his “pro-doctor” statements that are being seen as providing a “shield to doctors guilty of medical negligence”.
Under Basu, West Bengal followed an education policy out of touch with reality when English as a subject was removed from the lower classes. |
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December 2005
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