The Hindu Business Line : Holding West Bengal to ransom

The problem is the Congress and the Trinamul do not seem to realise that any move to weaken the current efforts at regenerating West Bengal's economy will not in any way strengthen their support base among the people of the State. On the contrary, it will weaken the State's economy and create conditions which will be conducive to easy dissemination of the message of those who want to hit at the Republic's Constitution.

Sunday's violent incidents perpetrated in the Asansol region of West Bengal in connection with land acquired for the expansion of IISCO way back in the 1980s is proof — if any was required — that the poverty of politics in the State has sunk to a new nadir, its chief characteristic today being an unthinking willingness on the part of the Opposition parties to foment trouble simply to create problems for the Left Front Government irrespective of the merits of the issue at hand.

As far as Sunday's flare-up is concerned, not only has the process of acquisition been completed, even a legal challenge to facets of the process has been overcome by the authorities with the court clearing the way for physical acquisition of the land by the steel plant. It is when the limb of the law was in the process of providing protection to IISCO authorities in physically taking possession of the land that a section of those affected by the acquisition had recourse to violence.

In human terms, such action is not all that strange because, over time, there have been countless examples of the law being broken by well-meaning, law-abiding people who feel so strongly about the `correctness' of the path they have chosen to adopt that even when the law of the land has pronounced otherwise, they have not hesitated even to break the law to register their protest against something they consider unacceptable. But what about the politicians who are expected to "provide leadership" to the people for the benefit of society?

Breaking the law

Admittedly, politicians too break the law (they are in fact always "courting arrest" to prove a point), and it can always be argued that, in the IISCO land acquisition case, they (meaning, specifically, the Trinamul Congress and the Congress) are deeply convinced of the injustice being meted out to the `land-losers' and are prepared to break the law to register their protest. In a parliamentary democracy (and, indeed, in all other forms of governance, including dictatorships) there is nothing inappropriate in pursuing such a course of action because those who decide wilfully to break the law (politicians and others) are fully aware that the law will take its course and they may have to spend time behind bars.

So far so good, as far as the IISCO agitation is concerned. But, then, where were these parties during the past two decades when the problem was initially created and during the years when it took its own course, meandering in and out of the courtroom, etc? If IISCO had been prompt enough to take the land given to it at the time it was (that is, if adequate funds were available), there would hardly have been any problem today, certainly not on the scale in which it has erupted. It is of no use blaming the Left Front Government (specifically the Jyoti Basu Government) for this inaction, for the action today is taking place when the same Left Front combine continues to rule the State although under a different Chief Minister.

But, of course, everyone knows what the real reason behind the inaction was. The Trinamul was born later, but the Congress (from which people broke away to form the Trinamul Congress) was very much on the scene at the time, far too engrossed in petty, shameful infighting than looking after the interests of its supporters among the people of West Bengal who, incidentally, numbered nearly half the total electorate!

Clearly, there was no time for Congressmen to look after the interests of the people of West Bengal during the 1980s and 1990s (when the Trinamul Congress had arrived on the scene), burdened as they were by the pressing preoccupation of trying to put down fellow party colleagues, some of whom — with little or no following in the State — had joined the party bandwagon in New Delhi.

Ulterior motives

Suddenly, this entire lot seems to have `woken up' and are now busy transforming themselves into saviours of the people of West Bengal, particularly those who have had their land taken away for setting up industrial projects.

No one is for a moment suggesting that anyone, including the government of the day, has any right to forcibly take away land from farmers (for the time being, the important issue of the difference between actual tillers of the soil and absentee landlords is being overlooked for the purposes of simplicity of argument).

But most people will think twice before turning a blind eye to the ulterior motives of that class of politicians who have been outside the mainstream of national politics during the past four decades, whose only objective is to disrupt and destabilise social life so as to create opportunities for themselves in furthering their strategic task of weakening the Indian republic itself.

On a number of occasions, the Trinamul Congress leadership has referred to this possibility, and specific action has been taken to disassociate itself from events (such as meetings, etc) where the suspicion has been strong that Naxalites, etc, have been overactive in riding piggyback on the mainstream Opposition parties to carry out their own selective political agenda.

The problem is that the Congress and Trinamul do not seem to realise that any move to weaken the current efforts at regenerating West Bengal's economy will not in any way strengthen their support base among the people of the State. On the contrary, it will weaken the State's economy even further and ultimately create conditions which will be conducive to easy dissemination of the message of those who want to hit at the Republic's Constitution.

Thus, what is happening in Nandigram today (where there is no economic issue) and in Singur (where an impossible situation is being created with respect to a giant industrial project which will, when completed, act as a catalyst for the State's future economic growth) is totally incomprehensible to people who have the welfare of the people of West Bengal at heart.

Economic rejuvenation

Instead of holding the State's economic future to ransom — the main beneficiaries of which will be fringe political movements — the Opposition parties must do everything in their power to smoothen the process of economic rejuvenation — for which they can legitimately claim responsibility later and a share of the popular support from a mature State electorate.

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