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“Is the way to go forward through agitation, rallies and strikes?”

Ranabir Ray Choudhury

That the poverty of responsible politics — the responsibility extending to the future of West Bengal and not just to the momentary requirements of politicians and political parties — has been the bane of the State has once again been emphasised by the response the ‘open letter’ from Ratan Tata has drawn from some State politicians.

As has been argued before, in the years ahead, the Nano plant in Singur would have been a feather in the cap of the State, irrespective of which political party or parties ruled the roost at Writers’ Buildings. It, therefore, follows that the shifting of the plant from West Bengal has seriously harmed the State’s long-term interests.

This point is doubly reinforced by the fact that, till now, no politician has attempted the impossible so to speak, namely, to argue that the Tata plant would have affected the interests of the State adversely. Those against the inclusion of the disputed 400 acres never did say that they were against the setting up of the plant.

The only point they tried to make — and in the wrong way — was that the land would have to be returned to those farmers unwilling to sell their land to the State, the plant being given an equivalent area in some other neighbouring location (across the Durgapur Expressway).

The objective of labouring this point is to drive home the fact that, irrespective of what some politicians have been saying in public, most people have been disappointed with the Tata decision to move the car plant out of West Bengal.

The tragedy is that — and this is where the ‘open letter’ from Ratan Tata figures and where the poverty of politics in the State lies — some of these ‘leaders’ have been trying to make political capital out of a lose-lose situation for the State’s economy, in the process dragging into the controversy the house of the Tatas, which has done the country proud over the past century.

Indeed, in the normal course, no industrialist sticks his head out and criticises specific politicians and political parties because there is no way of knowing who will be in power in the years ahead, when business opportunities will continue to crop up and one will have to run from pillar to post for licences, etc. But this is precisely what the Tatas have done vis-À-vis the failure of the Singur plant to come up in West Bengal which, according to one view, can only measure their strong conviction that what is happening in West Bengal today is just not right in the economic interests of the people of the State.

One politician has discovered a ‘secret understanding’ between Bombay House and the Left Front Government in terms of which the Tatas are helping out the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Government in return for . . . .what? Industrialists are known to extract their pound of flesh only through hefty profits.

Quite clearly, this politician and others of his ilk will have to eat their words over the next two years if the Tatas do not succeed in their hidden design. Strangely, while the Tatas are being made out to be hyper-political animals, they failed to cosy up to a possible deal with the opponents of the Singur plant, which is what most other Indian business houses would have done just to keep options open for the future.

The only rational explanation for this unusual business behaviour on the part of Ratan Tata is that he is a deeply ideological animal, his support for the Marxists being cemented by his strong penchant for the colour Red.

But this, of course, is sheer nonsense because neither the Tatas nor the Birlas nor the Ambanis or whoever in India’s industrial firmament is known to be a staunch ideological Left supporter beyond the normal preoccupation with social and labour welfare issues.

Admittedly, in his October 17 ‘open letter’ — which was issued in response to the suggestion that the company’s Singur decision was ‘hasty and politically motivated’ — Mr Tata was transparently supportive of the Left Front Government’s industrial policies, stating unequivocally that “all through the two years that we have been constructing the plant at Singur, (the) feeling of faith and confidence in the vision and objectives of the State Government has been reinforced,” all interactions with the Chief Minister and his men having been ‘exemplary.’

He also asked the people of the State, specially the ‘younger citizens’, whether “they would like to support the present Government of Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to build a prosperous State with the rule of law, modern infrastructure and industrial growth, supporting a harmonious investment in the agricultural sector to give the people in the State a better life?” or whether they would prefer to see West Bengal “consumed by a destructive political environment of confrontation, agitation, violence and lawlessness?”

There can be no two views on the point that, over the past couple of years, the Chief Minister, whatever his drawbacks on other counts, has been doing the right thing for the State’s future as far as industrialisation is concerned.

There will also be complete unanimity on the point that opposition for the sake of opposition is usually a code of conduct for societies where the standard of political behaviour has hit rock-bottom.

On the other hand, what one can say with confidence is that Ratan Tata did not say anything new in his ‘open letter’ which was not included in the statement he issued to the media on October 3 when the withdrawal from Singur was announced.

His appreciation of the Left Front Government was very much there as also his exasperation with the Opposition’s political campaign against the plant. Then also he had asked whether the “future generation of West Bengal (would) have the opportunity unless there is . . . industrial investment?” As he said, “one needs to ponder: Is the way to go forward through agitation, rallies and strikes?”

If Opposition politicians in West Bengal think it fit to make an issue of this very basic stand, this adequately explains why they have not been able to provide effective leadership to those in the State who have been wanting a change of Government.

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