As in recent elections in West Bengal, industrialisation and land acquisition are prominent issues in the coming poll. Ever since Singur and Nandigram, the State finds itself racked by violent agitations that have damaged its reputation as an investor-friendly destination.
Admitting that this sent the wrong message to investors, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee says the State has come out of the shadow of Singur and is now attracting investments — between 2008 and 2010, investments of Rs.27,400 crore came into West Bengal.
In its manifesto, the Left Front says that notwithstanding the negative and often destructive agitations launched by the Trinamool Congress, industrial investment has come at a steady pace, surpassing past records.
The stress is on jobs generation for youth, which has been the Left Front's refrain ever since the derailment of the State's plan to host the Tata Nano plant in West Bengal.
Aspirations
“A farmer's son does not always want to remain a tiller. He aspires to acquire educational skills that will get him employment, and industry is needed for that,” Mr. Bhattacharjee says at election meetings.
He also highlights the manner in which the Trinamool Congress is trying to nix the government's efforts at industrialising West Bengal.
The Trinamool Congress, meanwhile, has been eager to shed the anti-industry tag that came with the “success” of the Singur and Nandigram agitations. Party chief Mamata Banerjee organised an industry-do just weeks after the 2009 Lok Sabha election to assure the gathering of her pro-industry outlook.
Both the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress, however, are united in propagating the underlying message that although industry is a priority, agricultural development is equally important.
Left slogan
The CPI(M) has pressed forward with its slogan — “The farm sector is our foundation, industry our future” — launched in the last Lok Sabha election, held less than a year after the withdrawal of the Nano project.
The party has continued with its emphasis on setting up big, medium and small industries, but of late has also been focussing on the agro-industries sector. It says the sector has the potential to help West Bengal tap its well-developed farm areas as well.
The Trinamool Congress says it will usher in a green revolution in industry — it claims that its policy will lay emphasis on environment-friendly industry to encourage agro-based and natural resource-based industries.
On the question of land acquisition, while the CPI(M) wants to try and locate industries in less fertile land, the Trinamool Congress says that acquisition of agro-land should be avoided at all costs.
