Listing self-sufficiency in food production and expansion of the Information Technology sector as some of the key successes of the seventh term of the Left Front government, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee admitted here on Wednesday certain failures but pointed out that they were subsequently rectified.
He said certain failures during the seventh term of his government were revealed in the constant process of self-evaluation carried out by the Left parties maintaining that “I am certainly a part of the rectification process.”
‘Cautious'
“In the 34 years that we have been in power, whenever we felt that we committed a mistake, it has been rectified,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said, citing the removal of the study of English from primary education and its subsequent reintroduction as an example.
Mr. Bhattacharjee said that after the agitation against alleged forced acquisition of land in Singur, “we have become cautious in the matter of land acquisition.”
“We will avoid the acquisition of fertile land as much as possible. Secondly, those who want to set up industries should deal in the purchase of land on their own. If the government is forced to acquire land, it will be done only after creating a consensus among the residents of the area, particularly the farmers,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said.
He said the success of the new approach to land acquisition was evident in the fact that the government had been able to acquire over 8,100 acres of land without a hitch since the 2008 acquisition in Singur.
Mr. Bhattacharjee also said that party workers had been cautioned not to “unnecessarily intervene” in the everyday lives of ordinary citizens.
The Chief Minister said the Left Front could not work out a policy to provide reservation to the minority communities, which was only possible after the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Commission were tabled in Parliament.
He said he felt that by providing opportunities for education, credit and reservation for the minority communities, it was possible to improve their situation.
“Our goal is to provide equal opportunities to all,” he said.
However, on being questioned about certain findings of the Sachar Committee report about the relative positions of Muslims in Gujarat and West Bengal, Mr. Bhattacharjee said that the two States should not be compared. “In our State minorities live in peace and harmony, but in Gujarat they live in fear,” he said.
