DISCLAIMER: This is a biased analysis on the recent debate around industrialization in West Bengal and I am taking the risk of talking on this topic because I can’t resist myself from sharing my great ideas with you folks.
Left politics has always been popular in West Bengal (WB). The Left Front (LF) had come to power with the Land Reform movement (certainly there were many other reasons – refugee movement, Congress oppression, Intellectual freedom being few of them I can think of now). The farmers became one of the most powerful lobbies in WB. They became the biggest vote bank of LF.
However LF was never interested about the urban vote. They preferred to be anti-elite (be it in politics or in education). They were more interested in liberating the lower middle class and the labourers/workers/peasants. This class of people got some real power with the Leftist movements. But at times they went overboard and misused the power with the Gherao and Bandh culture – which eventually pushed many a industries out of the state.
But LF was not much worried with this exodus. It was never the priority 1 area for them. They were happy with the pro-poor stance. All the while the anti-Left party (Congress in general - be it TMC or NC) was seen as the party of the landlords/banias/middle/upper-middle class people.
With the Utopian ideas of Communism, LF also got a tremendous acceptability among the Intellectuals. It became fashionable in WB to be Leftist. If you are not pro-Left, it was pretty hard to establish among your friends that you have some intellect in you.
LF started changing itself somewhere down the line. This was a big shift. The class struggle (or the dream of it) was over and they thought the need of the hour for the people of WB was Industry. CCCP was no longer there to show the Dream. China was inviting McDonalds. They thought it’s better to come out of the age-old dogma.
So how would they gauge the people's mood? What could be the best way to check that? Well, they used this mantra in Assembly election - "Krishi amader Bhitti, Shilpa amader Bhobisshot" (Agri is our base, Industry is our future). And they got a huge success in the Assembly election!!!
If you want to analyze this landslide victory, you may find certain possibilities:
1. It might be a coincidence (mantra & landslide victory).
2. It might be people's verdict that they prefer industry.
3. It might be void in opposition politics which led people to vote for LF again.
However the bottomline is: LF got the biggest victory ever, and they thought it was the verdict for Industrialization. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee became the face of WB and Industry accepted him as the blue-eyed boy.
Urban WB was visibly happy. They got someone in who was talking their language. The Chamber of Commerce was happy. TATA was happy. So were many other people. But, LF forgot to check if rural Bengal was happy to move from agriculture to industry!
To establish any new Industrial setup, the basic requirement is to get some land. And if its as huge project as TATA Nano, the requirement gets even bigger. So LF and TATA marked some areas somewhere in Singur and went on to acquire it.
The biggest blunder LF did was - they thought the Assembly election had given them the mandate to acquire land from anywhere in WB. They didn’t prepare the ground.
The peasants were furious when they found it’s *their* land which is up for grabs for the sake of Industrialization. They started fighting it out. LF did the 2nd blunder in a row - they thought police force can be used to control the people. Situations turned to worse. Those who have traditionally been the LF supporters suddenly started changing the camp. Intellectuals joined the fleet. Middle-class people’s sentiment was hurt to see police force killing the farmers just because they don’t want to sell their land.
And the biggest changeover was yet to come. TMC – the anti-Left force, which traditionally has been a pro-middle class/upper middle class party, suddenly found something to fight for. They became pro-peasant and started the Jomi Bachao Andolon (Save your Land Movement). They became the face of the Rural Bengal.
It was a paradigm shift for both the LF and the Congress politics. LF became pro-middle class while TMC turned to pro-peasant politics. Or is it like this - LF turned towards urban vote and TMC thought lets grab the rural vote?
A common question that is discussed now in every other discussion forum - Do We need Industry in WB now?
Lets analyze the "we" part of this question:
* Who belongs to this group "We"?
- Is it the urban Bengal? Urban Bengal do think that Industry is the only thing to sustain. They may be correct. But remember, they don’t need to share their land for the sake of the state. They are the safest lot in this situation. If Industrialization happens, they are going to be the biggest gainer - be it in terms of jobs or using the commodities. But nothing is at stake for them.
- Is it the rural bengal? I doubt whether they would say Yes, simply because nobody wants to loose their land. If a family is having 3 earning members from a piece of land, TATA (or whoever) is not going to give a job to each of them. Its going to be maximum 1 job per family. Also the monetary compensation can’t sustain a family forever.
But what is so special about WB that stops an easy acquisition of land like other states? I thought its the Land Reform movement. Unlike other states, where only a few people grab the maximum amount of land (Pareto 80-20 story?), WB has too many Prantik Chashi (peasants) who own some small piece of land himself, thanks to the 70’s-80's land reform movement of LF. Thus to acquire a 400 acre land, you got to deal with so many landowners. And there lies the difference. You have to *manage* so many people out there compared to only a handful in other states.
LF has used the land reform movement in many elections successfully - and might be rightfully, because it empowered a huge number of peasants. But now they have to impress upon this same set of people the fact that it’s not Agri which is going to change their next generation. It’s Industry. It’s going to be a very very tough job.
The older generation which has ripped the benefits of land reforms is still around. However they would be diminishing in number by laws of nature. LF has to target the younger generation of rural Bengal. These guys have not been part of land reforms movement themselves. Their aspiration might be having a job, a nice 2/4 wheeler and other amenities of life. LF has to lure these people with the urban dream. If they can make it, they can be rest assured to be in power for next 30 years. While the anti-Left parties would try to imitate what LF did 30 years back. Awaken the Rural Bengal against the Urbanization. Whatever be the case, the next few years of WB politics promises to be one of the most interesting chapters of socio-economic studies.
