Left ally slams Buddha's policy

As the Left parties hunt for reasons behind their recent electoral losses, the Forward Bloc — a key constituent of the ruling Left Front in West Bengal — has criticised Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for his “faulty”outlook on the state’s industrial policy.

Bhattacharjee’s policy was hailed by his comrades, just as he was pitched as the poster boy of the CPI(M) till the Nandigram and Singur incidents backfired in 2007.

In a note to the Left Front, Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrat Biswas even criticised the state government for “not carrying forward” its much-praised land reforms further.

Biswas’ observations are significant as he is a top leader of the second-largest ally of the CPI(M). He is also known to be a close associate of CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat.

“A radical land reform was required to take the process forward. The process remained captive in the Writers’ Buildings (the state secretariat in Kolkata) and the ‘mini writers’ buildings’ in district headquarters. The government should have concentrated on increasing the agricultural output and productivity of land. It should have come out with a land-use map and changed laws to give land rights to the tillers. But we failed to struggle for these goals.”

Biswas’s note also says that as the per capita land holding decreased over the years, the government should have emphasised on consolidated and collective farming.

“The whole approach should have been towards creating a model agri-based alternative industry. This rural network should not only have boosted our rural economy, but could also have checked migration of rural population. Most importantly, it would have created a huge market propelling industrialisation of Bengal,” Biswas said.