‘Left Front will govern Bengal for a sixth term, but I don’t know if I’ll be the

Barely a month in the hot seat, West Bengal’s new chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya seems to be trying desperately to step out of Jyoti Basu’s long shadow. In an interview with the The Indian Express, Bhattacharya sounded aggressive, industry friendly, market driven and even radically unorthodox on the ideological front.

In fact, Bhattacharya went one step ahead of his predecessor in courting the industry, saying, ‘‘The CITU (the trade union wing of the Marxists) must realise that things will not run as it did in the past. CITU’s role can’t be confined to preparing charter of demands only. In the past, it has only looked after workers’ interests. This has to change. In the new competitive industrial environment, the workers would have to look at the totality of things, productivity and production quality. If trade union leaders think that the success of an industry is only the employer’s headache, things will be ruined.’’

And if there are still some rumblings of protest among employees of the state run Great Eastern Hotel about it being leased to a French company, the new CM is there to silence it. ‘‘‘The government is not going to roll back its decision of handing over the hotel under any circumstances. We had to retreat in the past. But not this time,’’ said Bhattacharya.

Many of Bhattacharya’s statements are prompted by his compulsions, the most important being the assembly polls within the next six months. But what is being witnessed is a brand new Bhattacharya, far removed from the perceived idea of a chief minister who would be timid and would play to the tune of the bureaucracy and Alimuddin Street.

The new CM is conscious of not sending out any ‘‘wrong messages’’. ‘‘The challenge before me is whether I can perform, whether I can deliver the goods. Four months would be good enough to judge my individual performance,’’ he feels.

Whether he admits it or not, his is a race against time, and the swiftness of some of his decisions are a give-away. In almost all interviews he had given so far, top-of-the-mind has been the allotment of land to Wipro. Bhattacharya said the computer giant called the WB government asking for land for a considerable investment in the IT sector. ‘‘We were asked to convey our position within seven days and for Wipro, the choice was between Bengal and Bhubaneshwar. It was Wipro and Premji and I could hardly let the opportunity go. I took just three days to allot them the land. In fact, this was the first file I signed on assuming charge,’’ said Bhattacharya.

He admitted, though, that making the government act with equal promptness in all cases wasn’t easy. Will the govt’s stress on Information Technology synchronise with the party line, which feels that this sector is capital intensive and not labour intensive and doesn’t address the problem of unemployment?Bhattacharya had a two-pronged strategy in mind. Having admitted that the Left Front’s land reforms programme has reached a point of stagnation, he said the second phase of agrarian reforms would see large scale development of agro-based small scale industries particularly in areas like fishery, food processing and animal husbandry.

The Left Front would also go in for service sector industries like hotels, entertainment and health care. ‘‘But IT, genetic engineering and bio-tech are 21st century industries and we can’t afford to ignore them, particularly with an abundance of human resources available in the state,’’ he added.

The CM termed the emergence of the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation a separatist group in the plains of north Bengal as a ‘‘serious development’’.The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council chariperson and GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh and other MLAs have written to Bhattacharya expressing concern about this development.

Earlier in the month, the Darjeeling police had raided a jungle in Kalimpong where Naga militants were reportedly engaged in imparting arms training to Gorkha youths.

In the encounter that ensued between the two sides, two persons were killed. The police later claimed that Chhatre Subbha one of Ghising’s lieutenants who later broke away and set up the Gorkha Liberation Organisation had roped in Naga militants.

According to Bhattacharya, the KLO is patronised by the ULFA, which has a strong ISI connection. ‘‘The ISI link gives the issue a different dimension,’’ he observed.

The CM also spoke of trouble across the border, being fuelled by Muslim fundamentalist groups. ‘‘These groups are using the border as a conduit to import arms and explosives,’’ he said. In Bengal, he added, they are engaged in ‘‘covert anti-national propaganda among the Muslim population along the borders, saying what is happening in Kashmir is a ‘holy war’’’.

The state police have made some important breakthroughs, including one in which classified information from the Chandipur missile test range site was being smuggled out by a group which had its base in the northern outskirts of Calcutta; and another in which the blueprint for an explosive attack on a consular office in Calcutta was unearthed and the attempt foiled, he said.

Bhattacharya admitted this is one area where ‘‘the response of the Union Home Ministry has been positive. We are in constant touch and share intelligence,’’ he said. Later this month, Bhattacharya will hold his first meeting with the Prime Minister and President.

Does he agree with Jyoti Basu’s assessment of the BJP as ‘‘uncivilised’’ and ‘‘barbarians?’’ His reply was guarded. ‘‘Basu never attacked any individual leader with such adjectives but consider the attacks on the minorities, the attack on the secular character of our Constitution and now the saffronisation of education. There is little doubt that in post-independence India, no government has posed as big a threat to the country as this one. Bhattacharya appeared also perturbed over what he said was the ‘‘RSS penetration everywhere in the judiciary, army, ministries and the media.’’

In West Bengal, a Trinamool Congress-BJP combine is a far greater threat than a Trinamool-Congress mahajot, he felt. But he is certain that the cultural heritage of Bengal wouldn’t allow a ‘‘communal party’’ like the BJP to capture power.‘‘And the TMC’s slogan of ‘burn all, kill all’ won’t win them the net election, though anti-incumbency will be a factor,’’ Bhattacharya said.

‘‘A sixth term in power for the Left Front is almost a fait accompli,’’ said the optimistic Chief Minister. Would he continue as CM in the 6th term? ‘‘We will definitely be there in government, but I don’t know if I’ll be there as the CM.’’

Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.