A day after the CPM Politburo issued a statement saying the right to strike was a fundamental right, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s very public criticism of bandhs provoked a very public snub. Left Front chairman Biman Bose said here today that the Politburo statement was a “public censure” (of the CM) and, therefore, the “chapter was closed” on the controversy.

Far from it. At the state secretariat meeting today, Bhattacharjee was silent but just a week ago, his No. 2 and state Industries Minister Nirupam Sen had echoed his lines at a meeting with chambers of commerce. “We, in the government, do not support bandhs,” he said. “In West Bengal, bandhs assume a different connotation. Elsewhere, everything doesn’t get affected the way it does here. This should certainly be considered. From the government’s side, we assure you we do not want bandhs. But we do not get what we want and what we get we do not want.”

His cabinet colleague Subash Chakrabarty endorsed this. “Bandhs did not help anyone,” he said, adding: “The day is not far when people will outright reject bandhs.” Clearly, there’s a disconnect between the CPM government and the CPM party. And while in Kerala, the mood is one of acceptance, few in the West Bengal government can afford to endorse a bandh call:

• Industry associations and chambers of commerce — after much debate — equated the stalling of work in Singur and the bandh called by the Left unions on August 20. “Continued disruptions severely affecting mega projects...with a still-persisting bandh culture and retrograde steps can cruelly wipe out the positive image which West Bengal has been able to create vis-à-vis its industrial regeneration,” the statement said.

... contd.