R Jagannathan
The Left Front built the coffin to bury industrial Bengal and bankrupted the state’s treasury. Mamata is hammering more nails into the coffin with her strident populism and anti-industry stand. In fact, her reaction to the Singur verdict, which went against her, will be an acid test for her. If she respects it, and uses it to pull back from the brink, it would be the first signal that she is undoing the damage she caused by pushing the Tatas out of Bengal. She needs the Tatas more than the Tatas need her. More recently, her government plotted a coup against another private investor – the Chatterjee Group – by ousting its nominee from the MD’s post in Haldia Petrochem. And this company isn’t even the crown jewels worth fighting for. It is a huge loss-maker. If Mamata does not want the private sector to even run a loss-maker, what is the point is telling the world that Bengal wants investment? Actions must match words. If Mamata wants to reverse the slide created by the Left Front, she should do a U-turn and get the Tatas back in. Swallowing pride is better than turning Bengal into an industrial wasteland.read less read more
Akshaya Mishra
The Kolkata High Court’s verdict on Singur land is more about the manner in which the Bengal government sought to bulldoze the Tatas than about the principle underlying the government’s move. And the last word on the issue is not out yet. The Supreme Court could still take a different view. Coming back to the point of principle in Mamata Banerjee’s move, if protecting the interest of land losers and farmers amounts to being populist then Mamata Banerjee deserves to be lauded for being a populist leader. Admitted, she could have been more subtle while passing the Singur Land Development Act but her `people first’ approach is always welcome. It would be even better if she learns to balance the need of the state to have industries with the interests of the people she represents. Politicians are supposed to be like that.read less read more
