Dear Bengal, Vibrant Gujarat isn't only about event management

The event was christened ‘Bengal Leads’ and was designed to showcase the state of West Bengal as an attractive destination for investment and business.

Summits such as Bengal Leads attempt to emulate Narendra Modi’s successful Vibrant Gujarat effort. What Mamata Banerjee and her acolytes do not seem to realise is that the event succeeds not thanks to event management capabilities, but to the harder task of understanding the needs of intending investors.

“The much touted investment summit was reduced to a para mela with MBA students, curious locals and even school students in uniform made up the crowd that thronged the venue. The stalls were almost empty and even information was impossible to get although loudspeakers constantly competed with each other in blaring seminar speeches,” says The Times of India.

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[caption id=“attachment_591560” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mamata Bannerjee. PTI[/caption]

From the time Tata Motors was forced to pull out of Singur, West Bengal’s already weak reputation as far as business-friendliness is concerned has taken a beating. It’s ironic that Haldia, where Bengal Leads is being held, was the centre of a storm when ABG Shipyards pulled out of their business in Haldia.

“Problems have been brewing at the dock complex, run by the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), since HBT sacked 275 employees last month stating they were surplus. Operations of the firm, jointly promoted by ABG Shipyards of India and French logistics company LDA, have been hit since mid-September, with the retrenched workers, backed by the Trinamool Congress, agitating inside and outside the port along with trade union workers. On Sunday, the firm alleged that three of its employees as well as the family members of one had been abducted by outsiders, who released them later after warning them not to return to Haldia, says Indian Express.

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In two of the biggest business debacles in West Bengal, the loss of the Tata Nano plant and, recently, the pull out by ABG Shipyards, it’s been the Trinamool Congress which has been the cause of the decisions to pull down shutters in West Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee has proven time and again that she knows little about what makes for a healthy industrial climate. Last year, at the Bengal Leads event, she was the butt of ridicule, thanks to her rambling about Bengal being the gateway to the north-eastern ‘countries’. You can see last year’s speech by Mamata Banerjee here.

The West Bengal government, going by the tepid response to Bengal Leads, needs to first overcome the negative reputation caused by Singur and ABG Shipyards. Only then should they even attempt to host a summit for investment, else the investment will be just a case of throwing good money after bad.