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West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has found support from his party's top leadership in his initiatives to secure Foreign Direct Investment.
The CPI-M Politburo -- the party's highest decision-making body -- will meet in Delhi later this week when Bhattacharya will brief the leadership on the outcome of his tour of Indonesia and Singapore for seeking FDI for his state.
Bhattacharya, a CPI-M Politburo member, has not only to carry the party with him but also to resolve differences and confusion among party hardliners, the CPI-M trade union, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, and its allies in the Left Front over inviting FDI and transferring agricultural land to foreign industrialists.
The chief minister told the media during his tour that he was a reformist and would not go by Marxist dogma while trying to improve West Bengal's economy. He quoted Deng Xiaoping, the late architect of Chinese reforms, to underscore his point that he was ready to adopt a pragmatic approach on the basis of actual experience rather than going by the book.
The CPI-M leadership is backing Bhattacharya with party General Secretary Prakash Karat -- its top leader -- and its spokesman Sitaram Yechuri saying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh needs to follow the West Bengal model of land reforms and pro-people FDI participation.
Mandarins at Alimuddin Street, the CPI-M's headquarters in West Bengal, have also thrown their weight behind Bhattacharya and said there is no dichotomy between his initiatives and the party's stand on FDI or economic reforms.
The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indonesian business house Salim Group will be projected as a major success for the CPI-M in attracting foreign investment that will benefit both the people of the state and also foreign investors, party sources said.
Bhattacharya's slogan of 'Do It Now' and sprucing up West Bengal's image as an investor-friendly destination will be shown as having yielded results, CPI-M sources said.
However, there is confusion within the CPI-M's peasants wing, the Pradesik Krisak Sabha, over the new thrust on setting up
industries and economic zones on agricultural land.
Seeking to remove misgivings, Bhattacharya and state CPI-M leaders are trying to explain to party members that industry
is the logical corollary of growth in agriculture.
The CPI-M is trying to explain that a dogmatic approach will not be in the interest of the state and also of the Left movement as it will only lead to stagnation in industrial growth.
The Left Front government during its 28-year rule in West Bengal not only consolidated the rights of farmers and agricultural labourers but also ensured that agricultural growth in the state increased. West Bengal has achieved self-sufficiency in rice and vegetables and food products and now needs agro-based and other sunshine industries.
Bhattacharya's FDI initiatives are to be viewed in this perspective.
D Devrajan, a leader of the Forward Bloc, a major constituent of the Left Front, articulated the confusion among Front partners arising out of the Left's avowed dislike for FDI at the Centre and the chief minister's praise for globalisation and FDI.
"The Forward Bloc is not endorsing the view that development will come only through FDI and entry of multinationals," Devrajan said. "It is not fair to impair the struggle of Left parties against capitalism, imperialism and neo-colonialism only for
getting FDI," he told PTI.
On Bhattacharya's comment that he had reservations on FDI in the retail sector, Devrajan said, "Let us see how shopping malls and big bazaars come up as part of the Salim Group's project. We still believe that FDI is not a panacea, particularly in a country like India where more than 60 percent of the people are engaged in agriculture."
CPI-M Politburo member and CITU President M K Pandhe said his trade union is opposed to inviting FDI in core sectors of the economy.
"We will oppose any violation of labour laws in economic zones," Pandhe said, apparently referring to the Salim Group's projects. He told PTI that CITU has already opposed FDI proposals for Bangalore and Hyderabad airports.
The chief minister said although he had invited FDI for setting up a second airport in Kolkata, the quantum of private investment for the project would depend upon the Centre's decision.
Debabrata Biswas, West Bengal secretary of another Left Front constituent, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, said his party would oppose "handing over of agricultural land to multinationals."
"Given a choice, we will prefer scrapping the Salim project. It is part of a neo-liberal game plan to grab prime land that will finally affect our sovereignty," said Debabrata Bandyopadhyya, a former West Benga irrigation minister said.
The chief minister said while giving land for industry, his government will ensure that land owners and agricultural labourers were compensated