People's Democracy

POLIT BUREAU member of the CPI (M) and Left Front leader, Biman Basu stated there was little in way of departure from the industrial policy framed and adopted by the LF government in 1994.

He made this observation on June 7 while responding to questions from the media who were curious to know about the "new" industrial policy of the new Left Front government.

Biman Basu patiently explained to the media persons that the industrial policy of the Left Front government had been framed and adopted as far back as 1994, and that there was little in the way of departure from that policy in the industrial outlook that suffuses the policy of the sixth Left Front government.

"We had declared then, and we still do so at the present moment," said Biman Basu, "that all necessary efforts should be made to ensure that industrial investments are made in areas where the scope and opportunity for such endeavours existed."

Responding piquantly to the repeated insistence by a section of the media representatives whether "this Left Front government was over-friendly with the industrial houses, Biman Basu made clear that the industrialists "seek to organize investments only in areas and places where the opportunity for making the efforts fruitful (in terms of profit) appears to exist." Investments, reminded Biman Basu, were not made out of compassion for the people or as a charitable effort. Hard calculations are made by the capitalist classes before they approach the authorities to initiate proposals for making investments. There was little in the bon homie here.

Industrialists, Biman Basu iterated in response to another curious journalist’s query, that "the world over, we have not had the opportunity to cite examples where a hard-headed industrialist has been motivated by ideological prompting towards making a decision to invest in a particular industry or in a particular geographical region.

Basing the industrial policy on the document adopted in 1994, the CPI (M) leader said, the successive Left Front governments have been busy improving the pace of infrastructure development, and the sixth LF government was no exception in this regard.

He drew the attention of the media gathered at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan, that the national economic scenario "has gone on deteriorating as the dictates of the World Bank, the IMF, and the WTO have been assuredly adhered to by the Congress- and BJP-run union governments, and we are never tired of saying that Bengal is but a part of the country called India."

Replying to another question as to the time-frame the sixth Left front government will fix for showing the first concrete results of the acceleration of the pace of infrastructure development, Biman Basu exhorted upon the media to be good enough to allow the fledgling government at least the time to "take off", especially as the new government has had its first cabinet meeting on June 6." (I N N)