People's Democracy

FRESH from the historic and record breaking win in the assembly polls, West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya stresses that meeting the people’s aspirations is going to be the main challenge for his government in the coming days. After the immense faith reposed by the people of Bengal in the Left Front in this poll, he felt his responsibility has increased all the more.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was in Delhi on May 16 to take part in the CPI(M) Polit Bureau meeting. In an exclusive interview to People’s Democracy, he spoke on the recent polls, the priorities of his government, relations with the centre, etc. Below we publish the full text of the interview.

ANS: The basic reason is that in the last 24 years of governance, we have done something for the people. The land reforms and an efficient panchayati raj system are the cornerstones of our success in the rural areas. The fall-out of these is reflected in the expansion of the education system in rural areas. Today the literacy rate in our state is 70 per cent. Even in urban areas we developed townships, roads and bridges. We decentralised the administration, giving adequate powers to the local self-government bodies. Though we were late starters in the field of industrialisation, our success in the last five years has been very good. Last but not the least, our record on maintaining communal harmony has been exemplary. All these factors counted in the polls. People compared both the contenders and consciously voted for us overwhelmingly. They rejected the opportunistic gang-up against the Left, paving way for this historic win.

ANS: As I went into the election campaign I could see that students, youth and women were flocking to our meetings in large numbers everywhere. Middle class sections were also turning in our favour. When I interacted with the chambers of industry, I could gather that they were also not for an alternative that was so unpredictable and uncertain. All these indicators helped me in coming to an assessment that we would win by a comfortable majority. In fact, we lost around six seats very narrowly. Sujan Chakraborty, former student leader, lost by just 5 votes.

ANS: Whenever they are defeated they raise this bogey. If it was rigging, how does she explain the percentage of votes polled by her combine? How could they get 86 seats? The Election Commission praised our administration for the well-organised arrangements in the conduct of polls. I remember even T N Seshan had once written a letter to our government, praising the arrangements for the elections.

ANS: the Congress is basically a bourgeois-landlord party. It never had a positive role. During these elections, in our state and in Kerala, they dallied with communal forces so as to defeat the communists. To them, communists are a bigger enemy. Only in the fight against communalism may we coordinate with them. But there also, as seen recently, they have a record of compromising with the communal forces.

ANS: The immense faith reposed by the people of the state in the Left Front has increased my responsibility. They have great expectations from our government and it will be my task to see that everything stated in the manifesto is translated into action. Basically there are three or four priority areas. Foremost among them is the challenge of facing the unemployment problem, particularly in urban and semi-urban areas. For this, we have to speed up the industrialisation process. We will concentrate on small and medium industries in areas like handloom, sericulture, hosiery, handicrafts, etc. This will help in the creation of new job opportunities.

The second area we are targeting is information technology. It is a new and emerging field and has the potential to meet the job requirements of the educated boys and girls of Bengal. Already software worth Rs 700 crore have been exported from our state. Agro-based industries is another area we are going to lay stress on.

As you know, West Bengal is not only the biggest rice producing state in the country but also a big producer of fruit, vegetables, fish, flowers, etc. We are going to tap this field for creation of job opportunities in both rural and urban areas. Haldia downstream chemical and plastic industries will be encouraged.

Apart from these, there is a need to consolidate the gains of land reforms in the rural areas. When the Left Front first came to power, the irrigated land in West Bengal was 39 per cent of the total. Today it is 62 per cent. Our aim is to take it to 75 per cent in the next five years. We will also devise ways to save the peasants from the disastrous import policies of the central government.

Unlike in any other state, 70 per cent of population is covered by the state health administration. But there is need to strengthen and improve the services. Education is another area we will be seeking to improve upon.

ANS: It does not mean any basic departure from the political philosophy or ideology of the Left Front that has been in operation in the last 24 years. However, there were some aberrations in running the government. The bureaucracy is not functioning the way it should have under a Left Front government. That’s why my aim is to make the administration corruption-free, dynamic and more responsive to the needs of the people. For the last four months, I have been stressing on the need to improve the work culture. We will work towards this. It is in this context that the slogan of a new, improved Left should be viewed.

ANS: It is totally wrong. I have been saying this for quite some time now --- It is not "I" but "We". There is a collective leadership which campaigned collectively. The media always want to project individuals and to underplay the policies which resulted in this historic win.

ANS: We discussed the proposals about government formation in the Polit Bureau meeting. Our state committee will soon meet and finalise them. Broadly, the idea is not to have a big cabinet but to go in for a small, dynamic team. It will be a combination of both old and new.

ANS: We will have a working relation with the central government. We are not for confrontation. At the same time, we will not compromise on ideological issues like Ayodhya or on economic policies. We will also take up the issue of discrimination against Bengal as was seen on the flood relief issue.

ANS: This victory will definitely help in advancing the efforts for a third alternative. Already, things are moving briskly in that direction. Shortly, new forces may join the Lok Morcha. The LDF’s defeat in Kerala is unfortunate at this juncture. Inspite of many achievements of the outgoing LDF government in the panchayati raj system, People’s Plan and the public distribution system, the opportunistic gang-up of communal and casteist forces resulted in the LDF’s defeat. A satisfying outcome in these elections is that, inspite of its desperate efforts in both Kerala and West Bengal, the BJP has scored a big zero.