People's Democracy

Central Govt Must Look To States’ Interests: Buddhadeb

 B Prasant

THE support the Left offers to the Congress-led UPA government at the centre must be reciprocated by the latter by looking to the interests of the states. Bengal, in particular, has been kept deprived of its due by a great many central governments. The new union government must try to rectify this in a comprehensive manner. Bengal chief minister, and CPI(M) leader, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said this at Siliguri on September 25. Buddhadeb was addressing two massive rallies held in support of Left Front candidates for the Siliguri municipal polls. CPI(M) leaders Ananda Pathak and Uday Das presided over the two rallies.

Buddhadeb said that the Left had wanted the removal of the communal BJP and its cohorts from office since their return to power would have spelt disaster for the nation. The support that the Left accords the UPA government, however, Buddhadeb emphasised, is never unconditional. The Left would support the union government if it remained on rails in a pro-people manner but would oppose it if it would not. 

The Left has asked the Congress leadership to veer away from the traditional path and not to repeat the mistakes of the past. “We had asked the prime minister in Delhi as to whether the Congress would cling fatuously to its traditional norms and would not come out widely in amelioration of poverty, unemployment, and social tensions,” said the chief minister. The union government must meet the dues of the state and provide funds for the repair of the erosion of the rivers and for the removal and tackling of the arsenic poisoning plaguing the state.

Turning to the issue of the Siliguri civic elections, Buddhadeb was clear in his mind that the people would judge and vote in the polls. He exhorted upon the electorate to go by the doings or otherwise of the various parties in the fray. Policies of the different parties, too, should provide an important input to the voters as they push the electronic button and decide the fate of the Siliguri municipal corporation.

During the Congress rule, the civic bodies and the rural Panchayats had no powers to speak about. Elections were never held since “they were afraid of the popular verdict which we are not.” They were also afraid to lower the voting age to 18 years, which important step the left Front took. During the Left Front administration, the civic bodies have flourished. They have adequate funds and manpower to carry through a multifarious regimen of pro-people initiatives that includes urbanisation and modernisation of towns and cities. The Left Front has been the first in the country to organise reservation for women and for SCs and STs in the urban local bodies.

Once backward, Siliguri is now the second city of Bengal. In the days to come, the scope that exists in the city for the development of trade and commerce and of information technology would be probed and allowed to flourish. An important focal point of north Bengal, Siliguri now has new communication network, roads, and townships are being set up in full measure to tap the socio-economic resources available. Progress is made in terms of industrial development. Once the Nathu-la pass is open for commercial traffic, Siliguri will undergo another sea change. The Dinabandhu Manch is a centre of arts and entertainment.

Buddhadeb was stringently critical of the Trinamul Congress and he said that the outfit was politically bankrupt and anarchical in behaviour –– it was anti-people all the way.  The crime the Trinamul Congress has committed in organising the BJP in the state must never be lost sight of. The people of the state have already responded fittingly to all this by reducing the Trinamul Congress to one Lok Sabha seat and wiping out the Lok Sabha presence from Bengal of the BJP. 

Other speakers who addressed the two rallies were: Ashok Bhattacharya, Jibesh Sarkar, Moni Thapa and Dilip Singh of the CPI(M); Pijush Guha and Ujjwal Chaudhury of the CPI; Gobindo Roy of the Forward Bloc; and Benoy Chakraborty of the Revolutionary Socialist Party. (INN)