Marxist vie to woo capitalists in Kolkata (special report)

By Bhagirath Yogi in Kolkata

As the student activists affiliated to the ruling CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist) were taking to the streets in Kathmandu against the decision of their own government to hike fuel prices,  Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and his Marxist  government,  was going all out to woo the capitalists in the historic city of Kolkata.

Addressing the ‘Partnership Summit’ organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Kolkata, the state capital of West Bengal, Thursday, Bhattacharjee told the high-profile gathering of businessmen and industrialists  from within India and abroad, “The Marxists are not fools. The world is changing, we are also changing.  Here the Left is Right.” 

“The state government would readily cooperate with foreign investors from around the world,” said Bhattacharjee, urging the foreign investors to include West Bengal in their global investment map.

Besides meeting business delegations from the European Union, the USA, China, Singapore and the Middle East, the Chief Minister visited the National Library complex in Kolkata continuously for three days and answered to a range of questions raised by the delegates.

“The situation (in West Bengal) is changing and changing for the better,” Bhattacharjee told the valedictory session of the summit Friday afternoon. “We are not complacent. We want investment from other Indian states as well as abroad,” he added.

The chief minister admitted that the state had weaknesses in terms of industrial and social infrastructure but said his government was trying to improve them. “The power position is satisfactory though we have plans to step up generation to meet future demands. Bengal has a plan to construct expressways to connect its growth areas and ramp up public transport in Kolkata,” he added.

Earlier, Minister for Commerce and Industry of West Bengal, Nirupam Sen—another Marxist—said the state government welcomed foreign technology and investment in several areas including petrochemicals, electronics, information technology, iron and steel, among others.

Referring to the old image of West Bengal where powerful pro-left trade unions called the shots, officials said things had changed now. “The state offers  an ‘ideal industrial climate. Our vision is for a resurgent Bengal where the truth ‘sun rises in the east’ will prevail indefinitely,” said Sen.

Out of the total population of over 80 million, 70 percent of the people in West Bengal are literate.

The state officials said West Bengal has been attracting more than 460 million dollars in industrial investment every year for the last four years.

The cumulative investment in the state stood at IRs 7,000 crores from 1991 to 2003. Index of industrial production in West Bengal grew at 4.6 percent, more than India’s average industrial growth of 3.5 percent last year.

In case of Nepal, foreign direct investment declined to USD 10 million in 2002 from USD 21 million a year before. 

Buddhadev Bhattacharjee took over from the legendary Marxist leader, Jyoti Basu, who led the state of West Bengal as its chief minister continuously for 23 years until 2000. 

Business leaders from CII said there had been marked improvement in the performance of the West Bengal government over the last four years or so after the new chief minister took over. Even Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, during the inaugural session of the summit on Wednesday, quoted leading Indian IT leader, Ajim Premji, as saying that Bhattacharjee was the best chief minister in India.

The state government has set up India’s first Greenfield special-purpose economic zone at Salt Lake in Kolkata. Though the city is still known for traffic congestion and pollution, officials said they were trying hard to bring changes on the ground.

Chief Minister of Indian state of Assam, Tarun Gogoi, also addressed the summit and said despite insurgency, several large and profitable such as the Tatas, ONGC and OIL were working in the region. “The business atmosphere (in Assam) is congenial and connectivity has improved,” he added.

“When India began liberalizing its economy in the d1990s, few believed it could see them to a logical conclusion but now all political parties and the international community have accepted liberalization and globalisation as a fact,” said Gogoi.

Not only politicians, Indian officials, too, could be seen lobbying hard to promote India as an attractive destination for investors. Addressing the ‘Investment Roundtable’ over a luncheon, Ashok Jha, Secretary at the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said India’s share in the world GDP is going to reach to 16 percent by 2050 from present 2 percent. “India stands now as the fourth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity,” he added.

West Bengal is one of the five states of India adjoined to Nepal. It is connected to Nepal by both land and air. His Majesty King Gyanendra was supposed to visit Kolkata as part of his visit to India last month,, which got canceled at the last minute due to the demise of former Indian premier P V Narasimha Rao.

New dates for the royal visit are yet to be announced.

Business delegates and academics from 27 countries of the world took part in the three-day summit that concluded on Friday.

Not a single businessman from Nepal took part in the all-important summit  next door. nepalnews.com Jan 14 05