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Journalism of Courage
From the Singur chaos last year to an industry durbar last Friday is quite a turnaround. But where Mamata Banerjee goes from here is a journey that will not profit from high rhetoric,songs and slapstick. But at Fridays meet in Kolkata,Banerjee appeared to offer a tangible and time-bound agenda. And yet,its all still in the domain of words; and the interaction was first of all an invitation,as Banerjee herself hinted at,to study her (and her priorities) from close quarters a proximity that she and her aides hope will convince sceptical industrialists that this is a different Mamata Banerjee,not at all anti-industry,but with a more nuanced,principled position on industrialisation and development than the West Bengal chief minister she managed to humiliate. So did it work?
Fridays durbar gathered the whos who of Bengals business bosses. And reportedly,they came away impressed. Banerjee offered a ready 112,000 acres from the Railways land bank for development multi-functional stations,power projects,wagon manufacturing units,ancillary industries and myriad infrastructure projects protesting her impatience and urging industry to do it immediately. So far so good,but what exactly are Banerjees plans for Bengals industrial development away from the long arm of the Indian Railways? (As Union Railways minister,she acts like Bengals CM-in-waiting; but as CM,she will not be Railways minister!)
A synergy between agriculture and industry,development with a human face sound alleviating after Singur and Nandigram,but Banerjee has to confront a three-decade-long Left-guided industrial decline and the long-term consequences of her own actions in Singur which cannot be wished away just by winning the popular vote or surrounding oneself with industrialists once in a ministry.
