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Journalism of Courage
When it comes to handling ideological contradictions nobody can quite beat the Marxists. There was West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee explaining to a CII audience in the Capital last Sunday why it8217;s kosher to shut down PSUs owned by the state government but not those owned by the Centre. In case his argument stumps you, there8217;s an explanation. According to Bhattacharjee, public money went to build those owned by the Centre, while the PSUs in his state were really sick units acquired by the state and these, therefore, can be shut down at any time the state government thinks fit. What the chief minister glosses over is that even acquiring sick units involves public money, so why should it be one rule for West Bengal and another for India?
The truth is that Buddhadev Bhattacharjee wants to have his cake and eat it, too. He wants to maintain 8220;ideological purity8221; on tricky matters like FDI, even while he desperately seeks finances from precisely such sources to pull West Bengal out of the rut of economic stagnation into which it had fallen. It is that Left-behind feeling that Bhattacharjee is battling and we sympathise with his plight. Indeed, this newspaper has had several occasions to applaud the chief minister8217;s realism and foresight, which is already bearing results in terms of a greatly improved economic outlook for his state.
