#dnaEdit: Unenviable state

It was her fierce resistance to Tata’s Singur land acquisition that had catapulted Mamata Banerjee to power. Three years at the helm in West Bengal, Banerjee is now drawing flak over a huge chunk of real estate.

Over 12,000 acres of prime land on which Prasoon Mukherjee, the chairman of Universal Success Enterprise Group, had promised to set up industries and a township, have been lying barren. Ten years ago, Mukherjee had flaunted his Singapore connections to a Left leadership desperate to revive Bengal. The land in Nayachar where he had originally proposed to build a petroleum and chemicals hub, and later agreed to construct a thermal power plant and an industrial park was given to him at a throwaway price. When the Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011, Mukherjee whose proximity with the CPI-M power centre was well known, jumped ship and ingratiated himself with the Trinamool leadership, even committing to build an integrated township on the outskirts of Kolkata. He continues to enjoy the ruling party’s patronage at a time when Bengal desperately needs industries to shore up its moribund economy.

Trinamool’s silence since 2011 is ample proof that the so-called industrialist will be given a long rope. On the other hand, Banerjee has threatened to take away 4,000 acres of land from the Jindal Group if it fails to complete its steel plant on time. It is the sad state of affairs that has prompted a fearless voice in the government to speak up. The vice chairman of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, Abhirup Sarkar, has said that as an economist he would want the government to crack the whip on “all non-performers. USE group did not implement several projects.” Let’s not forget Banerjee has failed to attract big-ticket investments in spite of aggressively wooing investors. The brain drain from Bengal that had begun in the Eighties continues even in 2014 as people are forced to seek employment outside the state.

Industry isn’t the only area where the Banerjee government has floundered. Some of the most-talked about crimes in the recent past give rise to the suspicion that either the TMC leadership is unable to rein in hoodlums, or isn’t keen on restoring order and peace. There are reasons to believe that a status quo works best for the current dispensation where the police, reduced to puppets, display chronic ineptness in probing cases against TMC leaders. Banerjee might think she has little to fear about the consequences of her government’s inactions, but a position of unbridled power and authority is not going to last for long.

Owing to TMC and its predecessor the Left, Bengal, which prided itself for a staunch secular outlook, is now gravitating towards the Right in hope of better governance and a robust economy. The results of the last Parliamentary elections in which the BJP bagged two seats in the state and came close to winning in three other — Malda South, Kolkata North and Kolkata South (the last one is the Chief Minister’s constituency) — show the sweeping nature of the Narendra Modi wave. The saffron party’s unprecedented rise — from 6.15 per cent votes in 2009 LS elections to more than 17 per cent this year, speaks of a growing disenchantment with Didi. The time has come for the Trinamool government to initiate a radical course-correction if it is serious about winning back the confidence of the people and stemming the BJP onslaught on its turf.