More than a century later, Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of India, who erected the magnificent Victoria Memorial in the city, partitioned the Bengal province in 1904 and shifted the capital of British India to Delhi in 1911. Bengal was divided again in 1947 following the partition of India. The state was down-sized once again at the initiative of Pandit Nehru, the country’s first prime minister, in the mid-1950s under a ‘linguistic division of states’ formula.

Till the mid-1960s, the severely truncated Bengal province was the country’s richest Industrial and cultural hub and Calcutta the country’s No. 1 city. The Naxalite movement, the railway freight equalisation policy for steel and coal (produced mostly in eastern India), the monopolies act and, finally, the enactment of foreign exchange regulation act (FERA), 1973, severely curbing foreign investment and equity control, ensured a quick decline of Bengal. The country’s richest province for centuries turned among the poorest within a decade or so. This is part of the country’s political and economic history over the last three centuries.

The decline of Bengal saw the rise of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and its militant labour wing the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). The lethal combination of the two led to a massive flight of capital from West Bengal to Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi in the 1970s and 1980s when one after another large industrial units closed down and foreign investors avoided the state like plague. The non-stop Marxist rule of West Bengal and its constant political battle with the union government for over the last three decades further impoverished the people of the state. The so-called land reform by way of giving the ownership right to tillers of land they tilled under crop-sharing contracts with original legal land-owners further fragmented cultivable agricultural plots, making the use of modern agricultural implements and farming methods quite difficult, if not impossible.

The introduction of co-operative farming, as in China and other socialist countries, could change the situation. Even in India, the co-operative movement, especially in the farm sector, had contributed to great economic successes in states such as Gujarat and Maharashtra. If the CPM administration did not venture into this area, it was because such a move could have badly un-popularized the party among erstwhile share-croppers and tillers, who became farmland-owners overnight. Co-operatives, expected to be run by professionals, ensure the optimum utilization of resources with the less resourceful for their as well as larger social benefit. But, co-operatives, also to an extent, infringe upon the right to ownership and sale of assets by individual members.

The population explosion, over 100 percent under the CPM rule, constant migration of people from bordering counties in the east and the north, lack of industrial and social infrastructure, inadequate investment in industry, falling education standards and delayed entry of the job-oriented information technology industry made the state more impoverished. Nearly 2.70-crore people of Bengal have a ‘below-the-poverty-line’ (BPL) existence, drawing rice at Rs. 2 per kilo from state-subsidized ration shops. The last census estimated the state population at over 9.21 crore, of which 12 per cent are unemployed making West Bengal the home of the largest number of jobless from any state. The farm productivity has reached the saturation level. Only a massive investment in industry and infrastructure can help solve the unemployment situation.

West Bengal is naturally endowed with vast reservoirs of underground as well as surface water. All metro-cities, barring Kolkata, are facing severe drinking water shortage. Bengal’s farm land is among the most fertile in the world. It is No. 1 in potato production. Among its vast array of agricultural and forest products are tea, jute, pulses, fruits such as pineapple, mango, banana, papaya, a variety of fresh vegetables, cucumbers, onion, pumpkin, gourd, radish, egg-plants, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, beans, milk, eggs, fish, small fish fries, shrimps and prawns, bamboos, canes and timbers. At the same time, it has large reserves of minerals such as thermal coal, steam coal, iron ore, dolomite and hydro-carbon. Two of the country’s six large integrated steel plants are located in Bengal. It has a large concentration of railway wagon manufacturing units and railway equipment production units, including a 6,000 hp capacity diesel locomotive plant. It has two shipyards. Bengal has the potential of becoming the country’s No. 1 steel and cement producer, using fly ash, electricity generation, organic and inorganic chemicals, tissue papers, paints and decorative laminates, woodcraft.

Unfortunately, the state’s CPM-led Left Front government had done little to exploit the advantages for the benefit of the people. It has spent more time, money and energy to build and expand the party cadre to stay in power by any means than in improving the lot of the poor. The administration plays a second fiddle to the party machinery. The party controls practically every aspects of life from education, healthcare, land acquisition and distribution to family disputes. In the districts, the local police will entertain a complaint only after it is endorsed by the CPM local committee (LC). Its leaders are invariably arrogant, repressive and intolerant to criticism. It has been extremely susceptible to flattery and generous to businessmen who visit the party office at Kolkata’s Alimuddin Street.

As the third phase of the West Bengal assembly election concluded in Kolkata and the districts of the North and South 24 Parganas on April 27th, the fate of the CPM and the Left Front government must have been already decided inside the sealed electronic voting machines (EVM). The elections in 179 seats, representing over 60 per cent of the legislative assembly strength, are over. Three more phases are left. The complete result will be known only on May 13, when the counting will be done. The key question in everyone’s lips is: will the landmark election change the CPM cadre raj in Bengal? Will it make any difference to the life of the people of the state?

Ms Mamata Banerjee, the firebrand leader of the rival Trinamool Congress, is very bullish that this time her party would end the CPM run and bring fortune to Bengal. “The potential is enormous. The opportunities are galore. No bandh, no strike, no unruly rally, no road-side political meeting. There will be a central rally point at Kolkata Maidan. Rally organisers will have to book the venue in advance. We will show positive results within 100 days of assuming power. Bengal will soon return to its old glory. My dream is to make Kolkata another London. It is possible. I have plans. I will be aided by top professionals from all walks of life to fulfill the dreams,” she has been telling voters. Continuity or a change is Bengal’s burning issue. The used EVMs might have already decided although the state will have to wait a few more days to know the majority verdict. (IPA Service)