Among all Indian States, West Bengal needs strict fiscal discipline more than others to survive and ensure its own economic progress. But three recent decisions taken by the new government have caused some worry among economists and observers, who for the most part were sharply critical of the outgoing Left front Ministry’s failures.

In part this stems from her style of political functioning. Unbridled populism has always been a major feature of the style and substance of her high-pitch, confrontational politics as an opposition leader. For observers, it is a major surprise to find that she is not keen to change her ways even when she happens to be running a government! There is the same proclivity to pander to group sentiments and pressure lobbies, while neglecting the silent majority, in her tall promises. As a senior scribe puts its,” Having been in the opposition for all these years, she now wants to deny her opponents any political space by monopolising their slogans and take over their vote banks.”

While protesting publicly against the recent price in petroleum products, Ms Banerjee announced that the state government would do away with the Rs 16 rupee cess it charged on each LPG cylinder. This meant that LPG cylinders would cost Rs 34 in the state, while the price will be more in other states. The net loss to the state exchequer: Rs 75 crore. .The loss would be” made up through other channels,” she said, without being specific.

In any case her gesture was cosmetic at best. Common people are far more affected by price increases in kerosene and diesel, more than petroleum goods and products. No such relief was announced for these.

“Considering that the state currently has an accumulated debt of nearly Rs 200,000 crore and has just managed to wangle some special favours and benefits, this is amazing! I do not envy Mr. Amit Mitra in his new avatar as the state Finance Minister,” said an observer. Talk of tightening up fiscal discipline! Economist Dipankar Dasgupta expressed similar concerns. ”I wonder if this is such a good idea, seeing the abysmal state of revenues,” he said. The one major source of revenue that would have helped the state’s finances, the Tata small car project, had been driven out physically by an aggressive movement launched by Ms Banerjee herself. But it did win her the rural votes.

It seems this has encouraged Ms Banerjee to be more populist and now she has the developing Rajarhat township in her sights. Here, the government had acquired some land to accommodate IT firms like Wipro and others who want to set up their units in the state and to build power stations and other facilities for the half complete township. Now Ms Banerjee has announced that the acquired land would not be used,. nor fresh land would be taken over. In other words,” Bye bye, Rajarhat,” is her new slogan, after “Bye bye, Tata” a slogan she had popularised! Amazing, in the new millennium!

Alarmed former CPI(M) Minister and leader Gautam Deb said that she seemed to be opposing the concept of urbanisation, rolling the clock back. Not that the print and electronic media, now overwhelmingly pro-Mamata, seemed to care.

For good measure, Ms Banerjee had told industrialists that she would not follow the Gujarat model of development. Industry must buy its own land from the market, a concept put forward by her adviser Debabrata Bandopadhyay, former bureaucrat. As industrialists pointed out that often, projects got derailed or delayed because of the resistance of 10% of the people refusing to sell land,(They might have been referring to Singur) Ms Banerjee said, “Then set up you unit on 90% of the land.---and do not pay too high prices for land either.”

“Instead of being a facilitator, the government would remain a mute spectator even if some people blackmail entrepreneurs? This can only encourage middlemen. Surely this is not the way to invite investments,” said an observer.

The outcome of her meeting with industrialists, where the big guns had stayed away, was along expected lines. She herself proposed joint venture infrastructure projects, and suggested investment in tourism and the IT sector. There was no concrete offer for a new industry, not one, from those who attended. Mostly their questions concerned land acquisition and related problems, which she glossed over.

It is far too early to arrive at a judgement over Ms Banerjee’s performance and her honeymoon with the people would last at least six months, maybe a year. But if morning shows the day, the signs are disturbing, even ominous, as she and her advisers seem bent on transforming West Bengal’s once industrialised economy into a pastoral one ! (IPA Service)