The few industrialists who are still left in West Bengal, once India’s industrial heartland, are happily looking forward to 9 April, when Modi will address a meeting in a five star hotel in Kolkata making a unique appearance.

Spokesmen of different chambers of commerce in the city are naturally going on overdrive to make his visit a success. Over 2500 people want to attend Modi’s speech, while the existing capacity of the venue chosen is around a thousand.

Not everyone is happy about this. And no prizes are on offer to guess the identity of the most prominent among the disgruntled --- it is none other than Modi’s counterpart in the state, Mamata Banerjee.

Banerjee for once has a good reason for feeling upstaged and ignored, the one thing she has not learnt to accept with grace despite her long years in public life. While Kolkata’s business and industry stalwarts seem to be agog over Modi’s visit, their poor response to several high level meetings and conferences chaired by her continues to rankle.

The last such two-day “conference” at Haldia, the second in the series “Bengal leads”, was such a resounding flop that the fiery chief Minister felt snubbed. Not only national bigwigs, even leading industry and business people at the state level did not bother to come! The attendance was so poor that students of local colleges had to be press-ganged into attending some ‘interactive sessions.’ Feeling snubbed, she called off her proposed meeting with Mumbai-based industrialists after Haldia.

Analysts attending the poor show said that the proceedings were more an example of how NOT to conduct an industry summit: instead of addressing any of the basic industry demands --- such as arranging official help in land acquisition, preparing infrastructure, offering tax incentives, the Chief Minister had outlined her problems with the media, the state’s debt crisis and the centre’s negligence! “Instead of hearing a message of hope for a brighter future, the few investors, who came were treated to a dirge! No wonder they started skipping such meets!” says BJP leader Tathagata Ray.

Banerjee’s problems with Modi are of a personal nature and go back a long way. After Ratan Tata relocated the Nano small car project from Singur to Sananda in Gujarat, with active help from the state government, Modi wrote a dignified, statesmanlike public letter to Banerjee, outlining some suggestions for good governance. Talk about rubbing it in! For once, the usually irrepressible Banerjee, having virtually driven out the project through her violent agitation, had no answer.

“There is every possibility that Modi will spell out what incentives Gujarat, the fastest growing state in the country, has on offer for entrepreneurs and attract some investments from West Bengal. Anyone who has browsed through the Gujarat Government’s website outlining details and procedures investors have to follow, will be deeply impressed. Gujarat in this respect is light years ahead of West Bengal, where no Minister knows how to address the concerns and requirements for either industry or infrastructure, how to organise successful get-togethers or even to design an effective website ! Attracting investments in a competitive environment, I regret to say, is something they cannot begin to comprehend! This, despite West Bengal having so many qualified students and a ready talent pool among the young,” says a spokesman of the steel industry.

So far, no official interaction is planned with the West Bengal government. There has been no attempt on part of Modi’s office to contact or set up a meeting with Banerjee. The latter in any case has stated publicly that West Bengal would not follow “the Gujarat model” of development, a clear reference to the Gujarat riots. In deference to the sentiments of the Muslims, Banerjee may well opt to stay out of town on the day to avoid running into Modi, according to some observers.

BJP circles are upbeat about the visit. Banerjee’s slew of concessions and sops for the Muslims have been criticised strongly by the BJP and other parties. The party campaigns aggressively these days, ahead of the Parliamentary polls and keeping Modi as a national contender for Prime Ministership. “Instead of announcing allowance out of the taxpayers” money for Imams and Muezzins, Mamata Banerjee should find out what percentage of Muslims are employed in Gujarat industries and try to follow suit here,” says a BJP leader.

Spokesmen of Chambers of commerce are naturally enthusiastic because they expect Modi to share some of his insights and experience in taking Gujarat right to the top in India as an investment destination. (IPA Service)