Brand Buddha takes a beating

KOLKATA: After the police firing at Nandigram, the question uppermost in everyone’s minds is whether ‘Brand Buddha’ or the industrialisation drive in West Bengal would take a serious beating. But politicians and industrialists feel that it would not send a wrong signal to prospective investors heading for the state.

Some, however, feel that the Nandigram incident might slow down the pace of industrialisation by the Buddhadeb government for some time. “If the investors find that setting up units in the state is profitable, they will come here. The Nandigram incident may temporarily slow down the pace of industrialsation,” secretary of CPI state council, Manju Kumar Majumder said.

Industrialists also feel that the state government would be able to handle the fallout of the violence at Nandigram on March 14 which left 14 people dead. “We don’t think that there will be any major impact after Nandigram as far as investors’ interests are concerned. The state government can handle the issue,” president of Indian Chamber of Commerce S K Bangur says.

The chief minister has ruled out going back on the industrialisation drive following the Nandigram incident. Confederation of India Industry (CII) also rules out the possibility of Nandigram acting as a deterrent to investors. “If that was so, investors would not have gone to Gujarat after the Godhra riots,” Biswadip Gupta, vice-chairman of CII (Eastern region) said.

The CII vice-chairman, however, says it is true that there was some concern among the investors, mainly revolving around land. “

They may prefer to wait for some time to see how the state government resolves the issue instead of hurriedly pushing through with their projects in the state,” Gupta says. Forward Bloc, a key partner of the ruling Left front, feels that post-Nandigram, it would be difficult for the state government to acquire farmland and industry would have to directly negotiate with the people to get land for their units. General secretary of Forward Bloc state unit Ashok Ghose says that Nandigram sent a wrong message, but would not deter investors from coming here.

Opposition Trinamool Congress, however, has blamed the state government for “not being serious about industrialisation” despite making much hype about it. “Nandigram and Singur are recent phenomenon, then why cannot the government get most of the projects implemented in the state for which agreements were signed,” TC general secretary Partha Chatterjee asks.

Chatterjee also accuses the LF government of not being able to develop infrastructure for industry. “Before coming to the state, investors would like to see if adequate infrastructure is available here,” he said.

Another opposition party, the Congress feels that Nandigram might not send any wrong signal to investors, but farmland should not be taken away for industry.

“Investors will come even after Nandigram, but our stand is that industry must come up on non-fertile land,” Manas Bhuniya, leader of Congress Legislature party says.