A mutating Marxist's lesson for India Inc

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee wasn't a name that would pop up in corporate boardrooms - except, perhaps, in the Tata's - for the right reasons. Bhattacharjee was double-hobbled in this respect: he was the long-standing CM of a state held antonymous with business and industry; and his being a key figure in a party called Communist Party of India (Marxist) couldn't have helped. And, yet, during his stint as CM, he attempted to swivel the Left ship towards capital creation, a prime criterion for the 'political' purpose of capital distribution. His failings - whether to establish a Tata Nano factory in Singur, or set up a Jindal Group steel plant in Salboni, or Indonesian Salim Group's petrochemical hub in Nandigram - strangely mirror challenges India Inc faces today.

Bhattacharjee's biggest mistake in his attempt to become a Deng Xiaoping was that he blithely expected The Party to swivel out of 'party discipline'. As in any company boardroom, such a swivel requires taking the board along, convincing stakeholders with their own interests and holding gradualism over forcing the agenda, especially if it's a radical one. Whether introducing AI, pushing through diversification or M&A plans, the well-entrenched CEO, like the established CM attempting to push through reforms, is best suited for such a job.

Bhattacharjee's impeccable credentials as a communist earned the CPI(M) record votes in the 2006 state election, prior to the one in 2011 where the ultra-Left in anti-Left clothing took over. It also should have given him the credibility to pilot Bengal into the economic 21st century. Instead, the mutating Marxist leaves us with the lesson for the absolute need for consensus-building, in the company or party, when undertaking a Great Swivel.