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After Jyoti Basu, who? The old question about West Bengal's Marxist patriarch's successor has now an answer, although unofficial. The question acquired an urgency recently after it was known that an ailing Basu had requested the CPI(M) top brass to relieve him of his 21-year-old chief ministerial responsibilities. And, as Basu left on a 20-day trip to London for a medical check-up, 51-year-old poetry and play writing Buddhadev Bhattacharyya was made, for the first time, acting chief minister, thereby fuelling speculation that the long-waited successor is here at last. He talked to Ashis Chakrabarti on the road ahead. Excerpts:
So your party has found in you a successor to Basu?
There has been no discussion in the party on this as yet.
Why then were you made acting chief minister in his absence?
I can't answer this question. But it was decided that I would look after certain areas and Asim Dasgupta (finance minister) and Surya Mishra (panchayat minister) some other After Jyoti Basu, who? The old question about West Bengal's Marxist patriarch's successor has now an answer, although unofficial. The question acquired an urgency recently after it was known that an ailing Basu had requested the CPI(M) top brass to relieve him of his 21-year-old chief ministerial responsibilities. And, as Basu left on a 20-day trip to London for a medical check-up, 51-year-old poetry and play writing Buddhadev Bhattacharyya was made, for the first time, acting chief minister, thereby fuelling speculation that the long-waited successor is here at last. He talked to Ashis Chakrabarti on the road ahead. Excerpts:
So your party has found in you a successor to Basu?
There has been no discussion in the party on this as yet.
Why then were you made acting chief minister in his absence?
I can't answer this question. But it was decided that I would look after certain areas and Asim Dasgupta (finance minister) and Surya Mishra (panchayat minister) some otherareas in his absence.
But isn't it true that Basu has requested the party to relieve him as chief minister?
All I can say at this point is that the party hasn't taken a decision. Some newspapers wrote that the party will discuss the issue at the party congress (in Calcutta from October 5 to 11). I can tell you it won't be discussed at the party congress. These things are not discussed and decided at the congress.
But isn't it just a matter of time, a very short time really, before Basu quits. He himself wants to quit on health grounds.
We'll like him to continue as long as his health permits. His Cabinet colleagues are not emotionally prepared to let him go. You've seen how even leaders of other parties also reacted to the report of his retirement plan. All of us would like him to carry on as long as his health permits.
Does that mean there is no other leader who can cope with situations like him. After him, the deluge?
Certainly, there is no one among us who can handlethings the way he does. He has quick and varied responses to diverse situations. He speaks in one voice to the masses, in another to bureaucrats and yet another to businessmen. And, all these voices are equally sincere. And, he is among very few of the party leaders who have national image and acceptance.
That being so, how would you or any other successor of Basu manage things while you are in power?
The party has long thought over this question. The answer obviously is collective leadership. It has happened in other states where we've been in power. A group of leaders have taken over from individuals who stood tall for a long time. Take Kerala, for instance. It's been collective leadership ever since EMS (Namboodiripad) took over as party general secretary. In Tripura, old stalwarts like Nripen Chakraborty and Dasarath Deb left the scene and a younger team has taken over.
Won't there be problems among Left Front partners once Basu quits office?
There might be problems because he hasalways been a unifying factor for all Front partners.
Since you may be the one to carry forward his legacy, what do you think are the major problem areas for the government?
Urban unemployment is a major problem. So is industrial sickness. You know how West Bengal's traditional industries like jute and engineering have declined. Only tea still makes profits.
In recent years, one heard of an industrial revival. Apparently, nothing much has come of it.
It's not true that nothing has happened. We were high on industrial investment list of the states, second to Maharashtra and Delhi. Since we announced our new industrial policy in 1994, 53 new projects have come up. But the problem is that the new units are not labour-intensive. Only 19,000 jobs have been created in these new units.
The government and the CPI(M) pinned great hopes of an industrial rebirth on the Haldia petrochemical project. But will the project be viable without the downstream units?
The downstream units havealways been part of the project vision. That's why we talked of four polyparks. Two of them are coming up already. Work for the other two will begin soon. The main project, the naphtha cracker plant is due to be commissioned in the middle of next year.
Even in the rural sector, which is flaunted as the Left Front's success story, the initial euphoria over land reforms and panchayats is a thing of the past. Where do you take the rural reforms from where they stand now?
We have been discussing this issue in the party for some years now. Our food production has increased manifold. But what we need to do now is to bring agro-based industries in the rural sector. This is necessary to create new rural jobs.
The villages have long been the Left's stronghold. But the BJP-Trinamool combine is making steady inroads into the villages. Can the Left remain in power if your rural support base crumbles?
The results of the last panchayat elections show we are still firmly entrenched in the villages. Butremember the Congress always had a solid rural support too. The Trinamool Congress has taken away the major chunk of the Congress votebank, both in towns and villages. The BJP has taken advantage of the Congress split.
Now that your party wants to join hands with the Congress to topple the BJP-led government at the Centre, how would you get the party rank and file to reconcile to this changed strategy. How can they keep on fighting the Congress at the grassroots level?
It should not be a problem. It won't be difficult for the party cadre how dangerous the BJP is. But no one favours another election if the BJP government goes. So supporting a Congress-led alliance is the only alternative. We'll support the Congress at the Centre but fight it at the state level.
For all these years, the Left hung to the coat-tails of other parties for a national role -- Janata Party, Janata Dal and now Congress. In the anti-Congress days, you joined forces even with the BJP.
It's true we haven't been ableto spread our influence beyond West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. But our failure had much to do with the national political scene.
Frankly, is the Left relevant in today's open-market economy which is also the driving force for politics? Can it be anything but just a ginger group? As for West Bengal, many people think the future lies more with someone like Mamata Banerjee.
I dont agree, not because of what I may or may not think of her individually. She has no future because Trinamool Congress is not a party. It has no ideology, no programme. We are more worried about the BJP.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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