Editorial: A pragmatic Marxist

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee dared to shed the ideological dogma and embrace capital for development.

If Marxists committed — in the words of their veteran leader Jyoti Basu — a “historic blunder” in the mid-1990s by foregoing an opportunity to lead the United Front government at the Centre, they repeated the mistake years later, owing to their ideological rigidity, when they stalled the efforts of their Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to woo private investments for industrialisation of West Bengal.

Bhattacharjee, the last communist Chief Minister of West Bengal, who died after prolonged illness, was a Marxist with a difference; someone who dared to shed the ideological dogma and embrace private capital for rapid development of his home State. However, his pragmatic policies did not go down well with the party leadership and eventually turned out to be his political nemesis.

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The CPI(M) stalwart — a quintessential Bengali ‘bhadralok’ with an austere lifestyle and an incorruptible image — will be remembered for the defeat of the 34-year-old Left regime in the State in 2011 at the hands of Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress which rode to power on the crest of anti-land acquisition protests. He goes down in history as a pragmatic communist who was willing to keep aside his ideological convictions and embrace capitalism for the industrialisation of his State.

Since taking over as Chief Minister of West Bengal from ageing Jyoti Basu in 2000, Bhattacharjee pursued pro-industry policies, often differing with the party line. His persistent efforts for the industrialisation of Bengal earned him the moniker of ‘Brand Buddha’ from the media to signify his government’s developmental initiatives.

The reformist and investor-friendly approach made him popular. It was during his tenure as Chief Minister from 2000-2011 that the State became a preferred investment destination. Within two years of formulating the IT policy in 2003, the sector registered 70 per cent growth. In 2000-01, West Bengal was second only to Gujarat in terms of investment realisation. His biggest initiative was attracting Tata Motors to establish a small car plant at Singur, a fertile agricultural area not far from the city. However, it faced opposition from farmers, a key vote bank of the Left parties, and eventually became one of the key reasons, along with the Nandigram agitation, for the downfall of the Marxist government. Bhattacharjee’s open defiance of the party line on key issues signalled the start of ideological churning in the Marxist party, a process that still continues. The party needs to do candid introspection on the reasons for its steady decline and re-invent itself to stay relevant. A clear disconnect with aspirational middle class, continued peddling of the worn-out Cold War era narrative fuelled solely by anti-Americanism, failure to recognise the role of the private enterprise in wealth creation and distribution, visceral hatred for the corporate world, blind opposition to adoption of new technologies and big ticket projects are some of the factors responsible for the left parties losing relevance over years.