Why are you afraid of foreign firms if they give jobs

Buddha tells his Kerala comrades

RAJEEV P I The Indian Express: Saturday, December 10, 2005

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DECEMBER 9: The Kerala CPI(M), which hopes to repeat its performance in the Lok Sabha and civic polls in the Assembly elections next year, got a wake-up call today from the man who’s pushing the reform agenda in the party. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee took a swipe at the hardline fringe of the Kerala unit which has yet to come to terms with the reforms within.

‘‘Why should we oppose foreign companies if they bring in jobs? Why should we oppose shopping malls from MNCs if they provide employment to our jobless youth?’’ he said. The West Bengal chief minister was inaugurating the three-day International Congress on Kerala Studies organised by the AKG Study and Research Centre, a CPI(M) intellectual forum. Though it’s a seminar, most observers see the blueprint of the party’s economic agenda, if it comes to power in the state, taking shape here. Bhattacharjee suggested to his Kerala comrades to draw from the “alternative development path” that West Bengal under him has embraced, especially since the Left in Kerala is ‘‘as strong as it is there.’’

But the hardline response came soon. Politburo member V S Achuthanandan said, in his presidential address, that Communists could not view development in purely financial terms alone. ‘‘Many people today view development only through the eyes of MNCs...only in terms of investment and growth rate,” he said. “While busy running after the MNCs, we ignore peasants and farm workers, the small-scale businessmen and other toiling classes.’’

Bhattacharjee, in his inaugural address, emphasised the need for equitable and balanced development and simultaneous growth of all key sectors. ‘‘Growth should not be centred on just cities. It has to be evenly distributed. Bridging the gap between the rural and urban segments will pave the way for the growth of the state,’’ he said. He listed his Government’s development plans and achievements and said that West Bengal’s industrial sector was going for rapid growth. ‘‘A lot of investment is happening in sectors like iron and steel, chemicals and petrochemicals, agro-business and information technology,’’ he said.