Buddhadeb woos farmers, harps on industry

Dec 16, 2007, 12:32 GMT

Kolkata, Dec 16 (IANS) Sharpening his attack on the 'retrograde' opposition stymieing the progress of West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Sunday said the state still has a lot to achieve in agriculture and big industries are as important to provide employment to thousands of educated youths seeking jobs.

'It is not about the Trinamul Congress or Congress or the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). It is about the progress of the state and the obligation towards thousands of educated youth who would demand answer from the government if they did not get jobs,' Bhattacharya told a rally of the CPI-M at Dankuni near here in Hooghly district.

'The future of thousands of youths depends on our decisions. So, we have to progress in industry and cannot afford to rest only on the laurels of agricultural development,' Bhattacharya said.

The chief minister spoke with gusto and chose to dispel the 'misgivings' of the people, post-Nandigram atrocities.

'In Singur, the opposition made such a fuss. But imagine how it would look when 12,000 hands would be engaged there (with the completion of the Tata Motors car factory). If we don't do our job, the future generation would not forgive us,' he said.

'We were leading in everything till during the Congress regime in West Bengal we slid back as Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu moved ahead. But since the removal of the licensing policy and since our industrial policy declaration in 1994, we have buckled up,' he said.

'So it is work, work and work for us, while for them (the opposition) it is no, no and no to our positive moves,' Bhattacharya said.

'In Nandigram, they misinformed people before we could inform them rightly or convince them. But now we will set up the chemical hub at Nayachar island in the same district. It is unfortunate that Nandigram failed to realise that they could be another Haldia (industrial town and petrochemical hub),' Bhattacharya said.

The chief minister also took great care to emphasise the state government's agricultural policy.

'We are leading in agricultural production and 84 percent of the land in Bengal is in the possession of the poor people, thanks to our communist government's land reforms policy. But we have to progress in agricultural research and also produce the seeds here,' he said.

'So we have set up an agricultural commission. We have to increase income from agriculture for farmers,' he said.

'But then, agriculture alone cannot take us forward, and so we have to set up heavy industries like iron and steel. At Salboni in West Midnapore, the steel plant (by the Jindals) would see an investment of Rs.350 billion (almost $9 billion),' he said.

Bhattacharya promised to distribute more land to the landless, and took a dig at the opposition for ganging up against his government.

'The fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, the Trinamul Congress and even the Maoists are on one side teaming up against us. But for us it is only about development and we would move ahead,' he said.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service