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The Left Front has a strong presence in West Bengal. The policies of Pandit Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India were generally aligned with the Soviet Union thus the Left was never virulently against him. Though the policy related to the pricing of steel and coal was major sore point against the Nehruvian economics. The dawn of Indira Gandhi and her capitalist leaning brought about strengthening of Left.
Imperialist Forces Defeated
The Left Front has always been against the capitalist policies of the G7 Group. It always viewed the policies against the legitimate rights of the third world and even their own workers. The support of Indira Gandhi to the G7 policies, the declaration of Emergency and the brutal suppression of railway workers’ unrest in 1974 added fuel to fire. The 1977 State Assembly Elections brought the verdict with ouster of Congress Party from West Bengal. The Indira Government started on the policy of wooing the foreign investors with major changes in the economic policies though maintaining the rhetoric of “self reliance”.
The Plundered West Bengal
The Left Front came to power after the great economic recession in the Indian economy during the period of 1966 to 1969. The food shortage escalated to a famine like situation. The Indira Government went for importing of wheat from US and Australia. The Left came up against the move with doubts of essential nutrients taken out of the wheat and so on. However it was an open secret that the Left Front had inherited a plundered West Bengal economy with sick public and private sector. The cut down on spending by the Central Government also led to slow down of the heavy engineering industry of the State. The rural poverty was abysmal with more than 70 percent of the village population below poverty line. Similarly other socio-economic factors pointed towards a total failure of governance. The Left Front set about to correct the systemic rot in the macro and micro-economy.
Uphill Task in a Feudal, Capitalist Society
The Bengali society has strong feudal and class divisions. The British Raj brought many social reforms like stoppage of “killing of witches” and child marriages. But their imperialist policies again bolstered the feudal lords in the state. The high caste Hindus of Bengal brought poor people from the nearby states for working in the farms and household chores. These immigrant laborers lived in squalor with little access to health services. The Left Front targeted this area for gaining mileage in the polls and was hugely successful. The 30 years of the successful Leftist rule in West Bengal has brought many pro-rural and pro-poor policies. The banking sector reforms and especially the contribution of NABARD in rural development have been commendable.
Industrialization
The population rise divided the land holdings and more than 90 percent of the farmers today have less than one hectare of land. Such small land holdings do not generate sufficient income for these families. The government promoted many schemes for setting up of cottage industries. The setting up of numerous industrial units and factories has also generated a lot of employment in West Bengal. Though the leftist policies are averse to capitalist IT related expansion but the Government realized the importance of ITES industry very early. All software majors have sizeable presence in West Bengal.
Social Reforms
The smaller nations like Cuba have better health statistics than the State of West Bengal. The infant mortality rate is still quite high. The Government must improve residential schemes for the poor. It is true that many schemes were launched for providing housing to the slum dwellers. But then they sold these accommodations and went back to their slums. The polio eradication schemes though started by the Center have been successfully implemented in West Bengal. The NGOs have also contributed immensely in social upliftment. The Government has launched schemes for procurement of farm produce at reasonable rates which has been largely successful. Mother Teresa won Nobel Prize for her work in Calcutta slums.
The masses are happy with the Left Front government and this is the only state of India where the party has kept such a strong hold for three decades. The politically active Uttar Pradesh has seen many new political liaisons to gain power. The main mantra and motive is to gain power, governance is secondary. West Bengal is different, governance is important. And it sure would be when the percentage of people casting their votes is the second largest in the country. It is not that the Left can not do any wrong, they have their peccadilloes and shortcomings but they are close to the heart of an average Bengali.
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