There isn't an occasion that the Left misses to denounce American MNCs and "imperialism". If one looks at their resolutions on foreign and economic policies or on the country's political situation, the US "devils" are everywhere. So rational people may wonder why CPI(M) leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is taking a large delegation to the US to woo the Left's pet-hate, American capitalists. We only knew "Revanchists", "imperialist dogs", "warmongers", "CIA agents", etc, have been the words with which India's communists grace America. Pray, when did American capital become an attraction for you, Mr Bhattacharjee? Or, is it that American capital is sweet when it is invested in West Bengal, but the devil incarnate when used elsewhere in the country?

There is the other drama being played out at Singur with the West Bengal Chief Minister insisting that there is no going back on the land given to Tata Motors for their factory even as Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is still on a hunger strike demanding Tata Motors be driven out of the farmlands. Thee very Communists are opposing the setting up of SEZs on rich farmlands in Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. If the acquisition of rich farmlands for industrial purposes is good for West Bengal, how can it be bad for Uttar Pradesh? The CPI and CPI(M) now have another company - former Prime Minister VP Singh, whose sole agenda is to work towards wrecking social harmony and opposing any economic activity in the name of social justice.

Communists like China's leadership have already buried Karl Marx and Mao Tse Tung deep. They have chosen the path of economic liberalisation and welcomed the US and European capital with open arms. China has six industrial complexes, the largest of them extending up to 49,300 hectares as a special zone with special sops for capital. The sops include flexible labour laws. While in India the Communists oppose such flexibility in labour laws, they uphold China as a model employer. Indian Communists who oppose foreign capital for building exclusive business cities are silent on their own Government in West Bengal giving away thousands of acres of land to the Indonesian multinational Salem group of industries for the same purpose.

One may or may not entirely approve of the methods Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has adopted, but her political strategy on the issue is paying dividends. Overnight, the movement she launched against giving away agricultural land to industries is blooming into a massive confrontation between determined farmers and the Government.

It is unfortunate that the UPA Government is not drawing any guidelines with regard to converting agricultural farms into factories. There could be no two opinions that India needs industrialisation at a rapid pace. But using farmlands for this purpose creates huge socially negative dividends even if it is necessary for industrial growth. Mr Bhattacharjee claims that the compensation given to the farmers of Singur is almost three times the value of the land. But compensation is not the only issue. The displaced farmers might get compensation, but what happens to the displaced agricultural labour? Where will they get similar jobs?

The construction works at best could give the displaced agricultural labour a livelihood for a year or two. Then again there will be a void. Farmers have always lamented after the initial joy of getting compensation. The reason is that they are mostly uninitiated in the art of managing large funds. The promise of the industry to give them at least one job per family proves meaningless because they are not qualified for industrial jobs unless proper two to three years' training is given to those who are high school graduates at the least. Such means must be provided by which the displaced people could be given a stake in the industry built over the land they have tilled as owners and labour for ages.

There are huge tracts in West Bengal in Midnapore, Bankura, Birbhum and Purulia districts where either agricultural yields are low or lands are barren. The Left Front Government, which claims to be the messiah of the farmers, however, has not asked the Tatas to select land from these areas. Instead, a very fertile place like Singur has been given for industrial purposes. The same thing has happened in the case of the township that Salem is going to build in the State. The industrial belt of West Bengal in the Asansol-Durgapur area with its mining tracts and old engineering firms would have been a better location. Moreover, this could also have revived this industrially neglected area. Why the Chief Minister was insistent on new farmland locations rather than the alternative sites, remains a mystery.

It is no great mystery, however, that Marxists speak in two different tongues when it comes to West Bengal and the rest of the country. They also resort to doublespeak when it comes to giving away sensitive sectors to Chinese companies while opposing capital from other countries in similar sectors. CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat pleads with the Prime Minister for awarding some 13-port locations to Chinese companies. Experts have pointed out that such incursion of Chinese companies into these ports would give them access to sensitive hydrological data that could make a difference to a naval assault on India through these ports.

In the context of growing Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean and its seeking of port facilities in Chittagong, Mynamar ports, Male and Gwadar in Pakistan, is it advisable for India to throw all caution to the winds and hand over as many as 13 ports to China? For all the sweet words that Chinese President Hu Jintao said on his recent visit, security analysts are cautioning us against his renewed strengthening of relations with China and widening of Chinese investments in critical areas of Pakistan from nuclear facilities, missile guidance systems, critical road projects and ports.

The Marxist doublespeak is again evident in the opposition of the CPI(M) to liberalisation in the rest of the country, while going ahead with it in the States ruled by the Left. The same is starkly visible on the Left's hypocrisy on other issues: It does not mind having alliance with Islamists in Kerala while claiming to be the defender of secularism. It openly advocates China's penetration into the Indian economy while opposing incursion of MNCs at the national level. A weak Government at the Centre depending on its Leftist allies is the right opportunity for a Marxist coup.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, December 15, 2006