Backseat for Bengal’s nano vision

A much has been talked about by the learned class on the wrong she is doing to WB. Holding back the state from development for a ransom after colluding with the 440 acres land acres is not right for the bhadralok samaj. So much so that the security personnels checking bags at the Delhi metro stations reflect the sentiments. “Mamta ko kya khujli hai pata nahi. Agar factory banta hai to kitne logon ko rozgar milega, prodyogikaran hoga. Bekar ke drame kar rahi hai,” they discuss.

But can the general perception be taken as an obvious choice, is the key question. I am one of those, without having knowledge of the ground zero, that the Tata factory could prove boon for the future of the state. It might just change the way youth grow in the state, I closely know, and look for survival (professional) opportunities. No doubt, IT has entered it the state. So have retail, hospitality, pharma and real estate. But not comparable enough to bridge the divide of urban/rural educated youth and the employed class. The majority of former are unemployed. The debate has actually given the scope to identify state’s policy for the future from agrarian to industrial driven.

Setting up a factory on a wrong precedence (i.e. acquiring land with force) can change the perception of the investors. This is the only danger WB government has to look at. Mamata is also true that nobody knows the intricacies that lead to the deal between Tata’s and WB govt. Both sides should have taken into account complete the owners of 997 acres as a whole before the landmark step. Stepping into farmers’ shoes offers an even grimmer picture of the situation; ones who have sold land to Tata’s as well as those who didn’t.

The situation reminds me of IC 814 hijack, where the Centre had to deal with the national security versus lives of its few citizens. Govt made a mistake by taking too much time and reading the situation from the pilot’s perspective then. I don’t know who has donned the roles of pilots, hijackers or the government (remind you, govt is of, by and for the people). But farmers for sure (on both sides of the deal) are sheer hostages of a planned act that could go either way in deciding their future stake of their existence, with land or without it.

Two perspectives, for sure, are driven by red tape in some manner or other. Nonetheless, I pray for the state that knows red tapeism (nanoism) better than anything else to get over this one in a manner that increases the scope for people to taste the opportunity of global economy and proves state’s latent potential to take the country ahead. Now, Mamta should give up her “nano” vision and take the state towards a desperate growth through Tata’s NANO vision the world is bowing to.