No ‘More’: West Bengal CPI (M) cadres to Birla

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Kolkata, Apr 3: The CPI(M) has for the first time targeted organised retail in West Bengal, with cadres forcing the AV Birla group’s More chain to shut down two units it had just opened in Sodepur and Uttarpara in Hooghly district adjoining the city.

Even as the party’s leaders meeting at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu have stated that the party has no objection to domestic players in organised retail, CPI(M) supporters organised demonstrations against More’s discounts and freebies.

In West Bengal, opposition to private retail, especially the farm-to-table segment has so far come from Left Front partner Forward Bloc, which is keen to protect its turf, the agriculture marketing department.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had personally welcomed Mukesh Ambani’s retail plans shortly after taking over for his second term in 2006, but violent opposition from the Bloc had forced

Reliance to shut down its stores last year before they could be opened. Kolkata’s CPI(M) mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya has thrown open the civic markets for the private sector.

The Sodepur outlet of More was forced to close down after operating for barely a month, with local CPI(M) leaders and small traders staging protests. The CPI(M) leaders also submitted a memorandum to the chairman of the local municipality, Charan Chakraborty.

At Coimbatore, Bhattacharjee had told reporters on Wednesday that the party welcomed the entry of organised players in retail but the entry would have to be ‘regulated’. The party, which is opposed to foreign direct investment in retail, has asked the governments of West Bengal and Kerala to frame guidelines accordingly.

Chakraborty, the CPI(M) chairman of the municipality, said local political parties and small traders have complained against freebies and discounts offered by More.

‘‘The Uttarpara store has affected the livelihood of vegetable vendors and small grocers,’’ he said.