The CPI(M) today rolled out the red carpet for Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the very person it had labeled a “World Bank man” four years ago.
Montek, who visited various places in the Sundarbans delta at the request of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, was given VIP treatment by Kanti Ganguly, a firebrand CPI(M) leader who is the minister for Sundarban affairs.
After reaching Kolkata, Montek went straight to Basanti and then Gosaba in a launch via the river system.
At his first landfall in the Sundarbans, Montek chose to pedal his way to the Pakhiralay bungalow on a cycle-rickshaw van.
At the bungalow, Montek was accorded a traditional reception, and over 500 villagers brought in from nearby areas were allowed to interact with him.
Villagers elaborated on their main problems — no electricity, and frequent flooding caused by breaches in the river embankments.
Montek gave them a patient hearing, taking notes. Later, he promised to extend full support to the villagers.
“When I go back to Delhi, I will certainly give the matter serious thought,” Montek is reported to have told the villagers.
He said he had come at the invitation of the state’s chief minister.
Kanti Ganguly told Express that he was impressed at the way Montek listened to the poor in the interior villages, and hoped that the interaction would bear fruit.
Ganguly said Union finance minister P Chidambaram is scheduled to visit the area shortly.
“He has never been to the Sundarbans, and he also wants to understand the problems created by breached embankments,” Ganguly told IE.
Chidambaram had requested the chief minister to arrange a visit, and Bhattacharjee had asked Ganguly to do the needful.
CPI(M) sources said the party no longer wishes to use the label of “American stooge” for senior officials and ministers of the Union government, given that Bhattacharjee wants the state to have healthy relations with the Union government as he tries to change the face of Bengal.
It was former chief minister Jyoti Basu who had labeled Montek a “World Bank man” in September 2004, when Montek had planned to appoint foreign consultants to help in the mid-term appraisal of the Tenth Plan.
“We think that even Chidambaram is pro-US person,” said Benoy Konar, a senior CPI(M) central committee member. “That doesn’t meant that we will not give him a reception when he comes.”
“Montek has come as a deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, so there is nothing wrong in our minister giving him a reception,” said Konar.
