Mamata Banerjee has gone tech-savvy. Unlike in the past when the Trinamool Congress manifesto often read like a poor copy of the Left, the Banerjee’s vision document is replete with bar diagrams, data and information to highlight Bengal’s problems of a sharp dip in manufacturing, fall in agriculture growth rates, decline in infrastructure and development.
With Indian Statistical Institute professor Abhirup Sarkar and Ficci secretary-general Amit Mitra as part of her think-tank, it’s not surprising that the manifesto has lots of data and filled with management terms like ?farm to family? for creating cold chains to help agriculture, ?hub and spoke model? to develop health infrastructure, ?cluster development drive? for industry and ?economies of scale?.
Banerjee has put Singur to rest by declaring in the manifesto that she wants to revive West Bengal’s industry with a three-pronged strategy: broad and deep focus on micro, small and medium enterprises; restart closed PSUs and attract large private investments in sectors such as engineering, steel, tea, jute, textiles and other areas of manufacturing, mining.
For Trinamool critics, who often decry her lack of policies, the manifesto has details on the key sectors which need to be developed, like infrastructure, industry, agriculture, tourism and culture. Critics may still find some of the dreams far-fetched ? ?it will endeavour to convert Darjeeling and adjoining Alipore Dooars area into Switzerland of the East and Digha into Goa of the East Coast? or ?why should Kolkata not be comparable to London? ? but she promises to speedily solve the Gorkhaland issue in the first 200 days itself. ?We propose to rebuild the industrial might of Bengal with an eye towards massive employment generation,? Banerjee wrote in a signed appeal at the beginning of the 55 page document.
Chief minister Buddadeb Bhattacharjee had sung the same tune in 2006 after the last assembly elections, but his pro-industry stand began to unravel soon after with the Nandigram and Singur developments.
Pulling away from the Left, she promises to complete the process of APMC reforms and ensure ?meaningful implementation on the ground level in key areas like direct marketing. The manifesto talks about reviving Kolkata airport and of new airports at Malda, Cooch-Behar, Balurghat, Asansol-Durgapur and Medinipur.