West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, with the Lok Sabha polls just round the corner, said on Saturday that the Left would have to perform the difficult task of floating a Third Force, an alternative to the BJP and the Congress.
Bhattacharjee was addressing a rally organised by the CPI(M)’s youth wing, the Democratic Youth Federation Of India (DYFI), at the Brigade Parade Ground. He said that his party wanted a government in Delhi that would follow a foreign policy not influenced by the US.
“The NDA and the UPA have followed foreign policies influenced by the US. We want neither the Congress nor the BJP to come to power again in Delhi. At the same time, we also know that forming the third alternative is a very difficult task the Left parties have to perform,” the CPI(M) politburo member said.
The CM, continuing his tirade against the US, said India had become a victim of the economic meltdown there.
Bhattacharjee also said that Left forces had played a major role in preventing US bank and insurance companies from entering the Indian market. “I can tell you that we have saved our countrymen from an even bigger economic crisis by preventing US bank and insurance companies from entering our market.”
The CM, referring to Ratan Tata’s decision to shift the Nano project from Singur, raised a very crucial question. “Did we make any mistake by attempting to set up a car manufacturing unit in Singur? We have advanced ourselves in the agricultural sector by producing record quantities of rice and vegetables. People want jobs, and for that we need industrialisation. That is why we tried to set up the factory in Singur.”
Bhattacharjee also accused the Trinamool Congress of preventing the government and the Tatas from setting up the factory in Singur. “We are facing resistance in our drive to industrialise West Bengal. The principal opposition party in our state is attempting to force us to confine our activities only to agriculture. But the agricultural sector does not have the capacity to employ a large number of people.”
Bhattacharjee also referred to separatist movements being carried out by forces such as Kamtapuri Liberation Organisation (KLO), Gorkha Janamukti Morcha and the Maoists. He made it clear that his government would not tolerate any movements that seek a split in West Bengal’s territory, and described the Maoists as ‘cowards and devils’ who operate from the neighbouring state of Jharkhand.
Left Front chairman and CPI(M) politburo member Biman Bose and DYFI leader Abhas Roychoudhury also spoke at the rally.