The spectacular victory of Trinamool Congress and its leader Mamata Banerjee in the just concluded municipal polls in West Bengal takes them one step closer to replacing the Left Front government in the assembly elections due next year. The dominant theme of Banerjee?s successful campaign against the Left was to highlight the latter?s misrule. Her strenuous effort to dislodge the government for the last few decades have gained critical mass only recently when her struggle against land acquisitions, first in Singur and later in other places, provided her the ballast to deal a crunching blow to the Left, first in the elections to the Lok Sabha and now in the municipal elections. But the question now is, what is the big vision of the chief minister in waiting and how will a change in government leadership help put the moribund West Bengal economy back on the rails? The tasks are not easy considering that the three decades of uninterrupted rule by the Left Front have led to political and institutional rigidities and much cynicism about the prospects of the state. The most visible evidence of this is the failure of the efforts made by the Left Front for the industrialisation of the state by unfurling a new industrial policy in the mid-nineties and taking proactive steps to attract capital from both domestic and foreign investors.
One reason for this is the poor infrastructure facilities, which have not been upgraded due to the lack of resources. Efforts to improve these services with private investment have also not brought the intended results as Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee?s efforts to fast-track the agenda did not get the full political backing of his party. A major reason for the apparent failure of the industrialisation efforts was the inability to percolate the reform efforts to the grass roots. The bureaucracy and the party cadre, who have encroached upon the institutions of governance in the districts and at the local levels, have, over the years, developed their own vested interests, which the weak state-level leadership found difficult to overcome. Mamata Banerjee will have a hard time to restore the independence of the bureaucracy and protect it from political interventions, which is essential to restore the rule of law and provide a facilitating environment for industry. A reason for hope is Banerjee?s ability to occasionally seek the help of professionals and experts to take an informed view on policy. But then she will have to spell out her vision for West Bengal before others come forward to help implement them.