Undoubtedly, the last year has been among the most eventful in the recent history of West Bengal. While there have been some positives, there were some difficulties as well for which credible solutions could emerge in the new year. The outcome of the general elections jolted the incumbent Left Front, which apparently had been confident of a victory. The mass struggle at Naxal-affected Lalgarh illustrated that development hadn’t been all-encompassing; Vedic Village, while being burnt down, also gutted the illusion of an alternative to a colonial way of land acquisition; Ratan Tata, the world's cheapest carmaker, said that he could leave Singur if compensated; and India’s third largest IT firm, Wipro Technologies, finally procured land for their second campus in the state. Much has changed in West Bengal, but much more has remained the same.
Lok Sabha elections
Clearly a fall-out of the land agitation in Nandigram and Singur, the Lok Sabha elections of 2009 was the worst setback for the Left Front in West Bengal in three decades. Decimated in the previous election, the Trinamool Congress won 19 of the 42 seats. With the Congress alliance, the tally at 26 was even more staggering for the Left. The results were in stark contrast to the assembly elections of 2006, seen as a mandate for industrialization and a sweeping victory for the CPI(M).
Vedic Village
The Vedic Village fiasco—where locals turned their ire on one of the land brokers leading to the death of one person and substantial damage of its property—put the direct purchase route for land acquisition also on a shaky ground. Vedic Realty, was developing a 1,500 acre information technology township, as a part of the deal with the state government. Vedic Realty had to appoint “hundreds of brokers” for the huge tract, which led to a lot of unpleasantness with the locals. After the debacle of the acquisition route in Nandigram and Singur, the Vedic Village episode showed the flipside of direct purchase.
Singur
In his first press conference in Kolkata since Tata Motors withdrew its iconic Nano from Singur last year, chairman Ratan Tata, said he would return the land if the West Bengal government compensated the company for the investment it made at the site. It set the stage for the government considering other options. First came, Bhel, that backed out after evincing interest. Trinamool Congress chief and Railway minister Mamata Banerjee, immediately mooted a rail coach factory on the abandoned and to her surprise the state government lapped it up. Since then, Singur has been carefully deleted from Banerjee’s speeches.
Lalgarh
It took the West Bengal government about eight months, after the attack on chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee near Salboni, to realise that wide swathes of West Medinipur had slipped out of the states' control and into the hands of the Leftist ultras. On June 18, 2009, the state police together with Central paramilitaries entered the restive region in an attempt to 'reassert the authority of the state'. Six months since, Writers' Building is far from being in control. Instead, the Left alliance has ceded precious political ground. Not that armed confrontations between the state and the Naxals are an aberration in India but, on the polarised political frontlines of West Bengal, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress was steadfast in its reluctance to allow the security forces into the region. It is another matter that Banerjee's own Railways haven't been spared in the Naxal onslaught.
Wipro
It was one of the few positives in a year dominated by negatives. West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee put his best foot forward to give 50 acres at New Town Rajarhat for its second campus. Wipro chairman Azim Premji met the chief minister and formally accepted the land. Work on the campus would start in 18 months and the “potential is big”. Wipro already has a campus at Salt Lake, the it hub of Kolkata which houses around 6,500 employees. Naturally, Bhattacharjee is pinning his hopes on the new campus.
Metro
Aila wasn't the only storm to sweep across West Bengal in May 2009; Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee also became Union railway minister. Months into her tenure, Banerjee inaugurated the 5.8-km-long southern extension of the Kolkata Metro, which had been sanctioned during her previous term as railway minister a decade ago. Consequently, the Metro's ridership went up by over a lakh, but shortage of rakes and aging infrastructure has ensured that a comfortable ride on the city's transport lifeline continues to be elusive.