In an interview with Namrata Acharya, Ficci secretary-general and MLA elect, Amit Mitra talks about West Bengal’s politics and his new role.
What went wrong with the Left Front government?
There are two inner contradictions. First, one part of the party, which is in the government, is seeking investments from multinationals. But, the cadres are taught that in a petty bourgeois democracy (that is what they call our democracy), if you work hard and bring capital, you will subject yourself to the creation of surplus value, implying you are sucking the blood of the working classes. The theoretical foundation of the party is class struggle, wherein capitalists are to be banished, and multinationals are to be considered neo-colonialists and imperialists.
So, when Buddha babu (West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee) started attracting investments, naturally, it was inconsistent with the party’s fundamental position. To avoid this contradiction, east European Communist parties changed their position and called themselves social democrats. They also created conditions to retrain the party cadre. The Left here had to change the name of its party, just like in east Europe, and it became the Left Social Democratic Party.
The second contradiction stems from the fact that they still seek the dictatorship of the proletariat, which means a single party, single cadre regime, like in China. They could not do it here, as Biman Basu had pointed out, because they were in power only at the state level, and not the Centre. But in the states, they created a new model, which I would call a neo-fascist model within a democratic polity. It means they won elections by stuffing the ballot boxes and created a single-party environment, just like in China. They were trying to sabotage the democratic polity by sabotaging elections, and then, using party cadre rather than democratic institutions as the main beneficiaries of state power — both financial and political. They have to resolve this contradiction of attempting to create a fascist structure within a democratic polity.
Thirty four years is a very long period for a single party to remain in power. How did the Left manage victory by huge margins in successive elections?
I will give you one physical mechanism. Asim Dasgupta had won the last election in 2006 by 44,000 votes. I won this time by 26,454 votes. Could he have really won by 44,000 votes? This is where the needle of suspicion turns. When I asked people, they said Dasgupta never went there for campaigning. For the first time in his life, as I was walking 15-20 km a day, he came to walk around in his constituency. When he met people, they said, “We do not have drinking water, we do not have drains and we do not have roads. Where were you all this time?” This is because his party was taking care of the elections completely. This is an inner contradiction. There were no votes. They were stuffing ballots.
If I ask you to point out one single achievement of the Left Front government, what would it be?
The greatest achievement of the Left Front was the systematic, engineered suppression of the people. They created a marvellous model. No one had to go to vote because the party voted. To engineer such a model in a state with such a huge population is a tremendous achievement. They did not realise one day it would collapse because of one woman — Mamata Banerjee.
More From This Section
The state government doesn’t even have the money to pay salaries to its own employees. What could have been the reasons behind such a poor state of finances?
They squandered the money. They have even returned the state funds given by the Centre. Biman Basu kept saying the Centre was not giving West Bengal money, but I will give you an example. They wanted to borrow Rs 3,000 crore to pay salaries and interests for the month of April. The Central government was allowed to give them only Rs 1,200 crore. Pranab Mukherjee did them a favour by giving them Rs 1,400 crore first, and then, the Reserve Bank of India gave them the remaining amount. So, in the end, they were only entitled to Rs 1,200 crore. Let me tell you another terrible thing. The state is allowed to borrow Rs 15,000 crore in a year. They have already borrowed Rs 7,500 crore in one month, leaving the government to borrow Rs 7,500 crore for the remaining 11 months. This is criminal when the election is going on.
So, how will the new government manage its borrowing programme in a situation where it has very little headroom to borrow?
The new government, headed by Mamata Banerjee, will sit across the table with the Central government for a road map. The reason the Left Front did not get a special package is that they never presented a road map. This is what the Finance Ministry, the Planning Commission and RBI have been for. They passed the Fiscal Responsibility Management Act in 2010, when all other states passed it in 2005. And, that too, just eight months ago. So, how could the Central government have given them the money?
The Left Front says agriculture has been its strong point and land and Panchayati Raj reforms its hallmark. What do you have to say?
Agricultural growth, before they took over, between 1965-1975, was at 17.4 per cent. In 2008-2009, it fell to seven per cent. Obviously, they didn’t invest in agriculture and the growth fell sharply, and, therefore, they were in a mess. My question is how could agricultural growth decline from 17 per cent to seven per cent?
Now that the Trinamool Congress has got a huge mandate, what will be your priorities?
My priorities will be defined by Mamata Banerjee, and her priorities have already been defined in the manifesto in the vision document.
You are projected as the next finance minister of the state. How do you propose to bring the state finances on track?
Sorry, I am not projected as the finance minister. It is the media. I have come here to be a part of the historical change. Whatever role Mamata Banerjee gives me — minister or no minister, advisor or party organiser — I will carry it out with diligence.
What is your agenda for the next seven days. Will you go to Delhi with Mamata Banerjee?
No. The next seven days for me are not defined.
Asim Dasgupta has been applauded on his role as the chairman of the empowered committee of state finance ministers on Goods and Services Tax (GST). What will be the new government’s take on GST?
When a further development in GST takes place, we will talk about it. GST was a part of Mamata Banerjee’s manifesto in the Parliamentary election. We will see how she would like to deal with this matter. I can’t talk about GST now.
Will you continue as the Ficci secretary-general?
No, I will not. I can’t hold an office of profit, being an MLA. I will consider resigning from Ficci. I can’t hold two offices at the same time. When and how, I will have to discuss with Ficci. While there is no law against it, it is not appropriate.
So, will the Writers’ Building go green now?
That Mamata Banerjee will know.