Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: October 13, 2008
http://www.dailypioneer.com/127289/Good-M-bad-M.html
Tatas lash out at Kerala's Marxist CM
Soon after he decided to relocate the Nano's
mother plant to Sanand in Gujarat from Singur in West Bengal, Tata Group chairman
Ratan Tata said his last meeting with Chief Minister West Bengal was particularly
hard. It would have been -- till the last minute, Mr Bhattacharjee and West
Bengal Industries Minister Nirupam Sen tried to salvage the project and convince
Mr Tata that he should not move out of the State. But Mr Tata could read the
writing on the wall and rather than allow the project to founder on the rock
of Ms Mamata Banerjee's obduracy, he chose to take his investment elsewhere.
Yet, he took care to let it be known that he held no grudge against either
Mr Bhattacharjee or his party, the CPI(M). On their part, Mr Bhattacharjee
and his comrades have been cautious not to criticise Mr Tata's decision; they
are hopeful of another project materialising to compensate for the loss of
the Nano plant. Indeed, ever since the project was conceived, great bonhomie
marked the discussions between the Tata Group and the Left Front Government,
notwithstanding the fact that Communists do not take kindly to capitalists.
There is, however, nothing to suggest that the good vibes are shared between
the two beyond West Bengal -- for evidence, witness the slanging match between
the Tata Group and Kerala's Marxist Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan. For the
past one year, Mr Achuthanandan has been waging a campaign against the Tata
Group, accusing Tata Tea of grabbing land in Munnar. Not that Mr Achuthanandan
has been able to prove his allegation: On the contrary, he was left looking
utterly silly when it was found that land he claimed had been usurped by Tata
Tea was actually belonged to, and was in the custody of, the forest department.
A red-faced Chief Minister reacted by doing what politicians usually do in
such situations: Punishing bureaucrats for 'misleading' him. That embarrassment,
though, has not curbed Mr Achuthanandan's enthusiasm to prove that Tata Tea
has been grabbing land; recently, he reiterated his charges without bothering
to check on his facts. Tata Tea has now hit back, pointing out that neither
is the tea plantation in Munnar any longer under its control -- a separate
company has been formed in which workers, most of them members of CITU, hold
majority share -- nor is it in posession of excess land. In fact, the area
with the plantation is less than what it should have had, the remaining having
been taken over by squatters who enjoy Marxist patronage.
Apparently, the animosity between Mr Achuthanandan
and Tata Tea dates back to the 1990s when the two clashed repeatedly. The
veteran Marxist saw Tata Tea as a 'class enemy' to be defeated and demolished;
Tata Tea reciprocated his sentiments in full measure. The spat between the
two has left the CPI(M)'s central leadership in a flux -- it does not want
to be seen as supporting Mr Achuthanandan lest it impact adversely on the
prospects of Mr Ratan Tata revisiting the abandoned Singur project at a later
date. At the same time, it can't be seen to be abandoning Mr Achuthanandan,
the last of the remaining unreconstructed Marxists in the party. So, Mr Sitaram
Yechury and others continue to walk a tightrope. Mr Bhattacharjee, the 'good
Marxist', hopes Singur marks a temporary retreat and investors will not ignore
West Bengal. As for Mr Achuthanandan, the 'bad Marxist', he valiantly continues
to wage war against capital and capitalists.
