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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

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Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Will Suvendu Adhikari’s massive welfare schemes outdo Mamata’s doles?—A clash of legacies

Years of dwindling assembly hours and bureaucratic echo chambers cost Mamata Banerjee the state, opening the gates for a new BJP regime.

The first five years of Mamata Banerjee were reminiscent of the fresh energy and enthusiasm of the Left Front. From the Global Investors Meet to Biswa Bangla to the Agribusiness Marts and Utkarsh Bangla, the skilling mission, Banerjee took advice not just from her bureaucrats but from a cross section of society—from artists and thespians to captains of industry, serving and retired politicians.  She consulted a range of artists such as Siva Prasanna, Bratya Basu, Shaoli Mitra, Jogen Chowdhury, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Arindam Sil, and Soham Chakraborty. Banerjee even had economist Amit Mitra as her finance minister. Business tycoons such as ITC’s Y Deveshwar, Sanjiv Goenka of the RPSG Group, Harshavardhan Neotia, as well as, Sanjay Budhia were helping her shape the industrial landscape. 

In 2015, Banerjee hosted the country’s leading corporates, from Mukesh Ambani to Gautam Adani, at the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), which also saw ministers and high commissioners from across the world commit to investments in West Bengal. D Bandyopadhyay, the architect of Operation Barga, was on hand to advise the chief minister on agriculture and rural development. Populist schemes such as Khadya Saathi (subsidised food grains), Kanya Shree (conditional cash transfers for girl education) and Sabuj Saathi (bicycles for students) resonated deeply with rural and lower-income voters.

Another visible change from the LF was her direct integration with the officers. Under the LF, the departmental ministers and the district zilla parishad heads, except in Congress-dominated districts like Malda, Mushidabad and Darjeeling, held the reins of power. Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s interaction was never direct, except in the last few years of the Bhattacharjee regime in 2011, by which time the decline had already begun. 

Secretaries found that Banerjee preferred to discuss critical issues with them rather than her cabinet ministers. This was good for the bureaucracy in the short run, but in the long run, it was detrimental for political insights and inputs, which are equally important in policy communication and implementation. Although the DMs were happy to receive instructions........

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