Das, Ritanjan
(2013)
History, ideology and negotiation: the politics of policy transition in West Bengal, India.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
The thesis offers an examination of a distinct chapter in the era of economic reforms in India
- the case of the state of West Bengal - and narrates the politics of an economic policy
transition spearheaded by the Left Front coalition government that ruled the state from 1977
to 2011. In 1991, the Government of India began to pursue a far more liberal policy of
economic development, with emphasis being placed on non-agricultural growth, the role of
the private sector, and the merits of foreign direct investment (FDI). This caused serious
political challenges for the Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPIM), the main party in the
Left Front. Historically, the CPIM was committed to pro-poor policies focused on the
countryside and had spoken out strongly against privatisation and FDI; however it could not
ignore the stagnating industrial economy of the state, and was thus compelled to court private
investment and take advantage of the liberalised policy environment. The nature of this
dichotomy – one that characterised the political economy of West Bengal over the last two
decades – is studied in this research as a set of why-how questions. Firstly, why did the
CPIM/Left Front take upon itself the task of engineering a transition from an erstwhile landreform and agriculture based growth model to a pro-market development agenda post-1991?
And secondly, how was such a choice justified to/negotiated with the various stakeholders
(the rank and file of the CPIM itself, other coalition member parties, trade unions, the
industrial class, etc.) while sustaining the party’s traditional rhetoric and partisan character?
In examining the second part, the thesis also ventures into the recent cases of huge opposition
to land acquisition for industrial plants at Singur and Nandigram, and demonstrates how the
mandate of the top brass of party leadership in Calcutta was being implemented, translated or
contested at the local levels. On the whole, this thesis attempts a reappraisal of the politicaleconomic history of the Left Front regime and particularly that of its majority partner, the CPIM, over the last two decades. It also places the case in a broader Indian context and
contributes to wider debates on the changing nature of federalism in India and the politics of
economic reforms
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