It is impossible to miss the irony in the change. Communists in India have always put the compulsions of mass politics above economic logic. It is thus a major policy shift for the comrades in Bengal to go into the campaign for the assembly polls with the focus on industrialization and economic development. During the first two decades of the Left Front?s rule in the state, distribution of land and empowerment of the poor through local government were at the centre of political rhetoric and action. Some of that rhetoric remains, but the rally of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at the Brigade Parade Ground showed the new path it now wants to traverse. The party?s new poll mantra of industrialization is an endorsement of the agenda relentlessly pursued by Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in recent years, sometimes in the face of opposition by sections within his own party. That the party patriarch, Mr Jyoti Basu, and the state secretary, Mr Anil Biswas, also made the promise of new industries the key election issue is a vindication of the chief minister?s stand. It is a good sign that the polls have not driven the party to return to its old, populist ways.

Mr Bhattacharjee, though, cannot be unaware of the political risks of the campaign for industries. The opposition parties in Bengal have questioned his government?s policy of acquiring land from farmers in order to sell them to prospective investors. The stir over the proposals by the Salim group of Indonesia proved a major political challenge for the left. There is little doubt that it will be a major campaign issue for the opposition parties which argue that Mr Bhattacharjee?s bounty for new entrepreneurs, domestic or foreign, comes at the expense of poor farmers. As the rally suggested, the left plans to counter the attack in two different ways. One, it will project the opposition as opponents to Bengal?s development. Two, the party will assure the poor, especially in the villages, that the new industries would help, and not harm, them. However, this could be Mr Bhattacharjee?s biggest political challenge in these elections. Since the left?s long reign was founded primarily on its rural support, it cannot afford to do anything that might erode this base. But then, the chief minister cannot afford to stall the state?s promise of an economic rebirth either. The failure to keep the promise could mean worse problems for both Bengal and the chief minister.