Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya on Tuesday pitched for a new land policy to attract heavy industries, assuring investors that businesses could operate in the state without fear or political interference.
Addressing members of a business chamber for the first time since the BJP came to power in Bengal, Bhattacharya also spoke about potentially scrapping the Urban Land Ceiling Act and introducing contract farming, a major demand from industries and corporate houses.
Contract farming is currently not permitted in the state.
The Telegraph Online had earlier reported that Bengal’s potato farmers’ crisis was linked to the absence of large-scale food-processing and organised procurement systems.
Some experts had argued that contract farming and direct procurement by organised food-processing companies could reduce farmers’ dependence on middlemen and help stabilise prices.
Addressing the annual general meeting of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he said the state had “no future” without large industries and argued that political interference and land-related obstacles had long deterred investment in Bengal.
"Problems related to land ceiling are a major obstacle, as 85 per cent of land here (in the state) is fragmented. We are thinking about it and may remove those hurdles," he said, assuring the business community.
He acknowledged that land reforms of the past had turned the landless into owners.
But the state failed to reach the next stage of a cooperative movement, the BJP Rajya Sabha MP said.
The first Left Front government, which came to power in 1977, introduced land reforms, a step that the CPM claimed weakened landlord dominance in rural Bengal and empowered poor peasants and agricultural workers.
"Invest without fear. There will be no obstruction over land and no political interference," the state BJP chief told the business community.
Bhattacharya clarified that he was not speaking on behalf of the government and was not part of the BJP dispensation.
He said the proposed land policy would take a cue from successful models in states such as Haryana and Maharashtra.
Bhattacharya said 82 per cent of land holdings in Bengal belong to small farmers and stressed the need for "industry participation" for the state's economic transformation.
The BJP state president’s remarks may be interpreted within the context of Singur and Nandigram, the twin land-acquisition disputes that propelled the Trinamool Congress to power and precipitated the decline of the Left Front.
By advocating for the removal of land ceiling restrictions and the introduction of contract farming, Bhattacharya has signalled a distinct departure from the policy framework that has long defined the state’s political and industrial discourse.