The "Unknown Number" flashing on the cellphone screens of Bengal Inc. this poll season is the ring of ransom, the call of cash.

"I have received complaints from various top industrialists about extortion on a monthly basis to be given to the new young leadership of the party. Industry will never come to Bengal because of such extortion," a Trinamul old-timer and an MP told The Telegraph.

The ransom script, according to three industrialists who spoke to this newspaper:

• Pay up or else we will not give permission to your pending project.
• Pay up or else we will stop work on your work-in-progress project.
• Pay up or else we will see how you get any work done in the next five years after we come back to power.

The three leading industrialists in Bengal vented their frustration with what they were being subjected to by some of the most famous faces in the ruling party.

All three identified one MP as the caller, who they described variously as "industry-friendly", "friend-philosopher-guide" to a person considered closest to the chief minister and "smooth-talking" to the point of referring to his colleagues as "rogues" in front of businessmen.

All three industrialists spoke after a rider: "No names, please."

The reason: "If they come back to power with a big majority, they will make it impossible for us to survive in Bengal."

This newspaper is reproducing excerpts from what the three senior members of the city's beleaguered business community said on condition of anonymity.

Industrialist 1: The demand for political funding has now taken on the form of extortion. There is no other word for it.

The big new player in this area is a young leader said to be closest to the chief minister. For big industry, he operates through his friend-philosopher-guide, an MP.

This "industry-friendly" MP is the one who calls us. Yes, I too got a call from this person who demanded a huge sum on behalf of his reporting authority in the party.

The demand wasn't for a one-off payment either, it was for a hefty (read several lakhs) monthly amount. When I tried to protest, the rate started to climb.

People like us have little to do except negotiate as much as possible without antagonising the chief minister's representative. Industrialists here oblige this MP because he is said to have the ear of the leader who has the ear of the chief minister.

Some of us now fear that they are collecting the money but they do not have the mandate to safeguard us against further demands from other party leaders or against trouble from local-level netas and goons.

Their demands are insatiable. We are all afraid of a call from this MP who boasts of having friends in the industry.

Is the demand from political parties something new? No, it is not. I have faced it in the past. But during the previous regime, some leader would come up and ask us to build, say, "two rooms for a library in the neighbourhood school". Sometimes they wanted two-three tube-wells to be dug in the locality. And there, of course, used to be demands for local puja chanda and the like.

But now, the disproportionate demands have taken the form of extortion. And there is no limit. They can ask for anything, anytime. But the industry is scared to speak out because they fear that these people will be back in power and then persecute us for another five years.

When will this end? Who will ever invest in Bengal? No one. We are the majboor few who cannot uproot ourselves from here and so we hang in there, hoping for a miracle.

Industrialist 2: A businessman has to factor in several risks while setting up a new venture. But nothing can factor in the risk of political extortion and syndicate raj in today's Bengal.

The situation is becoming - and I don't want to sound alarmist - like what it used to be in the days of Ulfa in Assam. They will come to you with lots of homework. They know the size of the business, revenue, profit and the problem points. Bigger the revenue, higher the demand. All in the name of He Who Must Not Be Named and Never Refused.

Enter, a smooth-talking MP. He will come to you as a friend. He will say, don't pay any attention to "these rogues", referring to other senior leaders in the ruling party, before placing an absurd asking price on the table! Then the negotiations will start. You will pay up a part of the original demand and feel relieved. That's the modus operandi of this jugalbandi of the neta and his friend.

Industrialist 3: Initially, Mamata Banerjee and her core group used to refuse money even if some among us would offer it voluntarily. This they touted as being a "matter of principle".

An MP with links with the industrialists here - from classmates to friends - was most vocal in telling the world that this was Didi's principled stand and that the party leadership would stick to this.

But then we realised this was just grand-standing by the TMC leadership because the party was flush with funds, thanks to Saradha and a party leader from north India.

Meanwhile, mid-ranking leaders started extorting from mid-level businessmen and local traders, and their demands just kept multiplying.

Unlike in the time of the CPM, where a certain amount was paid by local businesses to the local party office, with Trinamul organised collection was replaced by loot. Plain loot.

Local businessmen started losing count of how many local Trinamul leaders and their godfathers they were having to pay. And the demand was constant.

Then Saradha went bust, and the other chit fund (deposit collection) companies too collapsed.

One chit fund owner had told me once that they were the "ATM" for the top Trinamul leadership.

With the ATM "out of service", the top leadership quickly ditched the garb of principles and donned the cloak of extortionists.

Their target this year - the A and B teams of local industry. And one never knows where the next call will come from and for how much.

A jailed Trinamul leader called one industrialist for a fat sum and the leader's son landed up in his office to pick up the cash.

A prominent businessman's project in Barrackpore was stalled by an MP, till he paid up something like Rs 30 lakh upfront.

Then there is one big business house, which is going through a rough patch, that is being squeezed by this MP who is often seen on TV.

This MP's call is what industrialists today dread the most. Refusing is not an option.