Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has a special place in the pantheon of the Communist Party if India (Marxist): he runs a state government, and he has no opposition — at least, none within the party. So it is no wonder that he also got the party to endorse West Bengal’s priority for industrialization, much to the consternation of his colleagues from Kerala. Why this privilege? Because, as he said, West Bengal was once industrialized, and wants to win back its glory. His industry minister persuaded Coimbatore’s textile industrialists to send a delegation to reconnoitre West Bengal.

They had some reason to be tempted. Tamil Nadu has seen frequent power cuts. Some Tamil Nadu industrialists no doubt see the northern state in their dreams where lights never go off. The Tamil industrialists were too polite to ask why West Bengal ceased to be industrialized. It was not as if its industrialists died off, leaving ruins along the Hooghly. They packed their bags, took whatever money they could recover from their businesses, and went and set up industries elsewhere. Industrialists from West Bengal have scattered all over the country, especially to the west and the south. Coimbatore itself has seen none of the labour unrest that the Centre of Indian Trade Unions is notorious for.

Coimbatore is not just the seat of Tamil industry. Many a Malayali tycoon has crossed the mountains and set up business in Coimbatore. And the less affluent went to the Middle East; they are the sinews of business in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The money they made there has brought prosperity to Kerala. That is a way to development that the CPI(M) is adept at: if a state is made sufficiently inhospitable for the rich and the educated, they will go away, develop other places, and return with their wealth to enjoy a comfortable old age. But the young Bengalis deserve better than that: they would like to earn a good living, marry and bring up their children without leaving home and hearth. Not many will be able to do so in the big factories that Mr Bhattacharjee dreams of. Big car-makers and steel plants will absorb much capital and land, but they will create a mere few thousand jobs. West Bengal also needs many small factories, like what Coimbatore has; and small business and militant trade unionism are mutually incompatible.