Police at Nandigram

The recent Panchayet and Local Government elections in West Bengal have shocked the ruling CPM led Left Government which is in power in the state for the last thirty years. Acquisition of farming land with the objective of rapid industrialization faced stiff opposition from several political parties, farmers and activists. Farmland fot industry became a hot and contoversial issue all over India and movements in Nandigram and Singur drew international attention.

Essentially it is with this issue in line that the ruling left front suffered election defeats in some districts where land acquisition was a major issue. In this edition of our call in show Hello Washington we focus on an emerging debate whether the local election results in West Bengal will slow down the process of speedy industrialization in the state.

Our guests in this show were Anjan Basu,  the Executive Editor of a Kolkata Daily and a veteran political analyst and writer, another political commentator and a senior journalist Manas Ghosh, Editor Dainik Statesman, a Bengali daily from Kolkata and D P Nag, Secretary, Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Kolkata.