The Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal lacked a clear policy and strategy on subjects starting from industry to agriculture and was thoroughly undemocratic in nature, former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said on Sunday.
"There were no targets, no priorities set by the government, which was a pity," Bhattacharjee said addressing his party CPI(M)'s Hooghly district convention.
"Not a single industry has been set up during the present government's tenure so far. After what had been done during the Left front rule, nothing further was added - be it in agriculture or law and order," he said.
"Farmers were committing suicide, colleges were wracked by disturbances, changes were brought in laws governing universities and attacks were made against opposition party workers," Bhattacharjee alleged.
Calling for an immediate halt to such attacks, he demanded restoration of democratic rights.
Describing his party as 'democratic', Bhattacharjee said the same was not true of the Trinamool Congress. "It's leader is running the government through dictatorship."
He expressed concern at farmers choosing the path of suicide after failing to sell their crop at right prices and demanded to know why the government had no procurement policy which could have improved the public distribution system.
"This reflects not only in the central policies which have resulted in the agrarian crisis, but also a gross failure of the state government to put in place a procurement machinery to purchase crops from farmers," Bhattacharjee said.
"The Mamata Banerjee government had also failed to curb blackmarketing in the sale of fertiliser," the former chief minister said.
Bhattacharjee claimed that investment in the IT sector by Wipro and Infosys and in the steel sector by JSW Bengal for its Salboni plant were his government's credit and the present government had no role in it.
"It was because of the Trinamool Congress that the Singur land had been deprived of either industry or agriculture," he alleged.
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