<...>
> In West Bengal the picture is more disturbing. There is clear
> evidence of vote shifts against the ruling Left Front, and this
> message from the electorate cannot be ignored but must be addressed.
> The Left Front has ruled the state for more than three decades,
> providing not only stability but also many extremely positive
> measures for the improvement of conditions of life of ordinary
> people: not just the crucial land reforms that were the most
> extensive of any state government in the last 30 years, but the
> pioneering moves towards decentralisation and providing more powers
> to locally elected bodies.
>
> However, in the past few years the state government of West Bengal,
> through its own actions or its inability to get its message across,
> has contributed to some loss of goodwill among the people. Three
> factors that have contributed to this and which must be recognised
> and addressed are:
>
> The sense of alienation among the peasantry in the face of the
> events at Singur and Nandigram and the inability of the government
> to adequately justify its actions to the people or even to publicise
> its continuing land distribution programme;
>
> The perceptions of discrimination among the Muslim community, even
> among those who have earlier been consistent Left supporters;
>
> The feeling that the government has been more heavily influenced by
> the bureaucracy rather than responding to — and engaging with — the
> actual cadre of the parties, bright and highly committed people who
> have given their lives towards working for socialism and for the
> ideals of the Left.
>
> To these negatives must be added some errors of omission, in terms
> of positive policy interventions that have not been sufficiently
> utilised or developed. The most important of these is the National
> Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which was brought about by
> the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government largely because of
> insistent pressure from the Left at the national level.
<...>
--ravi