Kolkata:
After Singur and Nandigram, a debate had erupted over what is better for Bengal - agriculture or industry. Though land acquisition for industry has caused the Left serious poll reverses, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is still convinced that industry is the way forward and said so as recently as on June 21, the day the Left completed 33 years of rule in Bengal. But now one of his own Cabinet ministers, knowing well that he is going to embarrass the chief minister, has challenged that and said agriculture holds the key to the state's progress.
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya didn't need this -- one of his own ministers contradicting him openly on a subject that is super sensitive since Nandigram and Singur, the subject of agriculture versus industry.
"Those who think agriculture is not profitable, I don't agree with them. Agriculture is profitable and in West Bengal we have to depend on agriculture for progress in future," said state's Land Reforms Minister Rezzak Mollah.
The land reforms minister directly contradicted Buddhadeb's push for industry on June 21, which marked 33 years of Left rule in Bengal. After the chemical hub at Nandigram and the Nano plant at Singur went for a toss, industry had become a very sensitive word.
"In this state, the pace that industry has picked up, no one will be able to stop that. Bengal will stand on agriculture's success and progress on the path of industry. This is inevitable, said West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.
Agriculture is our foundation, industry our future. The land reforms minister had taken pot shots at this Buddhadeb slogan in the past. But his latest infraction sets the stage for a direct confrontation, the last thing the Left needs with its most challenging Assembly poll now less than a year away.