Dreams turn into nightmares, hope into despair: what Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee proposes, his own party disposes. The decision of the Centre for Indian Trade Unions not to include the information technology sector under the rubric of essential and emergency services excluded from the purview of the bandh is a clear indication that Mr Bhattacharjee’s writ does not run among a very important section of his party. No one will buy the artificial distinction often made by comrades between the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the CITU. The latter represents the working class which is still the official vanguard of the CPI(M) and the ideology denoted by the very name of the party. Mr Bhattacharjee has repeatedly spoken of the importance of the IT sector in his dream of making a new West Bengal. The IT industry is projected as the spearhead of the transformation and it is consistently showcased for potential investors. The action of the CITU will now tell the investors that their money is not safe in an industry which is the chief minister’s dream project. According to the CITU — and thus transitively to the CPI(M) — IT is not essential for the growth and development of West Bengal. Mr Bhattacharjee has to seriously review his wherewithal to deliver on the promises that he has made to the people of the state and to industrialists who have visited West Bengal as a home for future investments.

The most serious problem Mr Bhattacharjee faces today originates from within his party and the ideology it advocates. As a result, Mr Bhattacharjee is long on promises and intentions but desperately short on delivery. People are not accusing him of insincerity yet but they are raising doubts about his abilities to fulfil the promises he has made. To an extent, Mr Bhattacharjee has his own past to blame for this. Even the sincerest of intentions cannot change history. The party that Mr Bhattacharjee now leads has soiled the work culture of the state by promoting utterly irresponsible trade unionism. The CPI(M), when it has suited its own political ends, has championed bandhs, disruption of normal life and violence. Mr Bhattacharjee is now fighting this legacy and every time a bandh takes place the frightening spectre of that legacy looms large. If Mr Bhattacharjee is trying to pull West Bengal away from this legacy, the CITU and the culture of bandhs are trying to peg down the state to that legacy and its disastrous implications. West Bengal’s over-optimistic chief minister likes the words of “We shall overcome’’, but he should be careful not to go down in history as the man who did not do too much.