Saturday, August 27 2005 14:22 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jakarta: As reforms in West Bengal make political waves in India, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee says communists cannot speak any more about old dogmas but have to formulate new policies and reform 'our' old policies.

On a visit to Indonesia for wooing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in sectors like real estate, he said in an interview that his party was trying to change the 'mindset' of workers as the state needed FDI and infrastructure.

"Issues like productivity and the quality of production are not the headaches of the management alone. You have to share them. Otherwise industries will collapse and jobs will be lost," Bhattacharjee said in the interview to 'The Jakarta Post'.

The Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist (M), which heads the coalition in West Bengal, have been engaged in a war of words after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the Left parties backing him to support the Center's economic reforms, citing the pragmatic policies being followed by Bhattacharjee.

"You see, communists. We can't speak anymore about old dogmas. The world is changing. We are also changing. Look at China. The situation is completely different if you compare it to before 1978.

"The Chinese realize that their position in the world has changed. So, they changed their policies accordingly. Deng Xiaoping used to say, "We learn truth from the facts, not from books.' We learned from our experiences in India and abroad," the Chief Minister said.

"We are functioning in a small area. India is a big country and West Bengal is part of India. We have to formulate new policies. We have to reform our old policies. Otherwise, we will not be able to survive," Bhattacharjee said.

He made these remarks when pointed out that he represented a communist party but worked with Congress party as well as foreign businesses, including the American capitalists.

"Our success story is our land reforms. The majority of the land belongs to poor farmers. Thanks to this, our production of rice, fish, vegetables, potatoes and fruits is the highest in India," Bhattacharjee said, adding that 'based on this success in the agriculture sector, now we want to focus on industrial sector.'

Asked how he rated the investment climate in his state, the Chief Minister said, "In the past, there were some apprehensions about West Bengal. Now, those apprehensions no longer exist. For example, Japan's foreign direct investment in West Bengal is the highest in India. Four years back I visited Japan. Mitsubishi Chemicals came to West Bengal and established a big plant."

"Why is West Bengal a favorite destination for foreigners? It's because of our locational advantage, because of our natural resources, human resources and finally, political stability," he said.

"I try my best with other colleagues to prove that we are an investor-friendly government, not only in our talk but in our actions," he said, adding even Americans are coming to West Bengal and companies like IBM, Pepsi cola have already established plants in the state.

We have to their needs into consideration: CM

On the red-tapism in his state, the Chief Minister said that "After 1992, the Indian Government started this liberalization process and things got moving. The situation is not like it was previously. As far as our state is concerned, I personally believe that foreign companies in West Bengal are protected. We have to take their needs into consideration. Once again, Mitsubishi's case is a good example. They made a profit in just three years. Now they are planning to establish another plant."

Asked how his Government would deal if any labor dispute arose in a foreign company, Bhattacharjee said, "Our involvement in trade unions is an advantage. The majority of workers are in support of this Government. And we are trying to change their mindset. I tell them, look this is a new situation. We need FDI, we need infrastructure."

"Issues like production, productivity and the quality of production are not the headaches of the management alone. You have to share them. Otherwise, industries will collapse and jobs will be lost. Now things have changed," he said.

"For example, there are so many Information Technology (IT) companies in West Bengal. Not a single working day has been lost due to strikes or unrest since their establishment," Bhattacharjee pointed out.

Commenting on globalisation, he said globalisation "Is a must. Nobody can stop it. And we have to admit it. We want globalisation but not at the cost of our interest, developing countries' interest.

We want a level playing field, otherwise it will be one-sided. Only developed countries will benefit from it at the cost of Third World countries. That is not good. We cannot avoid this globalisation process. We must participate in it.

Asked about the main purpose of his visit to Southeast Asia and Indonesia in particular, Bhattacharjee said "Our policy at this moment is to interact with all Southeast Asian countries and also East Asia, like Japan and China."

"Among the Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia is important for us. Before I came here, we already had contacts in some big Indonesian companies like Salim Group, Bakrie Group and Ciputra Group," he said.

"Aside from Indonesian companies, he said, "We also have contacts in Singapore. At least three Singaporean companies came to West Bengal... We also have some contacts in Thailand and Malaysia."

"Since Indonesian companies are taking interest in West Bengal and they have already started some projects, therefore I should respond. I decided to come here to mobilize and contact some other Indonesian companies. We welcome Indonesian investments in West Bengal," the Chief Minister said.

About the future of West Bengal, which goes to assembly polls next year, he said, "with the strong support of farmers, workers, students and intellectuals, I am hopeful that we will win the elections next year. Because political stability is a must. So there should be continuity in Government policies.