Politicians are known to say one thing even as they proceed to do exactly the opposite.The left parties' expertise in this is enviable. A series of contortions, double takes, somersaults and gaffes by the comrades in recent times have left even the most ardent communists red faced and everyone else confused.

PICTURE SPEAK

DOUBLESPEAK: There is little in common between what the Reds preach and practise

The contradictions were brought into stark relief during the flap over the inclusion of foreign experts in the consultative committees of the Planning Commission. Though 13 of the 14 experts-from among others, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and McKinsey-were Indian nationals, the loud left protests led to the disbanding of these panels.

If the communists had paused to reflect, they would have realised that the McKinsey they dread at the Centre is advising the CPI(M)-led Left Front Government in West Bengal on developing the it and agro industries. It was the current Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee who, as chairman of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, had recommended hiring McKinsey as a consultant when Jyoti Basu was chief minister. "My recommendation was accepted. I have no problem acknowledging that," says Chatterjee. Adds Manab Mukherjee, West Bengal's it minister: "Our experience with McKinsey has been very good."

DIALECTICS OF POWER

PRIVATISATION KOLKATA: Fine but with riders. DELHI: Forget it. CONTRACT LABOUR KOLKATA: In health and education. DELHI: Strict no no. FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT KOLKATA: Yes with a vengeance. DELHI: Ambivalent. Too many riders. STRIKES KOLKATA: Not allowed in IT sector. DELHI: Right to strike. VRS KOLKATA: Fine but with riders. DELHI: You must be joking.

In the other left bastion of Kerala, the CPI(M)-led government in its last regime (1996-2001) agreed to stringent conditions laid down by the ADB to avail a loan of Rs 3,000 crore. More recently, McKinsey made a presentation to the current Government led by the Congress. "I will study the work done by McKinsey in West Bengal before I take up the matter with the chief minister," says state Chief Secretary Babu Jacob.

Notwithstanding its fulmination over the "sale of family silver"-a euphemism for Central public sector units-West Bengal's Left Front Government has quietly sold 10 state-owned units to private entrepreneurs. The state Government has retained a consortium comprising PricewaterhouseCoopers, international property consultant CB Richard Ellis and bulge-bracket Mumbai law firm Amarchand Mangaldas to scour the global market to find a buyer for the state-owned Great Eastern Hotel. Two earlier attempts to sell Asia's oldest hotel to French hospitality group Accor were unsuccessful.

Polemics apart, the Left Front does seem quite serious about pursuing its own version of economic reforms. McKinsey has identified it as one sector where West Bengal has an inherent advantage. Keen to leverage this advantage, the state's "do it now" Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya did the unthinkable: he declared it an essential service, thus, exempting it from the purview of bandhs and strikes that have caused so much damage to the state's image. Industry applauded this bold step and the investment graph in the sector is shooting through the roof.

"I recommended McKinsey to the West Bengal government and it was accepted." SOMNATH CHATTERJEE, LOK SABHA SPEAKER

This pragmatism was also on view when his Government took money from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the World Bank, the ADB and the Department for International Development of the UK Government for health, development and infrastructure projects in West Bengal. When JBIC sent a team to Kolkata recently to monitor the tardy pace of project implementation in the city, the state Government meekly acquiesced in the request, expecting, thus, to receive more funds. The Government did this in the face of stiff resistance from party hardliners in a throwback to Basu's famous comment a decade ago. Cornered by the apparatchik over his frequent trips abroad in search of investments, the Grand Old Man of Indian communism shot back: "I can't sit back and let West Bengal turn into an industrial desert." The faithfuls backed out and Basu had his way.

Clearly, there is a disconnect between leftist precept and practice. There is a lot of noise coming from Delhi where the Left is dominated by academics who live in ivory towers and by leaders who have never fought elections. Their response to situations is, therefore, doctrinaire and often out of tune with popular perceptions. The Buddhadeb Bhattacharyas and Nirupam Sens, on the other hand, are elected leaders who are answerable to the people. "This gets reflected in policies that the Left follows on the ground," says a bureaucrat.

So, will the real Left stand up, please?

-with M.G. Radhakrishnan and Bhavdeep Kang

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