West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s first trip out was to Singapore ostensibly to attract investment to the capital-starved state. The emphasis was on manufacturing. The point is that Singapore is not a manufacturing hub but a haven for investment bankers, especially for money in need of laundering. Banerjee spent a considerable amount of time with the bankers. But could she create confidence in them to invest in West Bengal? That is open to doubt considering the political climate in the state. She also took time off to entertain sections of the Indian community in Singapore. There was song and dance which hardly goes with tough economic decisions involving millions of Singapore dollars. Not without reason has her visit been called a junket for the entertainment industry.
The attitude of the Trinamul Congress (TMC) and its leader, Mamata Banerjee, to foreign investment arouses skepticism. The TMC has always opposed the opening up of the country to foreign capital. In this regard, the TMC is on the same page as its adversary, the CPI (M). It is hard to understand why she went to Singapore to lure investors at a critical juncture in her state. Singapore industrialists are fully aware that Mamata Banerjee is averse to the inflow of foreign capital. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley put his finger on the contradiction. Of course, he politicized the issue but that does not negate the fact. Mamata Banerjee seemed to have taken her cue from former CPI (M) Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and his associate, Somnath Chatterjee who visited Singapore despite the contradiction in their party’s thinking on the issue. So far, there is no indication of West Bengal receiving FDI from Singapore. Only the film industry in Tollywood enjoyed being in the limelight.
