KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee ’s much-touted Bengal Global Business Summit ( GBS ) in Kolkata early this month that promised to bring Rs 2.5 lakh crore investment into the state has met with severe criticism from all political parties. The latest voice of disapproval was that of Union home minister Rajnath Singh who ridiculed Mamata in an open public meeting and said that unless the law and order situation improves in Bengal no investor would want to put a penny into the state.However, opposition parties censuring the government in power isn’t exactly surprising — especially when an assembly election is drawing near. Yet, if companies begin to leave West Bengal or investors become anxious about the law and order situation, it is time to worry in a state that did not witness much industrial activity in 2015.What is more, the two main traditional industries — jute and tea — showed signs of distress with several workers of closed north Bengal tea estates allegedly succumbing to death due to lack of nutrition. The jute industry was also plagued by a series of lock-outs rendering thousands of workers jobless.The dismal state of finances also came in the way of capital formation to generate assets. The government’s huge debt burden, a legacy of the erstwhile Left Front government, also had its effect on the development process. As per government figures, the state’s debt burden was over Rs 2 lakh crore, and Rs 28,000 crore per year was being exhausted due to its servicing. As a result, capital expenditure took a dip, while revenue expenses have been rising with government-sponsored festivals adding to the costs.“Didi (Mamata) has a will to industrialise the state but her partymen at the grassroots have gone out of her control and are extorting businessmen for money and creating a law and order problem,” says a past president of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.Businessmen in Haldia industrial township, which has attracted investments from Japanese major Mitsubishi Corporation, Haldia Petrochemicals and Dhunseri Petrochem among other entities, complain that the law and order situation has deteriorated. “The worst sufferers are the small units. The trade union leaders under the TMC (Trinamool Congress) umbrella are after the businessmen.Even the local police station refuses to take any complaint. Problems were there earlier too but the leadership was centralised which made things easier to handle,” said an industrialist who has a unit in Haldia. Since Mamata has not been able to draw big-ticket investments, CPI(M) has started to play their cards well on the industrialisation issue.“When Tata Motors left Singur in October 2008, Mamata Banerjee was in the Opposition. But when a cargo handling unit at Haldia port — ABG Haldia Bulk Terminals (HBT) — was forced to fold up their business and quit Haldia in 2012-end, Mamata was the chief minister and it is her party activists who had forced the cargo handlers to quit Haldia,” says CPI(M) polit bureau member and party’s state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra. That was the first major pullout of a business company after the Tatas left Singur in 2008.“What I mean to say is that Mamata Banerjee would never be able to bring industry in Bengal. She has created a political force (read TMC ) which had driven out Tatas from Singur. Now it is the people of Bengal who will oust her from the state,” adds Mishra. Mamata’s GBS was attended by industry captains such as Mukesh Ambani, Rakesh Bharti Mittal and Sajjan Jindal, among others. The chief minister claimed that her business summit is a huge success and even more efficiently organised than states such as Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.The Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ), while welcoming the event, made it clear that the chief minister had been making false propaganda about the investment her government has received. “(The) Bengal government has claimed that it has received investment proposals worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore.The reality is that it has received proposals worth Rs 6,871 crore,” BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh told ET Magazine. He felt that Bengal would not get enough investment until and unless the state government managed to improve the law and order situation, which was very grave.Early this month, Bengal witnessed how the entire police force had failed to protect itself. An unruly mob attacked Kaliachak police station in Malda district and set it on fire. The police had allowed a Muslim organisation to hold a demonstration at Kaliachak town to protest against some provocative speeches given by Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari in Lucknow on December 1. The protest meeting took a communal turn as the district intelligence had no clue that some religious fundamentalists were trying to foment communal tension in the Muslim-dominated Kaliachak area.In 2014, 25 cases were reported in Kolkata Police jurisdiction alone in which policemen were attacked by miscreants owing allegiance to TMC. More than 400 cases were reported from different districts at the state headquarters in which policemen were assaulted and attacked by the ruling party workers. “We can readily agree on two aspects.West Bengal is no longer a leading state in terms of industrialisation and economic prospects. Secondly, given the comparatively better human resource base and geographical location, West Bengal can be once again a leading destination of investment and a centre of economic activities to propel development and growth in this densely populated region,” reckons Omprakash Mishra, Bengal Congress general secretary and a professor at Jadavpur University. But that of course can only happen if “the political leadership and drivers of public policy not only resolve the contradiction between these two aspects but also chart out a course that makes our state investment and business friendly, promoting entrepreneurship and protecting the vital bases of the state economy.”Despite scathing criticism by the political parties and the concern raised by industrialists the hope has not died down for turning Bengal into an industrial destination. “Didi has said that there should not be any political vendetta. She has said that her government will not harass any single industrialist. And do not forget that industrial activity has slowed down nationally. Now that didi has given a strong message, we think that things will start falling in place,” said an industrialist who has shared the dais with Mamata at many of her industrial meets.