From hopes of sublime change for West Bengal after decades of a contrarian standpoint... to falling into the same old Leftist groove. The story of Mamata Banerjee of the last 1 year. With the FDI in Retail issue turning into the strongest underline of a much-recognized theorem - of Mamata going the Left way. Even beyond Mamata's claims of taking the principled stand on FDI... its the political harakiri of her move that stands out. It's a seeming lose-lose throughout. The key railway portfolio goes, as does an all-crucial toehold at the centre. So do any hopes of central funding of her state's welfare schemes. Even her mid-term poll calculations may go awry if the Congress finds an alternative in the SP... and even if elections ARE held, the larger political scenrio benefits the Left. Analysts go to the extent of calling Mamata's Left-like makeover as a political compulsion of West Bengal's party in power. Problems like middlemen eating away farmers' profits or poor communication facilities in the remote areas would have been overcome as impacts of the liberalisation process. FDI was an opportunity to correct blunders on the education front, and create a manpower force for a new look economy.But Didi chose to reject it all for what she felt was the might of populism. And in doing that, she's crystallized a much-felt fact -- Didi or no Didi, West Bengal's paribartan dream is distant yet.

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