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The state’s woes are of its own making. Since independence, successive governments implemented policies that repelled foreign investment.
The Bandel Thermal Power Station, a coal-based power plant at Tribeni, Hooghly in West Bengal, India.
The message in the recent defeat of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Indian state of West Bengal is clear: the people of West Bengal want a shot at reversing their state’s long-term decline.
West Bengal is the western half of the Bengal region — the other half being Bangladesh — that has long been one of South Asia’s richest areas. The election reflects the desire on the part of the population for change and economic development.
