Communists face farmer backlash in election

Yet the communist's power base is slowly being eroded by farmers alienated by aggressive plans to attract foreign and local industry to regain the economic glory days when this region was one of the nerve centres of the British empire.

Across Kolkata, a city of 12 million and for years a symbol of India's deep urban poverty, posters and banners bearing the traditional communist red hammer and sickle symbols promise new industries and jobs to the younger generation.

These businesses have often taken shape on prime farmland, enraging farmers, the leftists traditional supporters, who have launched violent protests against factory projects, including a plant to produce the world's cheapest car, the Nano.

"The left has a compulsion to go ahead with industry, and knows very well they might have to pay a price for it in this election," said Ashis Chakrabarti, senior editor of The Telegraph newspaper, referring to a national election to be finalised this month. Meanwhile, West Bengal's communist government may face trouble in a 2011 state poll.