By Marcus Dam
Trinamool chief bracing for a fresh round of agitation in Singur
KOLKATA: Tata Motors may have pulled out of Singur but Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee remains unflinching in her demands and is bracing for a fresh round of the very agitation that sounded the death knell for the Nano project there.
Ms. Banerjee says she will be renewing, after the Durga Puja festivities, her movement for the return of 400 acres acquired for the project (out of 997.11 acres) to farmers who have not accepted compensation.
Though her “satyagraha” was purportedly aimed at safeguarding the interests of a small minority of farmers who had not accepted compensation — a little more than 2,000 out of a total of more than 13,000 — it would be naïve to assume that the agitation is anything but one designed to serve an agenda governed by a compulsion to gain political leverage in rural West Bengal with an eye on the coming Lok Sabha elections, if not beyond.
Ms. Banerjee has been quick to seize on the political ramifications of the thorny issue of acquisition of farmland for industry — one that is all the more contentious in a State where land use is characterised by its intensiveness and where the government is committed to greater industrialisation as part of its development plans.
She has been claiming that her party is not against industry; yet Ms. Banerjee has described the departure of the Tatas from Singur as “a victory of the farmers.”
The mood in Singur following the withdrawal suggests otherwise. It is unmistakably downcast and has cast dark shadows on the festivities there.Industry upset
Industry circles have also expressed dismay over the pullout. The Confederation of Indian Industry has regretted that the Tatas had to withdraw the project and suggested that a review and consensus need to be reached on the process of land acquisition in future.
That it is important that a consensus be arrived at among leaders of different political parties on the issue of land acquisition cannot be overstated. But what if the principal Opposition party chooses not to be present at all-party meetings convened for this very purpose?
As Left Front Committee chairman Biman Bose has pointed out, several meetings had been called even before the land acquisition for the Singur project got under way but the Trinamool was conspicuous by its absence.
The first meeting was convened by the local district authorities way back on May 27, 2006. This was followed by meetings on June 17 and July 4.
Instead, Ms. Banerjee called for a movement later that year on the Singur issue — one that dragged on in fits and starts till August when she launched the “satyagraha” outside the Tata Motors project site and by when nearly 85 per cent of construction work had been completed. It took more than a month for the Tata Motors’ patience to run out. But the Trinamool chief remains in agitation mode, the reprieve provided by the puja festival notwithstanding.(END) Source : The Hindu
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