CPM cries bias against governor

New Delhi, Oct. 20: The CPM feels governor Goplalkrishna Gandhi, who had facilitated talks between Mamata Banerjee and the Bengal government during the Singur standoff, was “not impartial”.
In a document adopted by the central committee in Cal- cutta recently, the party attacks the Congress, too, saying it “played a dubious role” with state party chief Priya Ranjan Das Munshi “encouraging” disruption of the Nano project.
“The role of the governor, who acted as a facilitator between the two sides, was also not impartial. Finally, the Tata motor company decided to shift its plant out of Bengal and announced the shifting out on October 3,” the party paper says, adding that this happened when “public opinion in the state was veering around in support of the project”.
The report on political developments says Mamata’s adamance led to the deadlock despite all efforts for negotiations and settlement.
Mamata, who had refused to talk to the government repeatedly, had finally relented following Gandhi’s request. The talks at Raj Bhavan failed, though, with the Trinamul Congress chief insisting on the return of 400 acres from the 1,000-acre small-car plant.
The governor had earlier earned the CPM’s wrath on Nandigram, when he expressed “cold horror” after the party’s recapture of the area. His decision to switch off Raj Bhavan lights for two hours every day when the state was going through a power crisis” had also not gone down well. ( END ) Source : The Telegraph

Singur: A lesson learnt

Statesman News Service

KOLKATA, Oct. 20: With the bitter taste of Singur and Nandigram over land acquisition lingering, the state government has finally decided to prepare a database for non-agricultural, vested land available for setting up of industrial projects in each district. In a bid to expedite the allotment of such vested land for industry the chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has also set up a three member committee headed by the chief secretary. The chief minister seem to have taken a leaf out of Mr Narendra Modi's industrially “vibrant” Gujarat and took steps to expedite the process of allotment of land, ironically, on the day (3 October), Mr Ratan Tata broke the unfortunate news of pulling out from Singur. The meeting was attended by the state commerce and industries minister, Mr Nirupam Sen, the panchayat and rural development minister, Dr Suryakanta Mishra and the land and land reforms minister, Mr Abdur Rezzak Mollah. The committee headed by chief secretary, Mr AK Deb would also include the principal secretary to the chief minister as well as the land reforms commissioner. The committee would vet the proposals received from various department for setting up projects on non-agricultural, vested land which would then be sent to the land and land reforms department for final settlement. “This would expedite the process of allotment of land for major projects which have been facing unnecessary delay,” said an official in Writers’ Buildings. In case of competing departments vying for the same plot, the committee would also resolve the issue. The demand for forming a land bank has been a long standing demand of the Opposition led by the Trinamul Congress but the state government had backed out citing difficulties since most land is in private hands. This database on vested, non-agricultural land is at least a step towards the same direction. In addition, henceforth the land and land reforms department would also give exemptions from land ceiling to projects under recommendation from the commerce and industries department. Since the amendment to the West Bengal land Reforms Act, 1955 is still lying with the standing committee of Legislative Assembly after objections from Left Front partners, projects other than mill, factory, tea gardens and townships require exemption from the L&LR department. The decisions taken by the chief minister have also in a sense, clipped the wings of the land and land reforms department which use to deal with all these issues on its own. It has also been decided to fix timeframe for conversion and mutation of land since this is also causes considerable delay for industrial projects. The notification for this major shift in policy would be issued soon. (END) Source : The Statesman

CPM goes for Gandhi

NEW DELHI, Oct 20: Apart from the Trinamul Congress and its chief, Miss Mamata Banerjee, the CPI (M) has held the West Bengal Governor, Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi to be partly to blame for the shifting of the Nano plant from the state, saying he was "not partial" during the crisis. In a document adopted by the CPI(M) Central Committee, the party attacked, apart from the Governor, the Congress, saying it “played a dubious role” on the issue with its Bengal PCC chief Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi “encouraging” disruption of the project. The 'Report on Political Developments' said despite all efforts by the West Bengal government for negotiations and settlement, the adamant stand adopted by Miss Mamata Banerjee on the Singur issue led to a deadlock. “When public opinion in the state was veering around in support of the project going ahead ... the role of the Governor who acted as a facilitator between the two sides was also not impartial,” the report said, noting that the Tatas had shifted the plant from the state on 3 October. In a bid to end the crisis on the Nano project, Mr Gandhi had acted as a facilitator between the government and Miss Banerjee after the Tatas threatened to pull out from the state. The Governor has earlier earned the wrath of the CPI(M)-led government for taking “pro-active” measures and putting the dispensation on the backfoot. His earlier decision to put off the lights of Raj Bhavan when the state was facing “power shortage” had also been criticised by the CPI(M) saying he was exceeding his brief. n SNS ( Source : The Statesman)

Pro-Nano procession by Singur residents

KOLKATA: A section of residents of Singur demanding that Tata Motors revoke its decision to relocate its Nano project took out a procession there on Sunday with some among them even threatening to prevent the shifting out of any equipment from the area.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee reiterated here later in the afternoon her decision to renew the agitation for the return of 400 acres acquired for the abandoned Tata Motors project (out of a total of 997.11 acres) after the Diwali festival later this month.

The decision to relocate the project was taken following the agitation led by the Trinamool Congress outside the project site launched there on August 24. The agitation was lifted following talks between Ms. Banerjee’s associates and the State government on the land issue on September 7, but as the former had then asserted, “not suspended.”

“The agitation will continue through continuous programmes,” Ms. Banerjee told journalists.

She also said her party was considering “what legal action can be taken” against Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Group, for his “open letter” to the people of the State — one she condemned.

In his letter published in some newspapers here on October 17 Mr. Tata said it was up to the State’s people whether to support Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government’s attempts to “to build a prosperous state with the rule of law…or would like to see the state consumed by a destructive political environment of confrontation, agitation, violence and lawlessness.”

The procession taken out by supporters of the “Singur Nano Bachao (Save Nano) Committee” comprising a section of Singur residents who have been demanding that the Tata Motors reconsider their decision to relocate the project and set it up there as originally planned wound their way through various villages shouting slogans in support of their demand.

Banners

They also demonstrated for a short while on the Durgapur Expressway outside the area that had been acquired for their project with banners that read: “Welcome Ratan Tata. We want industry, we do not want confrontation.”

The Trinamool Congress-led Krishijami, Jiban, Jibika Raksha (Save Farmland, Lives and Livelihood) Committee also staged a demonstration at Singur where an effigy of Mr. Tata was burnt. “This is in protest against his open letter (to people of the State) last week that was part of a conspiracy hatched by the Communist Party of India (Marxist),” Becharam Manna, a leader of the committee said. Source: The Hindu

Politically motivated, says Trinamool Congress

KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress leadership has described as “totally politically motivated” Ratan Tata’s “open letter.”

“We demand an unconditional apology from him failing which we will take judicial recourse,” Leader of the Opposition and senior Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee said here.

Mr. Tata should come out with evidence and establish that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had acted for vested interests, Mr. Chatterjee added.

Mr. Tata’s letter was to malign the Trinamool Congress and its chief and it was politically motivated, Mr. Chatterjee said. .

Ashok Ghosh, general secretary of the State committee of the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) said that it was for the people of the State to decide “whether they wish to stand still and let growth take place elsewhere or move forward with the present government’s progressive policy.” Source: The Hindu

Trinamul threat to Tata

Calcutta, Oct. 17: The Trinamul Congress today threatened to move court against Ratan Tata for alleging that the party led by Mamata Banerjee had acted for vested interests.

“He (Tata) should come out with evidence and establish that Mamata had acted for vested interests. The onus lies with the Tatas. We demand an unconditional apology from him, failing which we will take judicial recourse,” said Partha Chatterjee, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

“Why is Tata holding the brief for the CPM and the chief minister?” he asked, adding: “His (Tata’s) statement is nothing but an attempt to malign the party and our chief.”

In an open letter, Tata had said: “Unfortunately, the confrontative actions by the Trinamool Congress led by Ms. Mamata Banerjee and supported by vested interests and certain political parties, opposing the acquisition of land by the state government, has caused serious disruption to the progress of the Nano plant.”

Praising the state government, Tata said: “Agitation and violence drove away many industries around 30 years ago, and it has only been in recent times that the present government has been able to rebuild the confidence of investors to invest in the state.”

“All our interactions with the chief minister and the industries minister in particular, as also with several other officers, have been exemplary.”

He asked the people of Bengal if they wanted “a destructive political environment of confrontation... and lawlessness” or “education and jobs”.

Trinamul MLA Saugata Ray said: “I’ve never heard of an industrialist giving a statement directly in favour of a state government and its chief minister and directly against the principal Opposition.”

Some Left leaders like the RSP’s Kshiti Goswami felt Tata had “not behaved like an industrialist”.

Party MP Manoj Bhattacharya said: “This is personal observation of an individual industrialist. Ratan Tata does not have all-pervasive influence on the people of Bengal. The letter is not going to help form public opinion.”

The Forward Bloc’s Ashok Ghosh felt the comment was “undesirable”. The CPI refused to comment.

Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee said: “It is not right for a businessman to speak in favour of a party.”

Left Front chief and CPM state secretary Biman Bose said Tata had issued the letter as an industrialist. “Since we are not industrialists, we will not comment on it.” Source: The Telegraph

Trinamul demands apology from Tata

Statesman News Service

Kolkata, Oct 17 : The “open letter” written by the Tata group chief Mr Ratan Tata and published by a section of the media today triggered sharp political reactions with the Trinamul Congress threatening to sue him if he didn't tender an apology for “maligning” Miss Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamul-led Opposition, while Left Front junior partners ~ the RSP and the Forward Bloc ~ disapproved of the tenor and substance of the letter. The CPI-M gave tacit support to it.

Mr Partha Chatterjee, leader of the Opposition, said what appeared in the name of Mr Tata was “nothing but a slander campaign” against Mi]ss Banerjee and the Trinamul-led Opposition that spearheaded the agitation for return to the unwilling farmers the land forcibly acquired from them for the small car project at Singur.

The advertisement, he said, didn't bear the signature of Mr Tata, while the logo of the Tata group of companies was used.

Mr Tata blamed “vested interests” for his decision to relocate the project from Singur. "This is most libelous and intended to malign our party supremo and the Opposition combine fighting for the cause of the farmers who were forcibly dispossessed of their land,” he said.

The “so-called” open letter had been penned in a language as if the writer were a CPI-M politburo member, he asserted. Mr Tata openly canvassed for Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's industrialisation overdrive as if he were writing an election pamphlet for the CPI-M. "What else can one say when Mr Tata commands the youth of West Bengal to choose between Mr Bhattacharjee's policy and the Opposition-sponsored agitation,” Mr Chatterjee said.

“Mr Tata can join the CPI-M or he may take over Alimuddin Street replacing its state secretary Mr Biman Bose.Why is he holding brief for the state government ? Is it because he got land so cheap, soft loan at nominal interest, water and electricity at throwaway prices whereas he has to buy land in Gujarat at market prices ?” Mr Chatterjee said. Mr Kshiti Goswami, PWD minister and RSP leader, said the language used in the letter was uncalled for.

“Mr Tata as a citizen of a free country is free to hold his political views, but the dictating tone of the open letter is not proper. He seems to be offering lollipops to the youth. He is setting terms for the youth to exercise their political options which is not acceptable,” Mr Goswami said. Source: The Statesman

Ratan Tata asks Young Bengal: Jobs or lawlessness?

Calcutta, Oct. 16: Ratan Tata has warned Bengal of the consequences of letting history repeat itself and asked a series of searing questions in an open letter explaining why he was compelled to withdraw the Nano project from the state.

“The people of West Bengal — particularly the younger citizens — will need to express their views and aspirations as to what they would like to see West Bengal become in the years ahead. Would they like to support the present government of Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to build a prosperous state with the rule of law, modern infrastructure and industrial growth, supporting a harmonious investment in the agricultural sector to give the people in the state a better life?

“Or would they like to see the state consumed by a destructive political environment of confrontation, agitation, violence and lawlessness? Do they want education and jobs in the industrial and high-tech sectors or does the future generation see their future prosperity achieved on a ‘stay-as-we-are’ basis?” Tata asked in the open letter to the “citizens of West Bengal”.

An environment of “politically motivated agitation and hostility” compelled Tata Motors to withdraw the Nano project, he added.

Tata wrote the letter in response to statements by “vested interests” that the pullout decision was “hasty and politically motivated”.

In the letter, Tata named Mamata Banerjee and referred to “confrontative actions” taken by the Trinamul Congress and supported by “vested interests and certain political parties” that disrupted work at the plant.

Tata praised the Bengal government, saying “all our interactions with the chief minister and the industries minister in particular, as also with several other officers, have been exemplary”.

Trinamul has been claiming that the Tata pullout was a game plan to malign the party. A section of the CPM had described the Tata withdrawal as “unreasonable” — a view articulated by party mouthpiece People’s Democracy.

However, Tata said “the final and painful decision to move the project out” had not been taken in haste but with “great regret after a great deal of deliberation”.

Tata reminded Bengal of the situation 30 years ago. “Agitation and violence drove away many industries around 30 years ago, and it has only been in recent times that the present government has been able to rebuild the confidence of investors to invest in the state.”

Tata added: “It is therefore ironic that, at this crucial time and moment of hope for the state, history appears to be repeating itself. Agitation, violence and terror are overtaking the state in the name of the agricultural community, to serve political goals — stalling progress and destroying the new-found confidence in the state, while doing nothing for the rural poor, other than making promises.”

Source : The Telegraph

Nano Land: PIL against Gujarat govt

Ahmedabad, Oct 15: A Public Interest Litigation was filed today challenging the Gujarat government's decision of giving agriculture land for Tata's dream car project Nano in Sanand taluka of the state.

The PIL filed by the Gandhinagar-based Rashtriya Kisan Dal (RKD) contended that land of the Anand Agriculture University (AAU), which was meant for agriculture purpose, was converted into an industrial land and it was wrong to give the plot for the Nano Car Project.

The PIL also said that the farmers who are original landowners of the agriculture land have not been given adequate compensation by the state government.

It also demanded that the farmers be given adequate compensation.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mr RK Radhakrishnan and Justice Mr Aquil Qureshi, asked the petitioner to come back to the court within three days after the PIL was translated from Gujarati language.

The state government has given 1,100 acres of land near Charodi village in Sanand taluka on the outskirts of the city to Tata's for the relocation of their Nano Car Project from Singur in West Bengal.

An agreement was signed between the state government and the Tata's last week for setting the small car project in Gujarat.

Farmers of Bod, Khoda and Sanand village have said that the land given to Tata's belonged to their forefathers and was acquired on 99 years lease by British Government. They have demanded adequate compensation for the land, the RKD leaders said.

As reality prices soar in Sanand, the place where Tata Motors has decided to relocate the Nano plant, the Gujarat Cabinet today decided that the Company should pay Rs 400 crore and 65 lakhs for the 1100 acres on which the plant is to be set up.

Mr Narendra Modi’s Cabinet met here this morning, and the price of the land for Nano was decided at Rs 900 per sq mts. The chief minister had earlier announced that the land will be sold at “market price” to Tata Motors.

Source: The Statesman

Our fight will continue, says Mamata Banerjee

By Gargi Parsai
PM briefed on farmers’ problems in Singur: Amar Singh

NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, along with Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee, on Tuesday met President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to apprise them of the situation at Singur in West Bengal. They demanded that the State government be asked to honour an agreement to return land to farmers who had not accepted compensation for their plots acquired for Tatas’ ancillary unit.
Seeking dismissal of the State government for the “breakdown of a constitutional agreement,” Ms. Banerjee told journalists here that she was not looking for the 600 acres earmarked for Tatas’ Nano project.
“There are many Tatas, anyone can come there. We want the 400 acres acquired for the adjoining ancillary unit returned to farmers who did not want to part with their land and who have not accepted any compensation. The government will have to implement it or go out of power.”
The Trinamool chief said nobody knew why Tatas withdrew from Singur. “They withdrew unilaterally and the government withdrew unilaterally. The Left parties withdrew support to the United Progressive Alliance government over the nuclear agreement, while they themselves failed to honour the agreement on Singur. We will continue to fight this socially, legally and politically.”
Accompanied by leaders of the West Bengal SP and Janata Dal (United), among others, Mr. Amar Singh said at the joint press conference that they briefed the Prime Minister and the President on the Singur farmers facing tough time due to the policies of the State government. “No jan andolan can run for so long unless the people are with it.”
On Mr. Ratan Tata’s remarks after he shifted the Nano project to Gujarat, Mr. Amar Singh said: “To say Ms. Mamata, who was fighting for the poor, was the bad M and Mr. Modi [Gujarat Chief Minister] was the good M was a personal attack on Ms. Banerjee for which she should sue him. Mr. Tata should decide whether he wants to be an industrialist or politician.”
Mr. Singh said he would raise the issue of special economic zones with the Congress leadership when the UPA-SP Coordination Committee met here on Friday. ( END)

'Alternative car plant possible'

Statesman News Service

KOLKATA, Oct. 14: CPI-M general secretary Mr Prakash Karat today said the state government was “exploring possibilities” for setting up an alternative car plant at Singur after the Tata Motors’ small car project “had to be abandoned”. Mr Karat said this while responding to the Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee's demand placed before the Prime Minister and the President today, for return of land to the farmers, acquired for the Tata project since the Tatas had relocated their project from Singur. Mr Karat didn't go into details of the plan about which the state transport minister and CPI-M state secretariat member, Mr Subhash Chakraborty, had been speaking for the past few days without any backing from the state industries department. “My response to the demand is that the state government is looking into the legal and technical aspects for working out plans for setting up an alternative car plant,” Mr Karat said. The CPI-M Central Committee, which ended its three-day session today, heard a report on the Singur fiasco and endorsed the state committee's plan to go on a propaganda offensive against the Trinamul-led "reactionary forces” that adopted “an obstructionist” strategy to “scuttle” the Nano project, the Left Front-government's development initiatives and the policy of industrialisation on the basis of agricultural growth. Mr Karat said the Tata group chief Mr Ratan Tata had also squarely blamed the Trinamul-led Opposition's “obstructionist” strategy for their decision to move out of Singur. The CPI-M will mobilise the people to foil such disruptive activities, since the Singur experience “doesn't mean a full stop to the industrialisation policy”, Mr Karat said adding that efforts would be made to “ensure that the LF-government can fulfil its goal for industrialisation and all round development of the state.” (END)

Protestors block Tata machinery shift from Singur
Statesman News Service

KOLKATA, Oct. 14: Supporters of the Save Nano Committee (SNC) today prevented employees of a private company, engaged by Tata Motors Limited, from shifting some heavy machinery from the Singur plant.It was around noon when about 20 SNC supporters intercepted five vehicles in which a pay-loader machine and a few generator sets were being taken out of the Singur plant through gate number five, police said. Employees of the company ~ which was engaged by Tata's to dismantle the machines and shift them to other places ~ requested the agitators to let them go, but their request fell on deaf ears as the supporters sat on the factory gate demanding that Mr Ratan Tata change his decision to pull out from Singur. After waiting for a few minutes, the trucks were taken back to the project area. The factory gate remained blocked for several hours even after police intervened to remove the blockade. A senior district police officer said a team from Singur police station went to the spot after being informed of the incident. Policemen's request to withdraw the blockade was turned down by the SNC supporters, the officer added. “We want to make it clear that Tatas will not be allowed to shift machines from the project area. We will only allow entry of machines and not the exit of the same. Tatas will have to come back here since almost 90 per cent work on the project is complete,” said SNC convener Mr Sadai Koley. He added: “Those who were shifting the machines in trucks were requested to support our movement that was launched so that Tatas would stay at Singur." (END)

Source : The Statesman

CHANGING COURSE

- After years of agitation, Bengal’s Left needs to use persuasion
By ANDRÉ BÉTEILLE

The withdrawal of the Nano project from Singur has caused both anguish and surprise in the country. My market-friendly acquaintances in Delhi are unable to understand how, when the project had the full support of the Left Front itself, it could be brought to a halt by political elements not known for their principled opposition to private capital.
The failure at Singur has been attributed variously to the intransigence of the Opposition and the ineptitude of the government. Ordinary people have come to accept inept responses to intransigent demands as a part of everyday political life in India. Some have drawn attention to the decay of public institutions through the sustained use of political patronage and thuggery. But this is not unique to West Bengal. The displacement of rules by persons in public institutions has taken place throughout the country and is probably due to forces that are deeply rooted in India’s social tradition. Perhaps because of the discipline of the Left cadres and the uninterrupted rule by the Left parties for more than 30 years, political thuggery has been better organized at the grassroots level in West Bengal.
Is there no singularity in the state of West Bengal that can help us explain either the intransigence of the Opposition or the ineptitude of the government? A part of the singularity of West Bengal lies in the very distinctive ideological climate that has been nurtured in the state. While all political parties find it convenient to speak against the rich and for the poor, no party has mounted such a sustained ideological assault on the capitalist system as the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The problem in West Bengal today is that an attempt is being made to act against the prevalent ideological climate by the very people who created that climate and sought to protect it zealously from reasoned criticism. An important factor behind the inept handling of the crisis by the CPI(M) is its failure to recognize the power that ideology and doctrine can acquire over minds that have been exposed to them continuously and with little room for dissent.
The Bengali intelligentsia has developed a distinctive language of public discourse. What is loosely described as the ‘class approach’ to society and politics has been made a part of the common sense of large sections of the Bengali-speaking population. This discourse is no longer confined to social analysts or political activists. It provides a set of unstated assumptions for the discussion of every kind of social and political issue. The fulcrum of the discourse is the ineluctable division of society into capitalists and workers, the relentless exploitation of workers by capitalists, and the need to resist that exploitation by every available means.
Uninterrupted rule for more than 30 years by the Left parties has not only created new structures of patronage, it has also led to shifts in the ways in which ordinary people speak and even think. I am impressed by the extent to which terms and phrases taken straight from the Marxist lexicon have now become a part of ordinary Bengali conversation through more than half-a-century of usage. I would venture to say that Bengali has gone further than any Indian language in appropriating the idiom of Marxism and giving it a vivid and distinctive colouring.
The evils inherent in private capital and the sinister designs of businessmen and entrepreneurs have been attacked single-mindedly, and sometimes mindlessly, at party meetings and in party literature for decades on end. One does not have to be a market fundamentalist to acknowledge that business and enterprise might contribute usefully to the wealth and well-being of a nation. But such acknowledgment was ruled out of court in the communist discourse on capitalism and socialism. There is no match for the vigour and sophistry with which Left intellectuals in Calcutta habitually assault any argument about the positive role of private capital in economic development.
Perhaps the powers that be in West Bengal no longer take very seriously the tirades they have themselves kept alive against liberalization, privatization and globalization. Some of them may have the delusion that they can do what the communist leadership has done in China to turn the economy around. But China is a different universe from West Bengal. It has a determined and unitary communist leadership that can move the people in a particular direction at one time and in a different direction at another. The leadership in West Bengal is too insecure and too divided to be able to do that. It has to make its way through the discord and disorder that is the staple of a multi-party democracy. After so many decades of agitation and propaganda, it has to devote a little more care and attention to persuasion. Persuasion may appear more tedious and time-consuming than propaganda, but it is the only path that is now open if development is to be given a chance in West Bengal.
Under present conditions of economic and social change, the communist leadership in West Bengal cannot take its followers and supporters for granted. It is not enough for the chief minister or the industries minister to engage with the politburo or with Ratan Tata. The leaders must explain to their own supporters and followers why private capital is sometimes beneficial for economic development. Changing the social perceptions of a whole population, or even a large segment of it, requires far more patience and care than a mere change in political strategy.
I cannot judge how clearly the communist leadership realizes that a more friendly attitude to private capital, including global capital, requires a change not only in the political climate of West Bengal, but also in its intellectual climate. Left intellectuals have played no small part in forging and supplying the ammunition for the critique of capitalism. This critique, which attracted some of the best minds of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has lost much of its intellectual excitement with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the slump in the Cold War. But there is still no match for the zeal with which the Left intellectual can pounce on anyone who is so foolhardy as to even mention the common interest of capital and labour in the benefits of development.
The intellectual custodians of the social and economic theories of the Left have had an easier time in India than in the Soviet Union or China. The discipline of the party and the State never weighed as heavily on them as it did on their Soviet or Chinese counterparts. They could remain men of the Left without surrendering their liberal conscience. They have been increasingly critical of the high-handed acts of the leaders and the cadres of the Left parties. This does not go very far below the surface. They have a deeper responsibility to revise and re-examine a representation of the social and economic reality in whose propagation they have played no small part and that has now become obsolete and anachronistic. Their obligation is to keep under scrutiny not only the political practices of the Left parties but also the economic doctrines by which those practices have been sustained.
The author is Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, and National Research

Source: The Telegraph

Singur residents seek Governor's intervention

By Staff Reporter
Seek his intervention in bringing back Tata Motors project
Agitation by the committee at Singur enters fourth day
Governor asks residents to meet Buddhadeb
KOLKATA: A delegation of Singur residents met Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi here on Monday and submitted a memorandum seeking his intervention in bringing back the Tata Motors small car project to Singur.
“We told the Governor about the hardship faced by the 11,000 farmers who have lost their land as well as their means of livelihood following Tata Motors’ decision on relocation and urged him to take concrete steps to return back the project to the State,” said Manas Ghosh, secretary of the Singur-based Nano Bachao (Save Nano) Committee. Members of this committee were part of the delegation.
Mr. Ghosh said the Governor sympathised with their cause and assured them to take up the issue with both the State government and the Opposition.
He said: “The Governor asked us to meet Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and explain the situation to him.”
The Committee was trying to get an appointment with the Chief Minister. Agitation enters fourth day
The indefinite agitation started by the committee at Singur entered its fourth day on Monday.
Busloads of people from Singur came to the city and a gathering was held before the delegation met the Governor.
Kolkata Mayor Bikash Bhattacharya was present at the gathering to express solidarity with the Singur residents.
“The Opposition has duped the farmers by saying that the acquired land can be returned back, when the truth is that according to the country’s Constitution it is not possible,” Mr Bhattacharya said.(END) Source: The Hindu

Modi's open letter to Buddhadeb, Mamata

By Special Correspondent
The open letter was published in Ananda Bazaar Patrika
Dialogue with Opposition is a must on land acquisition issues
KOLKATA: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has, in an “open letter” to his counterpart in West Bengal, told Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee that given the work culture in the State, the situation is not yet one in which Tata Motors’ Nano project can come up, much that the latter would want it to.
Mr. Modi said that despite Mr Bhattacharjee’s efforts to usher in industrialization in West Bengal neither the party he belongs to nor his administration is yet totally by his side on the matter.
The letter that was published in Sunday’s edition of the Bengali daily Ananda Bazaar Patrika was being released through the newspaper with the intention that it reached the largest section of the State, Mr. Modi said.
It was written to clear any misunderstanding that might exist among the people of West Bengal that the Gujarat had snatched away the project from them, he added.
Tata Motors have decided to relocate their Nano project at Sanand in Gujarat that was to have come up at Singur.

Words of advice

Mr. Modi also had words of advice for Trinamool Congress chief, Mamata Banerjee He has suggested that she shun negative agitation and not become ultra-left in attempts to counter the Left forces.
Instead, the right-wing path should be pursued in West Bengal to forge an alternative.
Citing the case of the Nano project, he told Ms. Banerjee, that in Gujarat even Opposition doesn’t engage in politics over industrialisation.
The task of creating something is difficult; but to destroy it takes a minute, he said.

‘Dialogue needed’

In his letter to Mr. Bhattacharjee he has admitted that in comparison to Gujarat the acreage of agricultural land in West Bengal is higher. It is necessary to have a dialogue with the Opposition on land acquisition issues as it was done in Gujarat.

Source: The Hindu

New plant: Subhas
Calcutta, Oct. 12: Bengal transport minister Subhas Chakraborty has said an automobile company would set up a plant in Singur following the Tata pullout.
“Just wait for six months. You will find another car manufacturing factory coming up there for which we have already started preparations. It will take one or two months for us to sort out legal complications and administrative matters,” Chakraborty told a television channel.
However, chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb said from Delhi tonight that he had no knowledge of another car manufacturer setting up a plant in Singur.
State transport secretary Sumantra Chowdhury, too, said he was not aware of “any such development”.
Source : The Telegraph

CPM cries Ma-Mo plot
The CPM today accused Mamata Banerjee of plotting with Narendra Modi to take the Nano project from Bengal to Gujarat, providing a preview of the campaign it plans to run ... Read..

Dial 'M' for Nano

Status of the land spells the difference

Gujarat’s incredibly fast handover of land for the Nano is in accord with its generally businesslike approach to development. To that extent, Ratan Tata’s verbal bouquet to Narendra Modi is richly deserved. That said, the investor must also acknowledge that the character of the land spells the difference between Sanand and Singur. It is government land that Gujarat will sell at the market price, indeed part of Anand agricultural university and currently an expansive grazing ground for cattle. Most critically, therefore, there is no question of acquisition of a tract ~ fallow or fertile ~ not to mention government compensation for land-losers, both unwilling and willing. In effect, it is the Gujarat government that will sell its own land. In terms of displacement, it is the cow and not the farmer who stands to be uprooted. Such factors doubtless make for an easy transaction. The ground realities are starkly different, and Mr Tata has not encountered the sort of problem that had appeared insurmountable in Bengal, indeed a crisis that became unmanageable. As in Singur, data pertaining to Sanand has been disseminated on the terms of Bombay House. For, there is precious little that has been disclosed save the basics. So much for transparency. The claim that the engagement was finalised within an astonishing span of five days ~ from the pullout from Singur to the choice of Gujarat ~ is less than convincing. It may not be farfetched to assume that the choice was firmed up before Mr Tata stepped into Writers’ to formalise the withdrawal. Indubitably, it is an achievement for Mr Modi; he has won convincingly after several of his counterparts had thrown their hat into the Nano ring. This is a testament to the state’s economic resilience, a confirmation ~ if confirmation were needed ~ that Gujarat tops the country’s development chart. His other advantage that must be conceded in the context of Bengal’s experience is that no fiascoes and foibles on the part of a bumbling establishment can conceivably impede Gujarat’s development agenda. Still less will Mr Modi and Mr Tata have to contend with what Amartya Sen calls “street activism”, often verging towards destructive nihilism. Its “attractions” are uniquely Bengal’s ~ historically for the Left, currently for the Right and generally confused.

Source: The Statesman

Editorial

Mamata ‘helped’ relocate Nano: CPM

Statesman News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct. 10: The Trinamul Congress leader, Miss Mamata Banerjee, not only succeeded in driving Tata’s Nano project out of West Bengal but “facilitated” its re-location in Gujarat, according to the CPI-M. An editorial in the forthcoming issue of the CPI-M mouthpiece, People’s Democracy, said “being the loyal steadfast ally of the BJP in the NDA, she (Mamata) facilitated the project’s re-location to Gujarat.” The write-up said, “Remember, she continued to remain with the NDA and, thus, in a way endorsed the communal carnage unleashed in the state by the BJP’s Narendra Modi government.” The party maintained the Mamata-led agitation had the support of less than 10 per cent of the owners of the acquired land who had not taken the compensation cheques. The agitation had adversely affected “the future prosperity and improved livelihood for a large number of people in the area as well as the process of industrialisation that would have generated greater employment opportunities”, it said. The editorial said the CPI-M had, in the last Assembly elections, “received a massive mandate to carry out rapid industrialisation on the basis of the consolidation of land reforms,” and the current opposition was in fact “a negation of the people’s mandate”. Answering criticism that the Left Front government failed to provide adequate security, forcing the Tatas to leave Singur, the party journal said, “That is not the reason, as Ratan Tata himself has stated as the reason for the Nano project to leave.” “Indeed, adequate protection was provided and the state government was discharging its responsibilities towards the maintenance of law and order. The Tatas, however, took a stand that unless everybody cooperates, they are not going to continue to remain in Singur,” the editorial said. “One can, surely, disagree with such a position. For, after all, no one can say that they shall build their house in a locality only when all others living there will give an assurance that their house will not be burgled. However, like Mamata Banerjee, the Tatas also have an equal right to take an unreasonable position,” the party journal said.

Singur residents demand Nano back

By Staff Reporter
KOLKATA: A section of residents of Singur started an indefinite agitation there from Friday demanding that the Tata Motors small car project — which has now been relocated to Sanand in Gujarat — be set up in Singur as originally planned. The agitation is being held outside the site where the project had been coming up prior to the decision to relocate it.
“We want the small car project back in Singur at any cost. Our future depends on it,” said Manas Ghosh, Secretary of the ‘Nano Bachao (Save Nano) Committee,’ under whose banner the agitation is being held.(END) Source : The Hindu

From Nano dust rises a poll plank

By BISWAJIT ROY

Calcutta, Oct. 10: The CPM will make Mamata Banerjee’s “destructive, anti-state politics” a key poll plank, hoping to reap some dividends from the debris of the Nano project in Singur.
CPM state secretariat member Benoy Konar said “Singur or the exit of Nano project from Bengal would be a major poll issue” for the party in Bengal. He hoped that the “people of the state would give Mamata and her allies a fitting reply for their destructive, anti-state politics”.
The party state secretariat met this morning and a three-day central committee meeting begins on Sunday. Today’s meeting discussed the “contours of the post-Singur political campaign” that will be finalised after the central committee gathers.
“We suspect the government would call elections in January or a little after that. So, we will take stock of the political scenario, both at the national and state levels, and discuss the preparations,” said Md Selim, deputy leader of the CPM parliamentary party.
Konar, a central committee member, hinted that a section of the CPM in the state that was opposed to early elections after the panchayat poll setback now doesn’t mind the prospect, hoping to ride the “anti-Mamata sentiment”, particularly in urban and semi-urban areas, after the Singur crisis.
But not everybody in the party seems as optimistic. Sources said some leaders felt Mamata may be able to offset her loss of the middle-class voters’ support by gaining in rural votes on the land issue.
As the Left has pulled out in Delhi over the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Congress, too, would be in the CPM’s gunsights, Selim indicated.
“The central committee will finalise a document on the demands for restructuring Centre-state relations before beginning talks with other parties for a broad-based movement,” the CPM MP said.
It is not clear, though, if BJP-ruled states would also be included in this “broad-based movement”.
The CPM would also highlight the Congress’s “tacit understanding with Trinamul” on Singur. “The meeting between the Mamata Banerjee and Sonia Gandhi at the height of the Singur crisis and the change in the Congress’s tune at the all-party meeting on the return of land confirms our apprehension,” a CPM secretariat member said.
According to some CPM leaders, the Congress may go for the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in the coming session of Parliament beginning October 17.
The CPM is worried about the “rising attacks on minorities in NDA-ruled Orissa and Karnataka”, but the party would still go on the offensive against the Congress, keeping the “third front alternative” in mind. (END) Source : The Telegraph

CPM finally ‘disagrees’ with the Tatas

New Delhi, Oct. 10: The CPM has criticised the Tatas for the first time since the company took the Nano project out of Bengal, saying “like Mamata Banerjee”, it had a right to be “unreasonable”.
“Adequate protection was provided (in Singur) and the state government was discharging its responsibilities towards the maintenance of law and order,” an editorial in the forthcoming issue of People’s Democracy says. “The Tatas, however, took a stand that unless everybody co-operates, they are not going to remain in Singur. One can surely disagree with such a position.”
According to the editorial titled ‘Defeat these anti-people policies’, the Tatas had been unduly worried. “After all, no one can say they shall build their house in a locality only when all others living there will give an assurance that their house will not be burgled.”
With a touch of sarcasm, it adds: “However, like Mamata Banerjee, the Tatas also have an equal right to take an unreasonable position.”
The editorial also accuses Mamata of facilitating the relocation of the plant to Narendra Modi’s Gujarat.
“Remember, she continued to remain with the NDA and, thus, in a way endorsed the communal carnage unleashed in the state by BJP’s Narendra Modi government,” it says.
“Mamata Banerjee has not merely ensured the exit of the Nano project from Bengal but being the loyal steadfast ally of the BJP in the NDA, she facilitated the project’s relocation to Gujarat.”
The editorial blames Mamata’s Trinamul Congress for putting the future of thousands in jeopardy. It says the party, “with the mere support of less than 10 per cent of the owners of the acquired land, who have not taken the compensation cheques, adversely affected the future prosperity and improved livelihood for a large number of people in the area”.
The article rounds off with a suggestion to prevent a rerun of Singur. “The politics that led to the relocation of the Nano project from Bengal also needs to be relocated elsewhere in the interests of greater prosperity of Bengal and its people.” Source : The Telegraph

Plea for Nano substitute

- Willing farmers to meet governor with factory request
Singur, Oct. 8: Singur residents who had given up their land for the Nano plant or were earning their living from it will meet governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Friday with the request to ask the Tatas to set up a factory at the abandoned site.
The willing landlosers and representatives of the 22 syndicates that supplied construction materials to the project hurriedly called a meeting in a rented house near Singur station last evening after hearing that the Tatas had already decided on an alternative home for the Nano.
“We felt helpless yesterday. So we convened the meeting in a hurry and decided to go to the governor and the chief minister. We will request them to ask the Tatas to reconsider their decision on Singur. If that is not possible, they should ask Ratan Tata to set up some other industry here,” said Sheikh Babul, 32, of Joymollah, whose family had given up over half an acre for the project.
Debaprasad Das, 45, of Sahanapara, a syndicate member, said efforts were on to mobilise people to back their demand. “We have arranged buses for over 2,000 people. We want to prove to the governor and the chief minister that we are sincere,” said Debaprasad, who gave up over two acres for the project.
Many like Bikash Pakhira, 27, of Joymollah, who was a trainee at the Nano project in Singur, are waiting eagerly for a communication from the Tatas asking them to join Sanand, Gujarat, where the project is being relocated. Bikash had completed an ITI course and was trained at Tata Motors’ Pune plant.
“We have heard we will be absorbed but we have not heard from them so far. However, I have decided to join Friday’s programme,” said Bikash. Laltu Dey, 25, echoed Bikash.
The governor had made a vain attempt to end the Singur impasse that killed off the Nano project in Bengal.
The CPM will go door-to-door in Singur “to tell people how Mamata Banerjee’s agitation benefited the BJP (in power in Gujarat)”. “Mamata’s strong ties with the BJP are now clear,” said Hooghly secretariat member Balai Sabui.
The Hooghly CPM leadership will also request the Tatas to build a factory in Singur. “We will approach the people of Singur and ask them whether they would allow the Ta- tas to set up another factory at the Nano project site. If they agree, we will approach the Tatas,” said Anil Basu, the MP from nearby Arambagh.
The government had given the land on a 99-year lease and the Tatas have not made it clear if they want to return or retain it.
The Save Farmland Committee said it would intensify its agitation in Singur after Puja, demanding that the land acquired from unwilling farmers be returned.
The law, however, prevents the government from returning acquired land.(END)

Source: The Telegraph

Sanand rides Singur boom

By BASANT RAWAT
Sanand, Oct. 8: From paddy land to a pot of gold, Nano’s new home is seeing what Singur saw two years ago — a real estate rush and skyrocketing prices.
Cars laden with brokers and property agents scouting for land lined the dusty roads of Sanand, 35km west of Ahmedabad, a day after Ratan Tata announced that the small-car plant would be relocated here. The government has handed over to the Tatas 1,100 acres of land, which was with the Anand Agricultural University and used for cattle grazing.
Govindbhai Dodar, a real estate agent who claims to have handled queries from dozens of people eager to buy plots near the site, said land prices had gone up 500 per cent in the past 24 hours.
“Until yesterday, the price of land in the seven villages surrounding the 2,250-acre university campus was around Rs 5 lakh per acre. Today, we are quoting Rs 25 lakh per acre. In the days to come, the price will go up further,” Dodar said.
Farmers owning land near National Highway 8 connecting Mumbai with Delhi have already hit a jackpot.
The government has acquired from them a little over 50 acres to construct an approach road from the plant site to the highway, a distance of around one-and-a-half kilometres. As compensation, the government has agreed to pay the farmers Rs 45 lakh an acre.
The road leading to the cattle farm resembled a real estate mela with scores of brokers negotiating prices over cups of tea and beedis, confident that Sanand will become Gujarat’s Gurgaon.
The scene was reminiscent of the one in Singur two years ago when the Tatas decided to set up Nano’s mother plant there.
From around Rs 5-8 lakh an acre, the price of land along the Durgapur Expressway had shot up to Rs 35-40 lakh. Since the pullout last Friday, brokers fear the prices, like the “Bengal’s Gurgaon” dream, will come crashing down.(END) Source: The Telegraph