TATA Nano and TMC win in Singur

Economic Times

Mamata says Tata bye-bye

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Mamata_says_Tata_bye-bye/articleshow/3061137.cms


KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is about to revive her duel with the Tatas over the Nano venture in Singur. In the afterglow of her party’s emphatic victory in all the zilla parishad seats in Singur, a visibly charged Trinamool Congress chief asserted on Wednesday: “It is high time the Tatas wind up their car project in Singur. People of Singur have given a clear verdict towards our fight against the forcible land acquisition in Singur.”

When contacted, a Tata Motors spokesperson said: “We will offer no comments.”

Local Trinamool Congress leader Becharam Manna, who also won a gram panchayat seat from Singur, said: “The party would mobilise supporters against the Left Front government’s decision to allow the Tatas to set up their factory on land which was acquired forcibly”.

Singur is now an absolute Trinamool Congress bastion as the assembly constituency belongs to the party and after Wednesday’s poll results, all three seats in the zilla parishad from Singur were won by it. There is no doubt that the ruling CPM is on the threshold of another Trinamool backlash that could come in the way of the scheduled November rollout of the Tata Nano from Singur.

CPM central committee member Benoy Konar, was, however, optimistic that Trinamool Congress would not oppose the Tata Nano project. “Have you seen the election manifesto of the Trinamool Congress? In their manifesto, Mamata has said she wants at least one SEZ in all West Bengal districts. How can she oppose an industrial project and demand for at least one SEZ in all the districts at the same time?,” wondered Mr Konar.

NDTV

Mamata shadow looms at Nano's Singur site

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080050709&ch=5/23/2008%209:59:00%20AM

Friday, May 23, 2008 (Kolkata)

In the recently concluded panchayat polls in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress has won complete control over Singur, the site of the Nano plant.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee now wants Tata to return 400 acres of land to farmers, who had allegedly been forced to give up their land. The West Bengal government is stunned.

Ratan Tata unveiled the Nano prototype on January 10. On that day, he had laughingly said that one of names suggested for the car was Mamata. Now Mamata Banerjee has stopped just short of serving an ultimatum to the industrialist.

''We are not against any individual industrialist. But he is behaving just like a party card holder. He should take a lesson,'' said Mamata Banerjee.

When asked as to what she wanted Ratan Tata to do, Mamata said, ''He should return the land - about 400 acres - to farmers who have not yet given their land.''

Mamata's demand follows her party's victory at Singur in the panchayat polls, seen by some as a referendum on Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's industry policy. Despite negative results, the government has said that there won't be any rollback on industry but has hoped that good sense wins at Singur.

''I think this is an impossible demand. I think the people of the area will also realise it that it will actually help the people of the locality. I think the people who have been elected, are also responsible people,'' said Industry Minister Nirupam Sen.

The Nano is expected to roll out of Singur during the Durga Pujas in October. But Mamata Banerjee's poser to Ratan Tata may just throw a spanner in the works.

The Statesman

Krishi Jomi to stall Singur plant work

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=205132

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, May 22: After getting an overwhelming response from the people of Singur in Panchayat election, Trinamul Congress-led Singur Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee (SKJRC) have decided to disrupt construction work at the Singur small car project area from Sunday.
Stating this, Mr Becharam Manna, SKJRC convener, said: “We will first request the construction labourers not to carry on with work at the site. If they refuse to do so, they will not be allowed to enter the project area.” The decision to “stall the the work on the project “ has been taken at a meeting late last night, he added. “Labourers from other districts, who are carrying out construction work at the site, have been requested to leave the project area by Sunday. We have got the mandate from people that plots had been forcibly taken from the farmers, said Mr Mr Manna who clinched a panchayat samiti seat from Singur defeating CPI-M contestant by a huge margin.
Mr Dibakar Das, CPI-M Hooghly district committee member, alleged that some “unruly” Trinamul Congress supporters have chased away a section of labourers from the project area last night after the poll results were declared. “We have requested officer-in-charge of Singur police station to strengthen the security in the project area. Because more than 25 per cent of policemen had been withdrawn from the site ahead of the elections, we apprehend a fresh attack on the factory's boundary wall.” Senior police officers, however, refused comment on the matter.

CPM won't change land policy

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=204996

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, May 21: The CPI-M won't roll back its controversial policy of industrialisation through farmland acquisition despite the defeat it suffered in areas it sought aggressively to implement its policy, Mr Benoy Konar, Central committee member, said today.
“It's an oversimplification to suggest that our defeat in Midnapore East, which includes Nandigram, Singur in Hooghly, South 24-Parganas and North Dinajpur means a rejection of our policy. Several factors contributed to our poor showing in those areas and these include our failure to convince the farmers about the need for industrial growth along with agricultural development, corruption in a section of panchayats, disunity among the Left Front partners on the question of industrialisation, alienation of the party from the people in many areas and communal propaganda by the PDCI leader Mr Siddiqulla Chowdhury among the rural population,” Mr Konar said.
Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee hailed Trinamul's victory in the two Zilla Parishads of Midnapore East and South 24-Parganas as “a referendum on the anti-people industrialisation policy of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government and the CPI-M's blatant use of muscle power to impose the policy on the people despite their total rejection.”
The people, she said, had answered CPI-M's "bullets" with ballots.
“This is the beginning of the end of the CPI-M's rule in West Bengal. Our victory in Midnapore East and South 24-Parganas Zilla Parishads is a clear indication that the state is heading for a change,'' Miss Banerjee said.
“We could have gained the Hooghly Zilla Parishad also, if we were allowed to contest in Arambagh, Pursura, Goghat and Khanakul.'' She alleged the Opposition candidates were not even allowed to file nominations in many seats in Midnapore West, Burdwan, Bankura and Hooghly.
Miss Banerjee said she was ready to tie up with like-minded Left forces, but parried an answer when asked if she would form boards with the Congress or the BJP.
Asked whether the Trinamul would take help from the RSP to form a board in South Dinajpur, Miss Banerjee said: “You would come to know about it later''.
Miss Banerjee dismissed the suggestion that the Trinamul would have fared better if it tied up with the Congress. “We have won seats without the Congress,” she said.
Mr Ashoke Ghosh, Forward Bloc state general secretary, posed the question: “Who would answer for the Left Front's defeat in the three districts?”
Mr Manoj Bhattacharya, RSP Central committee member, said the CPI-M's industrialisation overdrive was responsible for the LF's defeat. “The CPI-M didn't pay heed to our advice that the policy of industrialisation through farm land acquisition goes against the interests of poor farmers.”
The PCC demanded the resignation of the chief minister as the verdict of Nandigram and Singur was a rejection of his industrialisation policy, Mr Subrata Mukherjee, its spokesman said.
“The people have lost faith in the chief minister who has no qualms in lying to the people on the crucial question of their livelihood,” he said.
Mr Nandagopal Bhattacharya, CPI leader and minister for water investigation said: “The LF had to pay for the CPI-M's arrogant attitude. We have repeatedly said the CPI-M's industrialisation policy was flawed, but the CPI-M brushed it aside. If no lesson is learnt, the LF would have to pay dearly in the coming days.”

Konar targets Tapasi Malik’s father

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=8444188832364&id=180879

Rajib Chatterjee
DANKUNI (Hooghly), Dec. 16: He is a firebrand Marxist known to target his political rivals with epithets which other politicians would prefer to avoid for fear of being criticised. Perhaps, for the first time, he has openly targeted a poor man of Singur who has practically nothing to do with politics.
The Marxist in question is the CPI-M’s central committee member, Mr Benoy Konar, and the person he has targeted is Mr Manoranjan Malik, father of Tapasi Malik, who had to pay with her life for being courageous enough to participate in the anti-land acquisition movement at Singur.
The only offence of Mr Malik is that he has been running from pillar to post demanding punishment for his daughter’s killers.
While addressing a CPI-M rally at Dankuni in Hooghly, Mr Konar said that Tapasi’s father was “cashing in on” his daughter’s death. “Tapasi was a burden for her father when she was alive. Her father had failed to arrange money for her education. Tapasi’s father has now become a renowned person in the state and he now owns a mobile phone. He has been cashing in on his daughter’s death,” he said.
“Earlier, Tapasi’s father would sell fish at a market in Chinsurah. He had no agricultural plots. Tapasi was a burden on him because she was unmarried. But now he is touring several places in the country. It seems money can buy even conscience and ethics,” added Mr Konar.
The CPI-M central committee member, however, paid token homage to Tapasi by merely describing her death as “tragic and unfortunate”. “However, I still do not know whether she was murdered or she committed suicide,” he said.
While some elderly CPI-M supporters, who had gathered at the rally, condemned Mr Konar for his remarks against Tapasi’s father, the young cadre cheered their leader for his bold stand.