Buddhadeb promises industry at Singur

http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/11/stories/2011041156421200.htm
Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: PTI

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee being greeted by an elderly woman during an election campaign meeting in Kolkata on Sunday.

KOLKATA: Reasserting the Left Front government's commitment to industrialisation in West Bengal for opening up job opportunities, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee vowed on Sunday to set up industry at Singur from where the Tata Motors' small car project was relocated in October, 2008 in the face of a prolonged agitation led by the Trinamool Congress.

Addressing a meeting of Left workers in the Jadavpur area, from where he is seeking re-election to the Assembly, Mr. Bhattacharjee said the relocation of the Nano project had been costly for the State, but “that would not stop the setting up of factories in West Bengal.”

“When the eighth Left Front government takes over I will set up a factory at Singur which will be among the largest in the State,” he said.

“We will then see if they [the Trinamool] have the courage to resist it,” he said, while asserting that the next Left Front government would not tolerate moves to obstruct the setting up of industry.

Food security

Mr. Bhattacharjee reiterated that the Left Front government would continue with its work towards consolidating the agricultural successes achieved in the past and ensuring food security for all, even as it took forward its plans for more industrial growth.

He pointed out that his government had made no mistake in initiating the industrialisation drive which was essential for the State. Nearly 27 lakh youth were studying in various educational institutions in the State and they expect to be employed. This was only possible with the setting up of more factories.

No child's play

The Chief Minister, who has been ridiculing the call for “change” by the Opposition, said it was not “child's play.” People were well aware who would take the State forward and know which political dispensation, if it came to power, would spell doom for West Bengal.

Mr. Bhattacharjee, travelling in an open-hooded jeep, waved out at people lining the streets and shook hands with some, even as hundreds, holding aloft flags of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and chanting slogans in support of him and the Left Front, marched down the roads and lanes criss-crossing the Jadvapur area in the southern fringes of the city.

He spent several hours in the morning and evening on the campaign trail there.

In the Thakurpukur-Behala area, a massive ‘padayatra' was taken out by Left Front workers and supporters in which Biman Bose, chairman of the Left Front committee and the State secretary of the CPI(M) participated.

Have Nano, will travel

Have Nano, will travel

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=4&id=282245&usrsess=1

The statements by three protagonists of the Left Front government’s industrialisation overdrive during the past three weeks tend to confirm the suspicion that there are wheels within wheels in the Tata Motors’ small car project at Singur that ended in a fiasco. It was believed that a full stop had been put to the venture after it was shifted to Sanand in Gujarat, but it seems the murky automobile saga is not yet over.
First, let’s examine how the three ~ chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, industries minister Nirupam Sen and principal industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen ~ by their statements sought to create an impression that they were talking at cross-purposes. But the way things unfolded during the past few days it became clear that the three were working to a meticulous plan.
It was Mr Bhattacharjee who, rounding up the debate on the Governor’s address for the Budget session, told the state Assembly that no part of the acquired land at Singur would be returned to the farmers as was being demanded by the Trinamul-led Opposition. He asserted that he couldn’t just betray the farmers of Singur by not setting up industries on the land acquired from them. He announced that the process of setting up industries on the land had started and it was likely to be completed in about a year.
The state government, he clarified, would, during this period, go through the motions of getting the land back from the Tatas who were given it on lease, while the Tatas wold move away whatever equipment they had installed there. In other words, the chief minister told the Assembly that the Tata episode at Singur was over for good.
Then came the dramatic launch of the “wonder car”, Nano, in Mumabi. Within minutes, the state industries minister called a Press conference to bemoan the loss of the Nano project. He squarely blamed the Trinamul and its allies for having brought this “misfortune” to the people of West Bengal, and asked why the LF government was accused of not being transparent in its deal with the Tatas.
He even asked “intellectuals” and social activists, who had put the state government in the dock for the deal why they were not seeking information under the Right to Information Act on the Gujarat government’s deal with the Tatas for the relocated project at Sanand.
The fact is, it was the LF government which had blocked every attempt to seek information on its deal under the RTI Act.
Nano has been turned into a major election plank for the LF with which it castigates the Trinamul Congress. The abortive venture is being projected by the LF as an example of Trinamul’s anti-development and anti-people politics. Hence, the launchng of Nano gave the LF’s Lok Sabha poll campaign the much needed extra firepower to slam Trinamul.
When one thought the remarks of the chief minister and the industries minister were merely part of poll rhetoric and a desperate attempt to turn public opinion against the Trinamul, which had already reaped huge political dividends from the Singur and Nandigram turmoil, the principal industries secretary used the safety and distance of Kuala Lumpur to announce that the Tatas are to stay at Singur and that West Bengal would be the second assembly line of Nano if only the state had been denied the pride of place of being the first stable of the small car.
For the first time, the principal industries secretary disclosed that Tata Motors had plans to produce Nano from four factories in the country. All along it had been bruited about that not an inch of the 997 acres could be returned to the agitating farmers as the project area had been conceived to be large enough to accommodate a whole automobile cluster so that Nano could be made available at the unbelievably cheap price of Rs 1 lakh.
The principal industries secretary had once even sounded grateful to the Tatas for their “sacrifice” of Rs 16,000 for each car they would produce as they would have got this money by way of sales tax exemption had they set up shop in Uttaranchal!
All these reveal that the Tatas must be regretting their decision to move out of Singur. This implies the undisclosed benefits that they were offered by the state government were too great to be thrown away. The Marxists lent their voice to Tata Motors’ inflexible demand for the entire 997 acres at Singur because conceding Trinamul’s demand for return of 400 acres would have been too big a political price for them.
Now, perhaps business is trying to get the better of politics.
Trinamul would let the Singur small car project be revived only if it comes up on 600 acres and the rest of the land is returned to the unwilling farmers from whom it had been forcibly acquired. This has been their stand from the beginning.
If the Marxists accept this stand and hope to make whatever political gain is possible from the actual production of cars in the state, Singur can be the second address of Nano as wished by the principal industries secretary.

Singur: CM, Mamata Banerjee, Amartya Sen

The Statesman

Tatas are here to stay, says Buddha

http://thestatesman.org/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=217096

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Aug. 5: Taking the fight over the Tata Motors small car project at Singur to the Opposition camp, chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today asserted that “neither the Tatas nor the state government would back out of the project.”
In the same breath he ruled out returning 400 acres of land to the unwilling land-losers as is being demanded by the Trinamul Congress and its allies. Speaking at a party function, the chief minister said for the past few days “new and strange things are being said” and asked why and wherefrom the 400 acres of land would be returned. “Have we acquired 997 acres of land for the project just for the sake of it? The Maruti car project with the same targeted capacity as the Tatas' was set up on 1,200 acres of land.* Work at Singur is now in full swing. Don't worry, the factory will come up followed by more such automobile factories apart from other industrial units,” he said. The chief minister said if the 400 acres of land were to be returned, then the project would have to be scrapped. “In that event what would we tell the 6,000 people who would get jobs at Singur?”
The chief minister appealed to the Opposition to decide whether it wants to engage in “positive dialogue with the state government without harming the state's interests and bringing in irrelevant questions.”Mr Bhattacharjee added that the Opposition was shedding “false” tears for farmers. “Leave it to us to worry about the farmers,” he said.
Former chief minister Mr Jyoti Basu in a written speech accused the Trinamul-led Opposition of trying to resist the state government's industrialisation drive and create chaos. “The state's people won't tolerate it,” he said.
Industries minister Mr Nirupam Sen earlier said cars from Singur are expected to roll out before Pujas. Home secretary Mr AM Chakrabarti also said Tata officials had expressed confidence about completing the project on schedule.
He and the Director General of Police, Mr AB Vohra visited the Tata Motors project site during the day and took stock of security arrangements there.
The Tata Motors authorities were asked to beef up their own existing private security system.Besides, there would be additional deployment of security around the plant, while breaches at various points of the 14 km long wall would be repaired and barbed wire put up. Action would be taken against those intimidating the workers at the construction site, he said.
In the meantime, the Trinamul chief Miss Mamata Banerjee said : “We don't want anyone to move out of our state, but our people should not be pushed out of the state for their (Tatas’) sake.''
Speaking at a function today, Nobel laureate, Prof. Amartya Sen, has also said there was need for discussion on the project.

The Telegraph

Security beefed up in Singur, Amartya Sen stands behind the Singur plant once again

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080806/jsp/frontpage/story_9653635.jsp

Mamata: Tatas can stay if… Trinamul sets terms, CM rules out pullout

OUR BUREAU

Calcutta, Aug. 5: Mamata Banerjee has declared she does not want the Tatas to leave Singur, tying her first-ever gesture of accommodation to familiar conditions the government said could not be fulfilled. “I am not opposed to industrialisation. That is why I don’t want the Tatas to leave Singur. Instead, I am offering a solution…. Let the Tatas negotiate with the state government to return 400 acres forcibly acquired from unwilling poor farmers,” she told a news conference. “We have already identified a patch of land opposite the automobile plant where ancillary units can easily be shifted,” she added. The government ruled out returning the land but chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee sought to calm rising fears that the Tatas’ patience was wearing thin following violence and the threat of an indefinite siege from August 24. “Rest assured. Neither the Tatas… nor the state government will withdraw from there. For the sake of the jobless youth of the state… there will be not only one Singur but many Singurs to host more automobile and other manufacturing units,” Bhattacharjee told a party event. The statements from the two ends of the political spectrum need not mean that the storm clouds over the Singur project have lifted. Mamata’s seemingly placatory comment could be an attempt to appear reasonable in the face of criticism that she is against industrialisation and bent on sabotaging the small-car project on which the future of Bengal’s re-industrialisation has come to rest. By making an unequivocal public commitment, the chief minister is also building a case that the government is doing everything possible to keep the project on track. However, the fact that this is the first time Mamata has said she does not want the Tatas to leave “Singur” has prompted some officials to spy a thin window of reconciliation. As of now, Mamata will not talk unless the 400 acres are returned — a condition that, the government insists, will kill the Singur project. “The psuedo-champions of the farmers’ cause are now demanding the return of 400 acres. It’s not possible. The small-car project would have to be abandoned if the portion of the land is to be given back,” the chief minister said. Bhattacharjee said he was ready to hold discussions but not on “unrealistic demands”. “We are ready to honour the Opposition. But don’t close the path to dialogue by making illogical and unacceptable demands. We want discussion on realistic demands.’’ In response, Mamata said later: “The Trinamul Congress always plays its role as a responsible Opposition and our demand for the return of 400 acres is quite justified.” Industries minister Nirupam Sen said he had not received “any communication” from the Tatas that they were thinking of pulling out. “Work is progressing in full swing and 75 per cent of it is over in Singur. The remaining work will be completed and the small car will roll out as per schedule. I haven’t got any communication or intimation from the Tatas that they will leave,” Sen said. The state government also despatched the home secretary to Singur — which is being interpreted as a gesture of reassurance to the Tatas and warning to potential trouble-makers. Asked if her party workers would prevent employees from entering the site during the indefinite dharna, Mamata avoided a direct response. “Our purpose is to lodge a silent protest. We are not bothered if employees are able to enter the factory site or not,” she said.

Pullout cost on Buddha lips
- Delhi warned against brake

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080806/jsp/bengal/story_9653425.jsp

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Calcutta, Aug. 5: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has for the first time spoken about the possibility of the Centre “dragging its feet” on Bengal projects, warning that such retribution would harm the country. “If the Centre now drags its feet over these projects, let them do harm to the country’s interests,” the chief minister told a party event this evening, referring to the deep-sea port and a new airport for Calcutta. The deep-sea port is crucial for drawing big-ticket investors to Bengal. But ever since relations between the Left and the UPA government soured over the nuclear deal, there have been fears that the Centre would not show eagerness to cut the red tape around the project. Speaking out for the first time since the Left withdrew support to the Centre, the chief minister asked: “Are these the demands of the state only? Will it not help the entire region and the country as a whole? Did not the Prime Minister himself announce his Look East policy?” Bhattacharjee sought to downplay suggestions that the Left’s pullout would harm the state’s interests. “Some of our advisers are arguing that we harmed the state’s interests by withdrawing support (to the UPA). We didn’t give priority to the state’s narrow interests when it came to considering national interests,” he said. “We are not running a government at the mercy of the Congress or the Centre. Both the Centre and the state government are elected governments. We came to power defeating the Congress. We expect relations with the Centre in tune with the democratic and federal structure of the country. So why does the question of harming the state’s interest arise?” he asked. Referring to the nuclear deal with America, Bhattacharjee called the Manmohan Singh government a “betrayer”. “The government betrayed national interests by moving ahead with the nuclear deal, part of its plan to be the strategic partner of the US,” the chief minister said. Today, CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu, who till now had been silent on the Left pullout, endorsed the withdrawal in a statement read out by state CPM secretary Biman Bose. “We withdrew our support and voted against the government in the trust vote in Parliament as it was not possible to accept the UPA government’s pro-US policy at the cost of national interests,’’ Bose quoted Basu as saying. *See Also: Maruti acquires more land for fourth plant, plans gearbox unit Singur Revisited Maruti launches 4th car plant Maruti may set up gear box plant in India Reports from The Telegraph: Clouds darken business horizon : Plea to save Nano plant Security beef-up to tackle siege More police and watchtowers at Tata Motors site in Singur August 24: Singur siege date- Plan to surround Tata Motors site and keep away ‘outsiders’

A RECORD IN WEST BENGAL

http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl1914/19140310.htm

With far-reaching achievements in the fields of agriculture and industry to its credit, the Left Front completes 25 years of uninterrupted rule in West Bengal.

KALYAN CHAUDHURI
in Kolkata

ON June 21, 2002, the Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), completed 25 years of its rule in West Bengal. To celebrate the political record of ruling a State for such a long, uninterrupted period, thousands of supporters of the Front gathered at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on that day.

Cheered by the crowd, Front leaders, including former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, his successor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, CPI(M) State secretary Anil Biswas and Forward Bloc general secretary Ashok Ghosh, declared that West Bengal had created history in coalition politics. "It is the unity forged by a shared ideology that has been the strength of the Left Front. This unity is now unbreakable," said Biman Bose, Chairman of the Left Front and a Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M).

SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH
Former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and Left Front chairman Biman Bose, among other leaders, at a function marking the 25 years of Left Front rule in West Bengal, at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on June 21.

The first Left Front government, led by Jyoti Basu, assumed office in 1977, with a resolve to provide immediate relief to the people, take the State forward on the path of development, decentralise the power structure, and thus involve people in the day-to-day work of the government. Of the 25 years it had been in power, the Left Front government was led by Jyoti Basu for over 23 years, until he stepped down in favour of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in October 2000. That it has kept the promises and gained the people's trust is evident from the fact that the Left Front has been voted to power six successive times with massive mandates. This is a world record for an elected Left government. Effective and purposive governance, successful conduct of coalition politics, political stability that was achieved and firm adherence to secularism are widely seen as the reasons for its success. This was possible largely because of the CPI(M)'s ability to hold together the coalition which includes nine other parties. It has not been an easy task. But the CPI(M)'s experience with the United Front governments of 1967 and 1969 stood the party in good stead. This period was followed by a dark phase when the Left parties had to function in an atmosphere devoid of democratic rights, under the Congress(I) government. It was during this long period of struggle for democratic rights, civil liberty, social justice, agrarian reform and industrial resurgence that the Left Front took shape.

The United Front experience helped the CPI(M) leadership to delineate a code of conduct, which has been adhered to strictly and uniformly by the Front constituents, irrespective of their relative strengths. This, despite the criticism, mainly from newspapers that have been hostile to the Left Front, that the smaller parties in the Front have been exploited by the "Big Brother".

The CPI(M)'s strength in electoral politics lies in its ability to gauge the mood of the people and come up with slogans that would catch their imagination. And it has always taken the lead in launching the campaign, leaving little time for its main opponent, the Congress(I), to set its house in order. In both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections the Left Front turns the contest into an issue-based one by blending local issues with larger political issues.

At the time of taking office in 1977, Jyoti Basu said that the Left Front was fully conscious of the duties and responsibilities that had been entrusted to it by the people of West Bengal through a historic electoral verdict. "Our government would not be run from the Writers' Buildings alone ; it would maintain close touch with the representative organisations of the people in order to serve them effectively," he said.

Tracing the record of the government in the last 25 years, Jyoti Basu said the Left Front government had been endeavouring to alleviate the hardships of the people by implementing welfare schemes and programmes with their support and active participation. He said: "On every available opportunity, we have made it clear that no fundamental changes can be brought about by the State government, which has to function under the constraints and limitations of the existing constitutional framework. Our efforts, however, are constantly directed to extend much-needed relief to the people. With our emphasis on land reforms, agricultural development and democratic decentralisation, we have been successful in achieving a major breakthrough in agriculture and allied sectors. Our achievement in the field of foodgrain production is now well-recognised, while the land reforms programme has radically altered the scene in the countryside with definite benefits to the rural masses."

The panchayats, Jyoti Basu said, had been successfully implementing various rural development programmes aimed at generating gainful employment to the rural poor and creating durable assets for common benefit. "Decentralisation of planning through the involvement of the people in the formulation and implementation of the planned schemes constitutes a basic component of our strategy for general welfare," he said.

After capturing power in 1977, the CPI(M) lost no time in consolidating its base in West Bengal. The holding of panchayat elections regularly since 1978 has created a strong rural base for the party. The over three million families that have benefited by land reform constitute its main support base. The reforms also led to a spurt in the rate of agricultural growth, the highest in the country. Between 1980-81 and 1990-91, the average annual increase in food production had been 7.1 per cent as against the national-level increase of 3.15 per cent.

After being sworn in Chief Minister on May 18, 2001 following the Left Front's victory in the Assembly elections, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee initiated changes that have provided a new dimension to Left Front rule. In a conversation with Frontline, he discussed the Left Front's spectacular performance in the past 25 years in improving the rural economy. "We have to remember that our real strength lies in our achievements in rural Bengal. However, we will not lose sight of the new generation with which we will go forward. So we will have to look at the requirements of the new generation in the light of the scientific and technological developments taking place now. We Marxists are realists. We understand that change is essential to life. There is no point in holding on to a dogma. We shall have to change our policies according to the changing situation. We are now in the 21st century and this century's science is information technology, biotechnology and the like. We must adapt to the new environment. Otherwise we will be nowhere in the picture," he said.

PARTH SANYAL
At a state-of-the-art cement factory inaugurated by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in Durgapur in January 2002. The rapid strides made by West Bengal in agriculture and allied sectors, certain policy initiatives and political stability under the Left Front are factors that have spurred industrial growth in the State.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has concentrated on developing industry, especially agro-based industry. "We have been able to attract Rs.14,961 crores as investment over the past three years and gained the fifth position in this respect in the country. We have been trying to improve the functioning of the State public sector undertakings. I am determined to take a decision on all the 69 of them by the year-end," he said.

For the past 25 years, the Left Front government has been pursuing an alternative approach to rural development planning. The approach is based on more equitable distribution of land and other productive assets in rural areas, within the limitations of the existing socio-economic structure. Although West Bengal has less than 4 per cent of the total agricultural land in the country, nearly 20 per cent of the land distributed through land reforms in India is in the State. About 60 per cent of the total land is owned by small and marginal farmers as against the national figure of 28.8 per cent. In other words, the government's efforts have created an objective situation in which agricultural planning is done from the standpoint of the poorer working farmers.

Agricultural development, with emphasis on the best manner of utilisation of labour and local resources, has increased the purchasing power of the common man and thus helped in the growth of agriculture-linked cottage and small-scale industries. Over the last 20 years, small units have registered a significant growth rate. Their number has gone up from less than a lakh in 1976-77 to about four lakhs now, generating over one lakh jobs every year.

The process of decentralisation of economic and administrative power, initiated by the Left Front government 25 years ago, is almost complete. It has generated considerable interest in India and abroad. The administrative principles adopted and the development strategies pursued through the three-tier panchayat system reflect a new ethos of catering to the needs of the common people and creating an alternative path of development that gives priority to eradicating poverty and ensuring social justice.

Surjya Kanta Mishra, Minister for Health, Panchayats and Rural Development, told Frontline that one of the most significant achievements of the panchayat system was that it had entrenched grassroots-level democracy. Since 1977, five rounds of panchayat elections have been held, once every five years. In the last round, held in May 1998, the Left Front captured over three-fourths of the 80,000 seats in the gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zilla parishads. Over 35 per cent of the panchayat members are women and 28 per cent belong to the Scheduled Castes and 7 per cent to the Scheduled Tribes.

The panchayat bodies have, in close coordination with the State government, taken over the planning, administration and implementation of developmental activities. They have also shaped themselves into a force that is powerful enough to usher in social change; it has empowered the common man to decide his political, economic and social destiny.

JAYANTA SHAW/REUTERS
The Left Front's emphasis on land reforms, agricultural development and democratic decentralisation has led to a major breakthrough in agriculture and thus created a solid base for industrialisation.

The West Bengal government spends almost half of its annual budget through the panchayats. The money goes towards creating rural employment and financing local development. Village or gram panchayat leaders have, over the last two and a half decades, emerged as key players in developing their respective areas. The land-owning gentry have been rendered powerless, an achievement that has not been matched anywhere else in India.

The panchayati raj institutions in the State have a pro-poor orientation because the majority of their members come from the downtrodden sections. A survey conducted by the Staff Development and Planning Department covering 100 gram panchayats revealed that more than 71 per cent of the panchayat representatives are small and marginal farmers. A recent study of panchayats in 25 blocks across 14 States presents a contrasting picture: 88 per cent of the panchayat members and 95 per cent of the panchayat presidents in these belong to the landed gentry. This glaring contrast is testimony to the success of the Left Front's development strategy, which is based on land reforms.

The Left Front government initiated steps to devolve power in the first year of the Seventh Plan (1985-86) by constituting block and district planning committees headed by presidents of panchayat samitis and zilla parishads. The block planning committee (BPC) consists of the heads of gram panchayats and the members of the executive committees of panchayat samitis and block-level officials from different departments. The district planning committees (DPCs) consists of the presidents of panchayat samitis, the chairmen of municipalities, the executive members of zilla parishads and the heads of the various government departments at the district level. The Block Development Officer (BDO) and the District Magistrate are the member-secretaries of the BPC and the DPC respectively.

The budgetary provision for various departments for district-level items are disaggregated and disbursed to the DPC. A similar exercise is undertaken at the level of blocks and municipalities. Within these budgetary parameters, which have come to be known as divisible outlay, the DPC has the power to formulate its own plan on the basis of the "district-specific schemes" drawn from district-level sectoral plans and the "block and municipality-specific schemes" appearing in block and municipal plans.

THE strong industrial base of West Bengal started eroding in the 1950s and early 1960s. The process of de-industrialisation of West Bengal was accentuated by the Union government's economic policies, which gave preference to petrochemical industries over steel and coal-based industries, in which the eastern region had a competitive advantage. The policy of freight equalisation took away the region's edge relative to the rest of the country.

SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH
A section of the audience at the Netaji Indoor Stadium function.

Successive Congress governments of West Bengal are mainly responsible for the decline of industry in the State. Although Congress Chief Minister Dr. B.C. Roy was a visionary, he made two mistakes: he neglected agriculture and placed too much emphasis on heavy industries. Owing to the neglect of agriculture, the State could not develop a strong agricultural base, a prerequisite for industrialisation; and the emphasis on heavy industries led to the neglect of traditional industries such as jute which was fighting a losing battle against synthetic fibre.

However, the rapid strides made by the State in agriculture and allied sectors under the Left Front government have once again created the base for industrial development. The change in some policies of the Union government in response to the repeated demands of the Left Front government also facilitated this process. Thus the delicensing of industries and the discontinuance of the policy of freight equalisation created a situation conducive to industrial development. The State is now back on the priority list of investors. Large companies are looking for fresh investment opportunities in the State.

One of the major factors that has brought about a change in the investors' attitude is the high rate of growth in food production in the last decade. Increased food production, combined with land reform measures such as Operation Barga and relatively high wages for agricultural workers, has ensured a fairly equitable distribution of income. The State's industry is ready for a take-off both economically and socially. As compared to other parts of the country, West Bengal has a much broader domestic market. Another major attraction is the factor of political stability.

Above all, the turnaround in power generation has made investment in West Bengal an attractive proposition. The State's power position is perhaps one of the best in the country. From a total production capacity of 1,361 MW in 1976, West Bengal has now become a power-surplus State, producing 7,099 MW of power and supplying part of it to neighbouring States. A large number of engineering colleges and industrial training institutes in the State have ensured a steady supply of skilled manpower.

Academicians conducting socio-economic studies on West Bengal generally agree that with its mass internal market, political and social stability, and relatively clean and efficient administration, an industrial revolution in West Bengal will be unstoppable.

The poor poetry of industrialisation

http://www.himalmag.com/2007/february/opinion1.htm

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) in wonderland.

by | Aditya Nigam

bilash rai

The West Bengal Chief Minister and the ruling Left Front (LF) government’s former poet-commissar, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, translator of Mayakovsky, is busy with another kind of poetry these days. He is transposing the ‘poetry’ of industrialisation – as it happened on the soil of England – onto the land called Bengal. Dazzled by the dreamworld of capital, Buddhadeb has been quick to shake off the shackles of his earlier convictions and seek aesthetic pleasure in his new role as the ‘Commissar of Industry and Progress’. For quite some time now, Bhattacharya has been trying to convince prospective investors to take the leftists at their word when they say they really are in favour of neo-liberal reforms: “We are realists and we know it’s either reform or perish.” Progress, he understands, entails the death of all that is archaic – revolutionary convictions and agriculture, for instance.

Rapid industrialisation is the only way forward, and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are the quickest way to industrialise. The idea of SEZs has been directly imported into India – and indeed into West Bengal – from China, and from the neo-liberal’s point of view, such units are the important first step in the direction of the brave new world of capital. Eventually, these enthusiasts intend to extend to the entire country the facilities enjoyed by SEZs – tax holidays, exemption from labour laws, unrestricted import facilities, cheap land taken over from Adivasis and peasants, and the freedom of unrestrained exploitation of natural resources.

China is Bhattacharya’s immediate inspiration and justification; but alas, unlike in China, he has a democracy to deal with. The process of industrialisation that Bhattacharya and his party, the CPI(M), have initiated would be every bit as ruthless and violent as it is in China – but for this fact of democracy, which allows the peasants to manifest their resistance.

Thus it happened that on 1 December 2006, several thousand police and paramilitary troops descended on a small and obscure place, the name of which very few outside the state of West Bengal had heard of: Singur. They came to fence off an area of 997 acres of prime agricultural land in Hooghly District so that it could be handed over to the Tata conglomerate, who would establish on it a plant for the manufacture of cheap cars.

What happened in Singur revealed in a flash to all of rural Bengal the plan for the much advertised industrialisation programme: The peasants would be dispossessed at any cost to clear the way. The police fired teargas and rubber bullets at the protesting villagers. They were beaten up and their paddy harvests set on fire. For the peasants did not give up their land voluntarily.

The anger among the local population has been building up ever since the news of the Tatas’ plans for the factory reached Singur in May 2006, even as the newly-elected Left Front government was taking oath. As mass discontent became apparent, various smaller leftwing organisations, especially Naxalite groups and intellectuals, started becoming involved. The involvement of Medha Patkar, leader of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and the National Alliance of Peoples’ Movements (NAPM), helped draw attention to the issue, while the active championing of the cause of the peasants and sharecroppers by the Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee brought in the dimension of electoral calculus.

Weak wicket
The Bhattacharya government has been claiming that the acquisition process has been transparent and democratic, and that of the 997 acres required for the project, the consent of the owners had already been acquired for 952 acres by December. These owners – so claimed the LF government and the CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat – had not only given their consent, but were enthusiastically queuing up for the attractive cash compensation package. In a show that smacked of manipulation, the CPI(M) even got these villagers to set up an organisation to “support industrialisation”. Revealingly – and a trifle farcically – it was called ‘Pragatisheel Swechchha Jomi Bikreta, Shilpa Sthapan O Shahar Unnayan Committee (Committee of Progressive, Voluntary Land-Sellers, Supporters of Industrialisation and City Development)’. These people were apparently dying to give up their land at prices far below the market rate for the noble cause of industrialisation! Be the case of the ‘land-seller’ as it may, what about the animal called the sharecropper? What about the people who work the land but do not own it? What about those for whom the CPI(M) had in the early 1980s devised the well-known ‘Operation Barga’, to protect their tenure by means of registration? By the time Singur happened, however, the landless peasant/sharecropper had all but disappeared from CPI(M)’s horizon. When cornered, the party’s leaders said they had ensured that the landless would be given jobs in the factory. Given that all labour laws are null and void within an SEZ, it was left unclear how CPI(M) would ensure that the job guarantee would be affected.

Critics have pointed out that even government statistics show 333,372 hectares of fallow and 119,146 hectares of uncultivable land available in West Bengal, in addition to over 40,000 acres of land locked in mills and factories no longer functioning, which could be used for the purpose of setting up a new factory. Amitdyuti Kumar, vice-president of the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), also refers to a memorandum submitted by the CPI(M) MP Santasri Chatterjee, president of the Hooghly District chapter of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, to the local district magistrate, demanding use of such premises for the establishment of new industrial units.

Interestingly, Chatterjee’s memorandum also states that the Birlas were given 744 acres in 1948 in order to set up Hind Motors in the district, but that they only used 252 acres – 500 acres had remained unused for 58 years. Critics argue that automobile factories, including the Tatas’ own, do not need such large parcels of land. They also point out that, even by Tata Motors’ estimates, there is no way the project will generate more than 2000 jobs. Yet the number of people losing livelihoods, including sharecroppers, is likely to be in the region of 15,000.

The government’s claim that the Singur land is good only for single-crop cultivation, or that it is wasteland, has also been shown to be false. Most of the land concerned is fertile multi-crop land, and the government’s claims on the matter seem to be based on land records that have not been updated for decades. Noted leftwing historian Sumit Sarkar recently affirmed, after a visit to Singur, that most of the government’s claims are indeed highly questionable: neither was the process of acquisition democratic and transparent, nor was the claim that the land was single-crop correct.

Outsiders, insiders
Singur was still creating a stir when a major eruption occurred in the Nandigram area of East Midnapore District. Here, in early January, the villagers were up in arms, as news reached them of an order by the Haldia Development Authority, under which Nandigram falls, identifying land for acquisition in the preparation of two new SEZs in the area. One of these is to be set up by the Salim Group, an Indonesian multinational corporation that was at the centre of much controversy last year, as Buddhadeb had committed it 5000 acres of land without consultation with other government functionaries. The drastic amendments he proposed to existing laws in order to facilitate these acquisitions, however, were rejected by a unanimous vote of the state assembly.

The two SEZs in the Haldia area will involve much more land than did the Tatas’ venture – somewhat over 14,500 acres to begin with. As the leaked news reached Nandigram, panic set in and preparations were made on a war footing for the possible arrival of police and paramilitary forces, to implement the land acquisition. The rage of the population fell on the local CPI(M) cadres, who had to flee for their lives. An angry crowd also set the local party office on fire and put up roadblocks in the approaches to the village. Sumit Sarkar’s report on Singur laments that the word cadre has become a term of abuse in local parlance. The party’s response to this outburst was to mobilise more ‘cadres’ from neighbouring areas and to launch a pre-meditated counterattack in which at least six people were killed.

In the course of its troubles in Singur and Nandigram, the CPI(M) leadership needed a scapegoat by means of which to discredit the struggle against its policies. They found this in the figure of the ‘outsider’, a representation that encompasses anyone who is not directly affected by the land acquisitions. The outsider could be Medha Patkar, the local Naxalite activist, students or intellectuals from Calcutta, or even local activists of parties such as the Trinamool Congress and the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI). This is a strange argument for the communists to make, given that not one of their unions in any factory could have been set up without the active support of people from ‘outside’. But more to the point, might one be pardoned for asking, Are the Tatas and the Salim group of industries ‘insiders’? Is Buddha Babu, who committed other people’s land to these companies against the will of the owners, an insider?

Though there is an apparent calm for the time being, the West Bengal countryside is simmering, and much will depend on whether Mr Bhattacharya and the CPI(M) are prepared to rethink their strategy of rapid industrialisation. Agriculture in its present form might not be the best option, but if the rationale behind industrialisation is that it will create more jobs, it is clearly misplaced. Does Buddha Babu have any other strategy in mind, and will he act on it before irreversible damage is done?

Buddhadeb Replies To Intellectual's Statement

`We Cannot Fail People's Expectations'

The following is the text of the letter written by West Bengal chief
minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to Professor Sumit Sarkar on January
11, 2007 in response to Professor Sarkar's statement on Singur and
Nandigram developments.

I HAVE seen the statement made by you and some other distinguished
intellectuals and activists on the Singur and Nandigram problems. I
would like to apprise you of the state government's position in
regard to West Bengal industrialisation.
In 1977, the Left Front government came to power in West Bengal.
Earlier in 1967 and 1968, two United Front governments were formed in
West Bengal but they lasted 90 and 13 months respectively. But during
these two short periods the land reform movement in the state rose to
a high pitch and the zamindari system faced a very big challenge
movement helped mobilise the peasants of West Bengal on a massive
scale under the leadership of the left forces. In the 1970s, the
political scene in West Bengal passed through many changes bringing
about a major shift in the situation with the installation of the
Left Front government in 1977. Because of the land reform measures of
our government, 78 per cent of the state's land now belongs to the
marginal and poor peasants. This is unprecedented in the entire
country. Owing to the land reform programme of the state government
and pro-people activities of Panchayats, important changes have taken
place in the rural sector of West Bengal. The purchasing power of the
rural people has gone up and the state has achieved a massive
increase in its agricultural production in recent years. West Bengal
is now regarded as a leader in the production of rice and vegetables.
It is time to assess the present situation of the state realistically
and objectively. The fragmentation of land has become inevitable with
the division of property among the children after the death of father
in a rural family. The prices of agricultural inputs are now
increasing. The rise in the agricultural production has led to a
situation in which the peasants do not get the remunerative prices.
At present, 68 per cent of the people are engaged in agricultural
work. The number of landless people has started increasing. In the
current turn of the situation there is reason to doubt whether our
success in the agricultural sector can be maintained if we follow the
same agenda. Faced with this situation, it is imperative for us to
accelerate the pace of industrial development in the state while
sustaining our success on the agricultural front.
In West Bengal, the contributions of agriculture, industry and
service sectors are 26 per cent, 24 per cent, and 50 per cent
respectively to SDP. We should create more favourable conditions for
generating employment through industrialisation. It is incumbent on
us to move ahead, otherwise there would be the end of history. The
process of economic development evolves from agriculture to industry.
The journey is from villages to cities. The process of change is true
for the Marxists also.
For setting up new industries West Bengal needs more land. But in our
state farmland constitutes 62 per cent of the total land, while the
fallow land is only 1 per cent and the forestland is 13 per cent. The
urban and industrial sectors constitute 24 per cent of the total
land. These figures show the constraint under which we are working to
pursue our objective of industrialisation in the state. Under the
circumstances, the farmland, in some measure, has to be utilised for
industrialisation. We are earnestly endeavouring to make the least
use of fertile land for the purpose of setting up industries.
Much is being talked about the land acquisition for the proposed
project at Singur. The economic benefit to be accrued from this
project will be much higher than that obtained now from several plots
of land used for agricultural purposes at Singur. We are giving
adequate compensation to the landowners for the acquisition of land.
It is our firm belief that the economically backward people of Singur
will be greatly benefited after the setting up of the proposed
project. An elaborate scheme for rehabilitation has been drawn up.
Besides the motor factory, a large number of ancillary units will be
set up. As a result, employment opportunities will be created there
on a vast scale. The move is on to employ a good number of villagers
to the projects after imparting technical training to them. It is the
moral responsibility of the state government to see to it that all
land-losers in Singur get direct and indirect employment.
To quicken the economic development of West Bengal we are making
efforts to set up SEZs in some areas of the state. Our priority is to
earmark 50 per cent of each SEZ for setting up industries. The SEZ
cannot primarily be meant for the real estate business. But in
various other parts of India, more than 300 SEZs are being set up
with the thrust on promoting the real estate business. We are opposed
to this move. In West Bengal, we have already received some proposals
for establishing Special Economic Zones. One chemical hub will be set
up at Nandigram in Southern Bengal and we are contemplating to set up
an electronics hub at Siliguri in North Bengal.
I have already made clear our stand regarding the Nandigram issue. We
seek cooperation from all concerned to sort out the problem. The
state government pays full respect to the democratic process.
At present, West Bengal needs more manufacturing industries. We are
attaching importance to such sectors as iron and steel, chemicals,
petrochemicals, engineering, leather, cement and food processing.
Emphasis is also being laid on promoting the labour intensive small
scale and medium industries. We are also according priority to the
setting up of knowledge-based industries (IT, bio-technology). It is
necessary to utilise our human and material resources in ample
measure.
Our government is stepping up efforts to develop the infrastructure
sector. West Bengal is a power surplus state. We are proceeding with
our plans for creating significant capacity addition to the power
sector. Three new satellite townships, world-class expressways,
ports, a sea-port, a logistics hub, construction of roads and bridges
are some of the important initiatives undertaken by us. Thousands of
young people are seeking jobs. They will shape the future of our
country. We cannot fail them. We must try our best to live up to the
people's expectations.
Sd/-
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
People's Democracy qJanuary 21, 2007
People's Democracy(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India
(Marxist) Vol. XXXI No. 03January 21, 2007

Singur votes as CM reviews work

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=203984

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, May 14: Even when the people of Singur voted today to give the state government a piece of their mind on the controversial small car project, the chief minister busied himself with reviewing the work of desilting canal and upgrading drainage system around the Tata Motors project in a bid to avoid last year’s situation when the site remained flooded for weeks after a heavy shower.
The chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, also held a meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on industries and discussed industrialisation projects like a private airport and township at Ondal. It had been earlier decided that the 2300 acres of land required for the project would be purchased directly but now the state government is actively considering the land acquisition model after the rural polls. The sub-committee also discussed a project of manufacturing solar panels from silica to be set up at Haldia, an Indo-US joint venture with German technology.
Mr Bhattacharjee, who was unhappy with the progress of upgrading the drainage system around the project site in Singur, asked the officials of the irrigation department to expedite the work of desilting and excavating the Julkia canal and the Ghia-Kunti basin ahead of monsoon. While desiltation and excavation work would be completed before monsoon, construction of pump houses would take up longer and officials were apprehensive that if there was a deluge similar to last year, the site would once again be flooded.
The PWD was also asked to speed up construction of the approach of a new and broader bridge on the Ghia-Kunti after which the old bridge would be demolished and the canal excavated further.
It may be recalled that work for the small car project was held up for a month as the site remained flooded after a particularly heavy shower during last monsoon. Later, the state government announced a package for upgrading the drainage system in the area.

Intellectuals will meet Governor to complain about CM

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=193446

Rajib Chatterjee
KOLKATA, March 2: Criticising the chief minister for awarding the Seva medal to an IPS officer, accused of torturing women and farmers in Singur, a section of intellectuals and human right activists have decided to meet Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi to complain about Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Mr Bhattacharjee recently awarded the Seva medal to IPS officer, Mr Asit Paul, former additional superintendent of (Headquarters), Hooghly, who has been accused of assaulting women farmers and Ms Anuradha Talwar, a human rights activist near the Singur small car project site last year for protesting against the land acquisition.
Speaking to The Statesman, eminent writer and Magsaysay award winner, Mahasweta Devi said: "I came to know from the media that he (the chief minister) gave the medal to a police officer against whom complaints of assaulting women were lodged by human rights organisations. Buddha (Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee) has not done anything wrong. I will not be surprised if he awards a rapist in the future.” She said the officer is the “obvious and natural choice of the chief minister” because the officer had “blindly” followed the instruction of the state government. “He (Mr Paul) has tortured farmers, assaulted women mercilessly and received the award for his job. He deserved the medal and the chief minister selected the right person to confer the award,” the writer sarcastically said. Mr Paul was promoted last year as the deputy commissioner of the city police recently. Mr Amitdyuti Kumar, a senior member of the Association for Protection of Democratic Right said: “We will meet the Governor to lodge a complaint against the chief minister shortly. The state government gives medals to men-in-uniform on behalf of the Governor to recognise their contribution to the society. Before selecting policemen for the award, the state government should scrutinise their service records.”

Singur: CPI(M)'s peasant wing seeks better deal for farmers

http://www.aol.in/news/story/2007032812189019004425/Main/index.html

AOL India Editorial

Last Updated: August 22, 2007 14:55:21

Singur/Nandigram (WB), Feb 17 (PTI): With the CPI(M) struggling to convince farmers in West Bengal to accept acquisition of agricultural land for industrialisation, the party’s peasant wing has suggested offering a better compensation package to share-croppers.

The registered share-croppers should be given a better compensation including crop compensation for a year besides what they have been paid, Dibakar Das, a Krishak Sabha leader from Singur told PTI.

He also said the compensation rate should be fixed by the state Agriculture Department.

The State government has already acquired a total of 997 acres at Singur for the Tata Motors' small car project evoking violent protests from farmers, mainly share-croppers and landless labourers.

The share-croppers, affected by the land acquisition at Singur, have been given 25 per cent of the market value of the land, besides 10 per cent solatium and 12.5 per cent interest, by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, however, has a bigger problem at hand at Nandigram in East Midnapur district, where rumours about land acquisition led to violent clashes. This forced the Chief Minister to announce that no land would be acquired without the consent of farmers.

Ilyas Muhammad, CPI MLA from Nandigram, a partner in the ruling Left Front, said that 90 per cent of the people were against land acquisition there.

"Technology-oriented industry will provide no employment to farmers at Nandigram. It will in fact compound the situation and lead to more unemployment," Muhammad, whose party has criticised the Bhattacharjee government's land acquisition, said.

The people, including share-croppers were of the view that any industry set up there should be agro-based and not technology-oriented, Muhammed said.

The state government has already committed to the Salim group of Indonesia 22,000 acres in East Midnapur district for setting up a multi-product SEZ and a chemical hub.

The state government, however, was moving cautiously after six people were killed in Nandigram in the first week of January in violent clashes, following an advertisement identifying the areas where the SEZ and chemical hub might be set up.

In a damage control exercise, the Chief Minister has undertaken trips to the affected district explaining to the people that industry was necessary for development. At the same time, CPI(M), the bigger partner in the Front, is also holding talks with smaller partners like CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP, to make them toe the line on the ticklish issue. PTI

No blunder in Nandigram, Singur: Yechuri

http://news.oneindia.in/2007/01/13/no-blunder-nandigram-singur-yechuri.html



Saturday, January 13 2007 16:00(IST)



New Delhi, Jan 13: CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechuri does not feel Nandigram and Singur incidents have dented the image of the West Bengal government and the party, and insists newspapers were wrong in reporting that Chief Minister Budhadeb Bhattacharjee has admitted to a ''big blunder'' in Nandigram.

In an interview to Mr Karan Thapar for the CNN-IBN programme, Devil's Advocate, the CPI(M) Politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP also refuted Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's claim that land had been forcibly acquired in Singur.

''Not at all. No. We have brought this entire question of compensation to the national agenda. The compensation we are giving in Singur is the best and the most exemplary. And now everybody will have to follow suit,'' he said in reply to a question whether the two incidents had damaged the reputation of the state government.

Mr Yechuri went further when he fervently, repeatedly and, sometimes, angrily denied that Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had admitted that ''a big blunder'' had occurred in Nandigram: ''There's no blunder. I'm sorry. Don't quote to me what appears in the press. I know what he said.'' When Devil's Advocate quoted entire sentences reported on January 10 by newspapers such as The Indian Express, The Hindustan Times and The Telegraph where the Chief Minister was quoted to have said ''it happened because of our mistake. It was a big blunder and the principal cause of the mayhem that followed'' (Hindustan Times) and ''the government has committed a blunder by issuing a notice on land acquisition in Nandigram'' (The Telegraph), Mr Yechuri said: ''It was not said to journalists. They all picked it up from God knows where.''

Instead, Mr Yechuri insisted that the authentic version of the Chief Minister was available on the West Bengal Government's website where, according to Mr Yechuri, the Chief Minister said: ''The Haldia Development Authority issued some instruction which was not its mandate. That instruction is the cause for a lot of confusion. Please go by his (Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's) written statement which is available on the web and where he says it was (done by) the Development Authority which has no authority on this issue.'' Insisting that neither Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee nor the West Bengal Government had made a blunder or admitted to a blunder, Mr Yechuri made the following points.

First, he said that the West Bengal Government had not issued any notice for land acquisition in Nandigram.

Second, he said that the Haldia Development Authority had only issued ''some instruction'' but not an actual notification for land acquisition.

Third, he added that the Haldia Development Authority did not have the mandate to issue a notice for land acquisition.

As he explained: ''The question of land acquisition is a right which the State Government has. Any other authority that may issue any other orders is absolutely out of its mandate.''

Further, Mr Yechuri insisted that as soon as the action by the Haldia Development Authority had come to light the West Bengal Government immediately acted to revoke the order. Referring to the statement issued by the Politburo of the CPM in Delhi on the January 9, where it said: ''As far as the specific violent incidents related to Nandigram is concerned, there has been no notice issued for land acquisition,'' Mr Yechuri insisted that this was not contradicted by the Chief Minister's admission a few hours later that the Haldia Development Authority had issued notices: ''What we were saying is actually representing the situation whereby the State Government has not issued any notification for land acquisition. The Haldia Development Authority cannot issue a land acquisition notice. The Haldia Development Authority has no authority to issue any land acquisition notice.''

In the Devil's Advocate interview Mr Yechuri was also questioned closely about Ms Mamata Banerjee's claim regarding the acquisition of land at Singur.

Asked how the government's position that 954 acres out of the required 997 had been voluntarily surrendered can stand up against Ms Mamata Banerjee's assertion that the owners of 464 acres - 46 per cent of the total - had filed affidavits at the Chander Nagar court asserting that they had refused to sell their land and refused to accept compensation, Mr. Yechuri replied: ''What she has given is being inquired into by the state government and till now 350 acres of what she claims as part of the acquired land is outside of this land. The affidavits that have been filed do not fall under the purview of the acquired land. 350 acres is entirely from outside.''

Asked why the promise made on the December 28 by Mr Nirupam Sen, Industries Minister in the West Bengal Government, to publish ''very soon'' the full list of names of people who have voluntarily surrendered 954 acres of land, has still not been fulfilled, Mr Yechuri first claimed that this had been done by the refutation of Ms Banerjee's claim and then, under further questioning, insisted that the list has been published on the West Bengal Government's website.

Finally, when Devil's Advocate asked Mr Yechuri why Section 144 was necessary in Singur if 954 acres - 95 per cent of the total - had been surrendered voluntarily, he replied: ''Because of the politics that has been there in Bengal for a long time. There have been incidents in Keshpur and Garbeta some years ago when outsiders go there with arms, create violence and mayhem, and on that basis politics is sought to be played out. Now Section 144 was imposed when outsiders with arms went there (to Singur) and attacked. Like in Nandigram as well. In the first instance of violence 19 people were injured and 16 are policemen.

So who's attacking whom? They are going there with arms in order to create violence and mayhem.'' Questioned about claims made by the Trinamool Congress, as well as by prominent individuals such as Sumit Sarkar and Arundhati Roy that brutal physical violence had been used to force people in Singur to surrender their land, Mr Yechuri maintained: ''I contest very very strongly that all of this happened through brute force. When Mamata Banerjee and Medha Patkar were there on dharna you had people queuing up to collect compensation cheques.

Why? Why are they accepting this package?'' On the subject of sharecroppers, Mr Yechuri denied claims that they have been left out of the West Bengal Government's compensation package. However, he accepted that there are a large number of unregistered sharecroppers but insisted that as soon as their claim has been verified and established they will be compensated along with registered sharecroppers.

Diplomacy fails to cut much ice

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=6&id=210021&usrsess=1

Uday Basu
KOLKATA, Dec. 29.: When Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee instructed his party cadres of Nandigram during his visit on 26 December to try to talk things over with their sworn enemies from the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee which spearheaded the resistance against the state government’s now scrapped mega chemical hub project, he was out of touch with ground realities.
Fear is all pervasive in battle-scarred Nandigram and the spectre of retaliation haunted CPI-M cadres attending the open session of the party district unit's conference so much that they felt it unsafe to stay at the venue a minute after the chief minister ended his speech. It was seen to be believed the way they made a beeline for the vehicles that had brought them to the venue from their homes several kilometres from Nandigram.
The psyche of the people living in and around Nandigram was summed up in the words of a woman trudging briskly back home at Reyapara, one of the trouble spots, with her 10-year-old son, almost running from behind to keep pace with her. Asked whether she believed, like the chief minister, that lasting peace would return to the strife-torn belt in no time, she said with ringing sarcasm : “Only God knows.” Another party sympathiser said the way “peace” had been sought to be restored was “definitely not the right approach”.
“If their men, women and children are killed, how can they be expected to remain calm? They would hit back. The result: We dare not go near Nandigram college. There is a concentration of BUPC activists in this area and they are sure to retaliate. They have a huge stockpile of arms,” he said in clear disapproval of the bloody recapture of the villages by his party cadres in the first week of November.
Another woman, who was keenly following every word of the chief minister when he was addressing the rally, could barely conceal her disbelief when Mr Bhattacharjee suggested that CPI-M cadres should try to build bridges with BUPC activists and interact with them so that amity returns. She shook her head and grunted, mocking at the chief minister’s directive to his cadres.
These CPI-M supporters declined to disclose their identities as scores of other cadres were leaving the venue fast with them. But they said peace will be illusory and the chief minister’s pious wishes won’t cut any ice with the people who have lost their kin in the 14 March police firing and had to flee their homes during the recapture of villages with arms and violence.

Capital is my mantra: CM

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?date=2008-01-14&usrsess=4909188831951&clid=1&id=212520

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Jan. 13: Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asserted his concern is for capital no matter who provides it, the Tatas, the Jindals, the USA, China or Japan.
Confirming the strain in the LF, the Forward Bloc declined to accept the CPI-M’s invitation to attend the open session of the latter’s state conference and stayed away from the rally.
The fear of adverse impact of its policy of industrialisation through acquiring farm land on the outcome of the panchayat poll a few months away forced the CPI-M to be on the back foot and the chief minister sought to take the wind off the Opposition’s sail by saying that “the question of industrialisation was not one of a conflict between the ruling party and the Opposition, but of creating thousands of jobs.”
Mr Bhattacharjee once again appealed to the Opposition to engage in discussion, “which is a democratic way”, on the crucial issue of industrialisation through acquiring farm land, instead of “blocking development through whipping up violence and disturbance.”
It was Mr Jyoti Basu who set the ball of confusion and self-contradiction rolling by peremptorily dismissing that the CPI-M could achieve socialism since it’s in power in “only three states.” “Socialism is a far cry. We can’t tell lies to the people by promising that we can achieve it. We have to depend on capitalism for economic progress as long as we remain in power in a few states of a federal country.”
Soon after CPI-M general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat launched a tirade against “US imperialism” and warned the USA and multinational corporations are pressuring the Centre to “let their capital enter the country’s retail business, insurance and banking and turn Indian into its junior partner through military alliance.” The nuclear deal, he reminded his party activists, is but a ploy to achieve those ends.
“The UPA-government is deviating from the common minimum programme, which is the basis of the Left parties’ support to it, and yielding to US pressure. We have told the Congress if it adheres to the CMP, we would continue our support, if not, we would vehemently oppose its policies.”
Contradicting what Mr Basu had said recently ruling out the formation of a third front, Mr Karat said the BJP is a communal outfit, while the Congress safeguards the interests of the rich. “We need a third alternative and for this Left unity has to be strengthened,” he said.
Mr Bhattacharjee said the lynch pin of the LF-government’s success during the past three decades was its “agrarian reforms that led to unprecedented growth in agriculture.”
He sought to convince his party men that agriculture continued to be a key policy initiative, while industrialisation is a “must” in the present economic scenario. “We would have to take as little farm land as possible for industrialisation, but our government is committed to protecting the livelihood of the displaced farmers, be they from Singur (where the Tata Motors is setting up its small car project) or from anywhere else. Are we to take lessons from the Congress and the Trinamul Congress in fighting for small and marginal farmers and the rural poor ?” he said. Mr Basu admitted “some problems” had cropped up within the LF. Mr Biman Bose, state secretary, said he was confident the areas of differences would be sorted out.
In the same breath Mr Bose took a potshot at the LF junior partners who have vehemently opposed the CPI-M’s unilateral decision on industrialisation. “Is it wrong to implement our pledge contained in the LF election manifesto on industrialisation ?” he asked in an obvious dig at the partners.

LAL SALEM and MODITVA!

Hardnews

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/portal/2007/12/1851

Amit Sengupta Delhi

Diehard cynics are pushing the threshold. The rumours doing the political rounds in Kolkata and Delhi are uncanny and diabolical. That the spontaneous protests against Taslima Nasrin in Kolkata were stage-managed by those who wanted the nation's attention to shift from the shame of Nandigram. That the Centre and state government played footsie as they twiddled their thumbs while Taslima is shunted from here to there. Is it possible that the mighty Indian nuclear State can't protect one lone woman? And that too in a CPM bastion? It's fishy, and it stinks.

So how come suddenly, from nowhere, unknown, fringe fundamentalist groups with no identity or strength, started calling the shots on the streets of big bully's Kolkata and the big brothers at Alimuddin Street chose to watch the show on the idiot box? How come suddenly Taslima became a hate-figure in a city and state where the 'secularists' call the shots? And why was the army called so desperately and in such quick notice and curfew declared etc, even when the party's bloody party went on non-stop at Nandigram under siege while Writer's Building washed its hands off. So who has the blood of the peasants on their hands, in March, and in November, so that Lal Salem can resonate on the recaptured village bylanes by armed thugs and motorcycle gangsters?

This blood won't wash and the communal twist won't work now as it did not work after the March 14 massacre. It is a peasant struggle and it's not the fault of the poor Dalit and Muslim farmers if they constitute the majority in Nandigram. Besides, Muslims in Bengal have never voted for Muslim fundamentalists — they have voted for the Left, the Congress or Trinamool Congress. The Nandigram MLA belongs to the CPI and it does not matter if he is a Muslim.

Those who forcibly decided to 'deport' Taslima to BJP-ruled Jaipur, have obviously lost not only their ideology, but also their sanity and integrity. This communal insanity, combined with rapes and killings in Nandigram by their cadre, is so transparently crass that even the belligerent and foul-tongued troika of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Biman Bose and Benoy Konar seemed to have lost their tongues. If anybody who needs to be deported from Kolkata, it is this cosy muscle-flexing threesome. And if this is not utter degeneration and ideological bankruptcy, then what is?

And look who is celebrating? Narendra Modi and the Hindutva rabble-rousers. They will protect Taslima — so send her to Gujarat. Modi can then take her on a guided tourist package to Naroda Patiya, Ehsan Jaffrey's Gulberga Society, Kalupur, Juhapura, the Shah Alam refugee camp where thousands of survivors were dumped, and of course, the ravaged Best Bakery of Zaheera Sheikh in Vododra where they were all burnt alive. And enlightened 'Buddha' can call up 'vikas purush' Modi and promise to show him his pet, infatuated obsession: the chemical hub of Salem, notorious for backing the murder and disappearances of 2 million dissidents and communists by dictator Suharto in Indonesia.

Indeed, if money has no ideology or colour, as Buddha so proudly claims, then why not deport Halliburton and Bechtel from 'occupied Iraq' to Bengal. Blood for oil in Iraq. Chemical hub for blood in Nandigram. And if Henry Kissinger can be an honoured guest of Buddha, why not George Bush and Dick Cheney?

No wonder, a Rightwing Hindutva columnist is glorifying Modi and Buddha — as great role models of development. The Gujarat genocide celebrated communal fascism. And the Nandigram massacre — capitalist fascism. So why not?

So between the Left and Right, what happens to Indian citizens in the twilight zone of a failed democracy when the State turns predator against its own people? Ask that Muslim woman in Nandigram, surrounded by a CPM mob, gangraped by known CPM criminals, her daughters too gangraped and still missing. Does’t it all remind you of Gujarat, 2002?