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Will Singur cause a realignment?

Marcus Dam

The Congress and the Trinamool Congress are both opposing the takeover of farmland for industrial purposes in West Bengal. But will this lead to something more?

— Photo: SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH

Trinamool Congress supporters in Kolkata on September 26 protest police action against Mamata Banerjee and her party workers at Singur a day earlier.

TILL RECENTLY Singur was an obscure block of Hooghly district in rural West Bengal. Today it has become not just a milestone in the new industrial road map being drawn up for the State by the Left Front Government but also the inspiration behind a possible realignment of political forces.

The placid rhythm of life in Singur, less than 50 km from Kolkata, has been shattered. The business community is casting hopeful glances at the government's thrust towards greater industrialisation as evidenced in the move to acquire land at Singur for Tata Motors' proposed Rs.1,000-crore car manufacturing project.

But Singur could also become the long-elusive rallying point for leaders of disparate Opposition parties in West Bengal. What set out to be a venture to showcase the industrial resurgence of West Bengal has become the target of the Trinamool Congress and the Congress. They are up in arms against the acquisition of farmland for the automobile project even though the land in question is largely mono-cropped. The issue has provided the two parties, still smarting from the rout in the April-May Assembly elections, with an opportunity to close ranks; the failure to do so in the polls had cost them dearly.

After a hiatus of sorts in the aftermath of the poll reverses, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee is back at her most aggressive self. Any encroachment on farmland will lead to a "blood-bath that will spill over to the rest of the State," she has warned. And, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi has declared the Congress' opposition to "any move to dispossess farmers in the name of greater industrialisation." His party will be with the Trinamool in future agitations against the project and support its call for a Bangla bandh on October 9, he has said. Clearly, a mending of fences is on.

A tentative electoral understanding between the two parties in last month's by-elections has been given further impetus by the happenings in Singur.

The Left Front, on the other hand, is not unduly worried. "Forgive them for they know not what they do," has been Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's dismissive reaction. He has, however, invited the Opposition for talks to allay any misgivings over the land acquisition process — the plant is to be set up over 1,000 acres — that is already under way. Those whose land has been acquired are being given compensation and Tata Motors has expressed the hope that the site will be handed over to it by the end of the year.

At the other end of the political spectrum, initial scepticism among some Left Front constituents over the takeover of farmland for setting up new industry has been dispelled. The move towards industrialisation will not be allowed to imperil the State's food security and the affected will be rehabilitated, the State Government has promised. A Tata Motors spokesperson said: "As soon as the land is ours we will do a survey of the people living in the area, segment them into different groups with the objective of improving their employability."

The issues at stake in Singur are bound to find an echo elsewhere in West Bengal with the Left Front pushing forward its agenda for industrial development. "Land for new industries does not materialise from the sky," its leaders have remarked.

A map identifying sites where new industries can be located is in the offing and in the event of the need for encroachment on farmland for the purpose, small slices of mono-cropped land might have to be forfeited. However, those affected will be compensated, Left leaders say.

As for the Trinamool and the Congress, their refrain against any dispossession of farmers for sake of industry is bound to get more strident with every move made by the Left Front Government to acquire the land which prospective investors, whether domestic or from overseas, might be eyeing. For the two parties, Singur could become a metaphor for old foes coming together after years of bickering during which one held the other responsible for the runaway successes of their common political adversary in West Bengal.

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