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Sunday, Feb 04, 2007
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It is a peasants' movement in West Bengal: Citizens' panel

Gargi Parsai

The "mass uprising" should not be mistaken for right-wing politics

NEW DELHI: A group of concerned citizens "with a Left orientation" who visited Singur and Nandigram on a fact-finding mission have observed that the struggle against the Government take-over of agriculture land for industry was a "land issue" and the protests there were a "mass uprising" which should not be mistaken for right-wing politics.

"The State Government alleged that there was a communal overtone to the struggle of the people but we found remarkable communal unity on the ground and that people's protests cut across political differences. `We were all CPI (M), but now we only have our movement,' said a woman who did not want to wander around like gypsies carrying tents on their backs,'' said historian Sumit Sarkar, journalist Sumit Chakravarty and Tanika Sarkar of the Jawaharlal Nehru University at a joint press conference here on Friday.

The other members of the Citizens' Committee who visited Singur and Nandigram included Colin Gonsalves, Supreme Court advocate, and Krishna Majumdar of the Delhi University. They also met a large number of politicians.

Presenting their Interim Report, the members of the committee described in detail the actions leading to violence at Nandigram and the police action to curb the protests.

"We found the people's fury was genuine. It was partly due to lack of transparency. They were not part of any discussion about matters that concerned their lives and livelihood. Singur villagers learnt of the land acquisition for the Tata factory from newspapers. They claim that holders of 360 acres have refused to accept cash compensation. There is no land for land rehabilitation, only cash compensation and that too much below the actual price," said the team, adding that their impression was that the people were prepared for a long struggle.

"It is a peasants' movement and the main Opposition, the Trinamool Congress, is fishing in troubled waters,'' the panel members observed.

In Singur and Nandigram, unregistered sharecroppers and agricultural labourers — numbering several thousands — are not included within the category of compensation. "Property alone has value, not labour."

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