The Hindu : National : Mamata rules out talks on industrialisation

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Sunday, Jul 22, 2007
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Mamata rules out talks on industrialisation

KOLKATA: Any possibility of discussions with the West Bengal Government on industrialisation was ruled out by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee here on Saturday, till “justice was done to the victims of the Nandigram violence and land taken from the unwilling farmers in Singur returned.”

“I will fight as long as I live but will not surrender or pay obeisance to the State Government, though they are trying to silence the Opposition by use of terror,” she said, addressing a gathering of supporters who had assembled to mark the day when 13 party activists were killed in police firing in 1993.

Ms. Banerjee asked her party workers to pledge themselves to the task of dismantling the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Government and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. She said there was no rule of law in West Bengal.

“There is no regard for ordinary human beings or any respect for the Opposition as the Government thinks that the Central Government will always support them.”

She dismissed the cause of industrialisation that the State Government was espousing as “fiction,” accusing the CPI(M) of being responsible for closing down most of the industries in West Bengal, including textile and agro-based industries.

She charged the Government with selling land to foreigners and asked why “millionaires like the Tatas should be allowed to grab land while farmers lost whatever little they had.”

On her future plans, Ms. Banerjee said camps would be organised in every block of each district to sensitise people and improve the organisation of the party ahead of the Panchayat elections next year, with land acquisition as its major plank.

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