PRAGOTI

Monday, August 25, 2008

On the first day of the Trinamool ‘dharna’, agitators at Singur raised the slogan ‘Go Back Tata’. Everyone from Mamata Banerjee and Medha Patkar to Amar Singh of the Samajvadi Party had the same thing to say: the Tatas should go to some other state since other states have invited the Tatas to setup the small car factory there. The Trinamool supremo was addressing a lower-than-expected gathering around Singur, an hour's drive from Kolkata, where the Trinamool Congress has begun an indefinite siege in support of those farmers, who had refused to accept compensation for the land the state has acquired for the Nano project and has leased out to Tata Motors. The arterial road of the state, Durgapur expressway, a part of the NH 2, remains under siege since the dharna started yesterday. Around 400 agitators squatted on the road blocking the whole National Highway to a halt. People in the state of West Bengal are suffering as vehicles are not being able to pass through this main thoroughfare of the state. Traffic is at a standstill over a span of more than 100 kms. Thousands of trucks loaded with foods and other materials are stranded, at least four districts are cut off by road communication from the capital, Kolkata. There is a possibility of food crisis in the cut-off districts. Trinamool supremo, Mamata Banerjee, along with her newfound friends - the Naxalites and the SUCI, stayed back at Singur last night. She maintained that they were not at the dharna to destroy the fencing wall of the small car factory. If they had, they would have brought ammunitions with them. She declared that she had come to get back the 400 acres of land from the project site. She asserted that the whole 997 acre land has been taken forcefully. So she will allow the small car factory to be setup in the 600 acres if the rest 400 acres land is given back. Otherwise, she is will bid the ‘Tatas … bye … bye’.

People from all walks of life in Bengal are on tenterhooks with the situation at Singur because of this continuous siege and agitation by the Trinamool led Krishijami Jiban Jibika Raksha Committee (KJJRC). At the time of writing this report it can be said that the fences of the factory are still intact and work is in progress inside. But it is very difficult to guess what will happen in the night or the days ahead. There were numerous rumours all through the day that the fence is being broken down in some or other part of the factory site. The Trinamool supremo declared that she would not take any responsibility if someone breaks down the fencing of the factory, since she was not in Singur to pull it down. She instructed her party workers not to go near the Tata fencing as she hates the Tatas. She opined, if this siege of the national highway continues the government will have to bow down and return the land some day.

A lot of luxury buses and Tata Sumos filled with agitators drove towards the site of the siege around the upcoming Tata car plant throughout the day since morning. The first camp is near the wall where the factory site starts, just after Dankuni. It is being run by Trinamool supporters. The other camps are being manned by the SUCI and the Progressive Indira Congress of ex-Congress leader, Somen Mitra. The Trinamool supremo is in the eighth camp. The tenth camp is housing the PDS. The Samajvadis are occupying the ninth camp.

Naxalite leaders of the CPI(ML) New Democracy were also seen alongside the Trinamool chief at the site of the dharna. Some Maoist organizers were seen in the nearby villages. The agitators occupied the national highway for the whole night completely blocking the traffic movement since afternoon. Each of the coming days has been allocated for agitators from different districts.

Yesterday West Bengal saw many rallies demanding industrialization to create employment and condemning the agitation by the Trinamool as a move against the states’s progress. The rallies raised slogans against the rainbow opposition for creating a situation that reminds the people of the dark days of semi-fascist terror in Bengal in the1970s.

Work at the Tata Motors small-car project was affected on Monday with majority of contract workers staying away after they were threatened with severe consequences if they did not join the protest with the Trinamool. "Attendance of the company officials was normal. But that of the contractual workers was less than normal," a Tata Motors spokesman said.

Already facing delay, the company has been racing against time to meet the October-December quarter-deadline for the roll -out of the Nano. The company is also facing cost overruns. It is believed that the Uttarakhand facility in Pantnagar is the Plan B for Tata if Singur does not succeed. The Rajasthan government has invited Tata Motors to set up the Nano project in the state. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has also sent a delegation to meet the Tata Motors executives.

Punjab, too, has thrown in its hat in the ring. The Punjab government has decided to invite Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata to set up a plant in the state to manufacture the Nano. A Tata Group delegation will be invited for a formal meeting with the Chief Minister so that every aspect of the proposed plant can be discussed. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekara Reddy has also put forward a formal proposal for hosting the project in the state two days after Ratan Tata threatened to walk out of West Bengal over continued violence in Singur. The Andhra Pradesh government has indicated that land for the project is available on the outskirts of Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Kakinada or Naidupet near Guntur.

Giving another call for reconciliation over the Singur impasse, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today, appealed to Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee to move towards a dialogue on the issue. According to the secretariat of the Chief Minister, Mr Bhattacharjee sent another letter to the Trinamool chief to hold talks with the government so that the political problem over land acquisition for the Tata Motors small car project could be amicably sorted out. Though details of the letter were yet to be officially announced, it was learnt that the Chief Minister urged Ms Banerjee to present her alternative plan for setting up the ancillary industries for the Nano car project if 400 acres of land was given back to the farmers. “We can't let the Tatas move out of West Bengal”, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said on Monday in his letter to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee while inviting her for talks to resolve the standoff over farmland acquisition for the Tata Motors small car factory in Singur.

“I am ready to discuss everything with Mamata Banerjee regarding the Singur land row. I've written in my letter that we'll jointly find a solution for the Tata Motors Singur plant,” the Chief Minister told reporters at Writers' Building, the state secretariat. He said: "I request Mamata Banerjee to join the process of dialogue and resolve the matter. We have to solve the issue for the sake of industrialisation of the state." Expressing concern over Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata's pull-out threat, Bhattacharjee said, "Already five state governments have evinced interest to welcome Tata Motors' Nano project in their states.”

Last week Ratan Tata said he would move out of West Bengal if the agitation persists in Singur. The situation should not continue. “It is a peculiar state of affairs," he said.
The siege at Singur continues.