KOLKATA: The BJP’s farmer wing, Kisan Morcha, said it will launch a movement demanding a mass convention of farmers in Singur to know whether they want industry or agriculture on the now disputed land acquired for Tata Motors’ car factory.
Ramakrishna Pal, the Bengal president of the Kisan Morcha, targeted West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for failing to keep her word regarding conversion of the barren plot to cultivable land.
"Mamata Banerjee’s government has miserably failed to convert 997 acres into cultivable land. The land has been lying barren. She moved to court and returned the land to the farmers promising that it will be made cultivable by the state government. The farmers lost their land and the opportunity of having industry in their area as well,’’ Pal said.
"Acquiring land is a state subject. Our aim will be to organise a mass movement to force the state government into handing over the unused land for setting up an industry,” Pal said.
Mamata’s agitation against the car factory had been one of the driving forces in her ascent to power in Bengal in 2011.
A day after the Lok Sabha poll result was announced, some farmers took out a procession in Singur demanding industry on land the erstwhile Left Front government had acquired for Nano project a decade ago. Locket Chatterjee, BJP MP from the Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency, said she would try her best to bring the Tatas back to Singur.
Sujan Chakrabarty, the CPM’s central committee member, said that the people of Singur are now ruing what could have been had the Tata Group been allowed to set up the factory.“Most people are now in favour of the industry in the area. Though the land was returned to the farmers, it has been lying unused,” he said.
When contacted, Trinamul MLA from Singur, Rabindranath Bhattacharya, refused to make any comment.
‘We’ve won hearts in West Bengal’
Lashing out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for being “an arrogant administrator”, BJP’s national secretary and Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya said the Trinamool lost a golden opportunity to serve the people of Bengal being voted to power for two consecutive terms.
“We have won hearts and the blessings of masses. In victory, we should be more humble and grounded. We should not be arrogant. People are watching us. The people of Bengal have ensured our victory. This means they have given us added responsibilities. We should live up to expectations and work harder to fulfill them. We should start preparing ourselves for the assembly elections,” the BJP’s Bengal in-charge said on Tuesday.