KANNUR: Taking a U-turn, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, hitherto sceptical about the feasibility of SilverLine, came out in full support of the project on Monday. However, he justified CPM’s opposition to the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, saying conditions in Kerala and Maharashtra are totally different.
“The party’s opposition to the bullet train is related to the terms of land acquisition. It cannot be compared to that of K-Rail as the terms of land acquisition are quite different here. One cannot mechanically compare these two projects without getting into the real issue. The conditions in Maharashtra and Kerala are totally different. The opposition parties are resisting the project in Maharashtra based on issues related to compensation for the acquired land,” he told reporters at Kannur a day after getting a third stint as the CPM general secretary.
It’s interesting to note that Yechury, who had earlier wanted the social impact assessment to be completed before taking a final stand, seems to have been convinced about the necessity and importance of SilverLine even without any debate within the party forums, forget about SIA.
Yechury said it was the responsibility of the state to bring in development projects. “Kerala cannot depend on others regarding the development of the state. The aim of the government is to ensure development of the state. Programmes implemented by previous communist governments like land reforms and education should be continued,” he said.
On April 9, a day before the conclusion of the CPM party congress, an appeal signed by 60 prominent persons from across the country, representing NGOs and academia, had asked the CPM leadership to scrap the project which would affect the lives of thousands of people in the state and will have huge impact on environment.