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| Contentious Tata Motors car project | | PM perturbed by rising agitation in Singur | |
NEW DELHI, DE 6
Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, is closely monitoring the development in West Bengal's Singur where Mamata Banerjee is fighting tooth and nail to abort the contentious Tata Motors car project approved by the Left Front government. Manmohan Singh has been reported to be "perturbed and deeply concerned" over protests in Singur and that his sympathies lie with the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadev Bhatacharya.
It is generally felt that the hit-and-run protests could be counter-productive because business groups would think twice before venturing into West Bengal in future. Like Bhattacharya, Manmohan Singh is a strong votary of rapid industrialisation to reduce the dependence on agriculture. He believes that issues like disparities in distribution of income need to be addressed peacefully without resorting to violence.
Apparently, Manmohan Singh sees the reformist Bhattacharya as an invaluable ally for neutralising hardliners in the Communist Party of India (Marxist) whose support is crucial for the survival of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime at the Centre. Despite the Prime Minister's sympathies for Bhattacharya, the Congress Party is singing a different tune. Party spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi has said: "We advise the West Bengal government to talk to the farmers and resolve the issue not by using the police but through discussions".
Significantly, Mamata is on an indefinite fast to stop the project although the Marxist government has managed to acquire from farmers 945 acres out of 997 acres Tatas requires for the controversial car factory. Besides Mamata Banerjee, a slew of Maoist outfits and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are fishing in Singur's troubled waters. And the agitation is intensifying much to Bhattacharya's dismay whose offers to hold talks with the opposition have been turned down.
Sporadic violence and the presence of high-profile leaders like BJP chief Rajnath Singh and never-say-die activist Medha Patkar, who compared the West Bengal administration's high-handedness in Singur to American repression in Iraq, has ensured continuous television coverage of the agitation. Both Rajnath and Patkar were arrested on their way to Singur. Rajnath was quickly released but Patekar's wherabouts are not known. A habeus corpus petition has been filed in the Calcutta High Court.
Rajnath's arrest triggered protests by BJP MPs in the Lok Sabha the other day even as Naxalites vandalised a showroom selling Tata Motors cars in downtown Kolkata. Earlier, Naxalites cadres fought pitched battles with the police in Singur throwing acid bulbs and bombs. The men in uniform retaliated by beating up innocent old men, women and children. The repression was caught on camera pushing Bhattacharya on the backfoot.
But Bhattacharya has announced: "We are ready. I have told the Tatas to come. The fencing of the acquired land is complete. Tatas can come down and begin work". The CPM says that the Singur agitation is "politically motivated" and demanded an explanation from the Trinamool Congress and BJP for opposing industrialisation. >>Contentious Tata Motors car project
PM perturbed by rising agitation in Singur
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, DEC. 6: Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, is closely monitoring the development in West Bengal's Singur where Mamata Banerjee is fighting tooth and nail to abort the contentious Tata Motors car project approved by the Left Front government. Manmohan Singh has been reported to be "perturbed and deeply concerned" over protests in Singur and that his sympathies lie with the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadev Bhatacharya.
It is generally felt that the hit-and-run protests could be counter-productive because business groups would think twice before venturing into West Bengal in future. Like Bhattacharya, Manmohan Singh is a strong votary of rapid industrialisation to reduce the dependence on agriculture. He believes that issues like disparities in distribution of income need to be addressed peacefully without resorting to violence.
Apparently, Manmohan Singh sees the reformist Bhattacharya as an invaluable ally for neutralising hardliners in the Communist Party of India (Marxist) whose support is crucial for the survival of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime at the Centre. Despite the Prime Minister's sympathies for Bhattacharya, the Congress Party is singing a different tune. Party spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi has said: "We advise the West Bengal government to talk to the farmers and resolve the issue not by using the police but through discussions".
Significantly, Mamata is on an indefinite fast to stop the project although the Marxist government has managed to acquire from farmers 945 acres out of 997 acres Tatas requires for the controversial car factory. Besides Mamata Banerjee, a slew of Maoist outfits and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are fishing in Singur's troubled waters. And the agitation is intensifying much to Bhattacharya's dismay whose offers to hold talks with the opposition have been turned down.
Sporadic violence and the presence of high-profile leaders like BJP chief Rajnath Singh and never-say-die activist Medha Patkar, who compared the West Bengal administration's high-handedness in Singur to American repression in Iraq, has ensured continuous television coverage of the agitation. Both Rajnath and Patkar were arrested on their way to Singur. Rajnath was quickly released but Patekar's wherabouts are not known. A habeus corpus petition has been filed in the Calcutta High Court.
Rajnath's arrest triggered protests by BJP MPs in the Lok Sabha the other day even as Naxalites vandalised a showroom selling Tata Motors cars in downtown Kolkata. Earlier, Naxalites cadres fought pitched battles with the police in Singur throwing acid bulbs and bombs. The men in uniform retaliated by beating up innocent old men, women and children. The repression was caught on camera pushing Bhattacharya on the backfoot.
But Bhattacharya has announced: "We are ready. I have told the Tatas to come. The fencing of the acquired land is complete. Tatas can come down and begin work". The CPM says that the Singur agitation is "politically motivated" and demanded an explanation from the Trinamool Congress and BJP for opposing industrialisation. |
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