Singur: Singur, a hamlet in Hooghly district of West Bengal played a crucial role in deciding the fate of the crucial 2011 West Bengal elections, which witnessed the fall of 34-year long Left Front rule and the beginning of Trinamool Congress-rule.
Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee (Farmland protection committee), under the leadership of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, was formed to organize a movement against land acquisition by the then Left Front government for Tata Motors' car project.
However, Singur has become a deserted hamlet since the time the Tata Group pulled out its planned project. Landowners got back their lands but they say the land is no more fertile. That is why the issue of industrialization in Singur is back in the discussion.
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Be it the opposition parties in the state or be it the common people of Singur, both want the land allotted for the Tata Motors project to be utilized for industrial purpose. Both the Left- Congress- Indian Secular Front (ISF) alliance and the Bharatiya Janata Party are highlighting this issue in their respective campaigns.
It is true that the Chief Minister has announced the formation of an industrial park in Singur. But opposition feels that this park will not change the fate of Singur. Now the question doing the rounds is whether Singur will remain deserted in the years to come or will it witness a new dawn of industrialization if there is a change in government.
In 2006 West Bengal Assembly elections, the main slogan of the Left Front was 'agriculture our base and industry our future.' After that the Trinamool Congress started a major land movement against the West Bengal government alleging that the state government has forcefully acquired fertile farmland in Singur for the small car project. The movement gained ground following the unfortunate death of Tapasi Malik and Rajkumar Bhul. There after Bengal witnessed the fall of Left Front rule and the beginning of Trinamool Congress rule in 2021.
Immediately after becoming the Chief Minister, Banerjee announced a monthly aid of Rs 2,000 and 16 kilograms of rice for the farmers and it still continues.
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Later, the Supreme Court of India ordered the state government to return land to farmers but only after converting it to a ploughable state. All attempts to re-convert the land by the state government failed and farming became impossible. In addition, there are irrigation bottlenecks in certain pockets. Experts think that it will take some more years to make the land suitable for farming.
Now the locals of Singur do not want to wait that long and they want industries there. They are of the view that setting up of industries will resolve unemployment problems. The opposition parties are now exploiting the issue to bring a change in Bengal.
Loknath Shi, a farmer said, "I personally owned a little more than one acre of land. My land was fertile and I joined the anti- acquisition movement. But the situation was different earlier. Today I feel that industries here can save us now," he said.
Another farmer Tarak Shi voluntarily gave land for the industrial project.
"I gave about four acres of land for the small car project. Like others, I also got back my land. But the land is more suitable for farming. I have now given the land on lease. The government should have made the land suitable for farming before returning. I want that land to be utilised for the industry. My son was trained by Tatas for employment in the proposed factory. Now he is unemployed. In such a situation it has become hard for me to make both ends meet," he said.
Koushik Barik, a local youth said that that if the industry is set up here the local youth will get employment.
The CPI(M) candidate from Singur, Srijon Bhattacharya said that although the outlook of the Left Front government at the time on the issue of industrialization was perfect, there were some implementation lapses.
"Now in Singur there is neither agriculture nor industry. The chief minister is now speaking of setting up agro-based industries in Singur. She has made her statement after ruining Singur," he said.
The erstwhile Trinamool legislator from Singur, Rabindranath Bhattacharya, who is now a BJP candidate, is now in favour of industry in Singur like the others.
