Click to play videoSingur: The census town of Singur in the Hooghly district, which has hit the headlines on many occasions in the past, is once again making news. It has become the centrestage for the tussle between the ruling left and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattarcharjee and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee are trying to woo voters with the promise of industry.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee came to Singur last week, promising once more the industrialisation dream that cost him and his party two elections already. “Say with me-- we want industry, we want progress” – this was his slogan in Singur.
And within days of this came the Trinamool Congress supremo, this time with a changed tune, treading a middle path. She said: Once we come to power industry and agriculture will co-exist.
Singur was the catalyst for Mamata’s political revival. She skillfully tapped the farmer agitation at the time of Nano controversy to turn the tables on the ruling left and its rural vote bank.
The people of West Bengal, however, are not swayed by all this. Many of them still feel the pinch of Tata leaving Singur in October 2008. People say that they do not want to be caught in the war between Buddha and Mamata. They want jobs and progress.
52 year old Sheikh Musharraf walked alongside Mamata Banerjee during the Singur agitation. With five dependents, he lost 4 acres of land. Today with no job at hand, no farm to till, and no compensation to claim, he thinks he has made a mistake.
“We are getting caught in this war between Buddha and Mamata,” said Sheikh Musharraf.
For Abol Hasan, 42, Singur meant opportunities. It meant that his dream of building his own house will finally come true. Tatas left Singur and so did his hopes of finding a roof over his head.
Hasan says, “How can we survive like this? Where will my child go? We want industries.”
But there are many for whom the fire still burns. 78 year old farmer Pachu Manna’s grief of losing his land is still ripe. He now says that he would prefer dying over giving away his land.
Thousands of farmers have been waiting for four years for some respite - some want industry, some want their land back which was lost during agitation. But what they all want is a life of dignity, away from the political wrangle.
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