After the verdict

Singur Revisited
Nityananda Ghosh

Singur is slowly by but steadily fading from public memory. Political stakeholders, particularly the ruling Trinamul Congress (TMC) and its civic society allies including a few NGOs with naxalite tag look reluctant to break the impasse created by the Calcutta High Court judgement against the peasants. With the division bench of Calcutta High Court declaring the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, as illegal and unconstitutional, it is now back to square one for the unwilling farmers who refused to part with their land measuring 400 acres, despite massive repression by the police of the erstwhile Left Front Government and CPM goons. After the June 22, 2012 verdict of Calcutta High Court, it seems, for the unwilling peasants it is next to impossible to get back land through legal channels in the foreseeable future. After the judgement many small parties and groups visited Singur, apparently with the avowed objective of expressing solidarity with the beleaguered peasants but the people of Singur in general were not enthusiastic enough to join their rallies and meetings. They look a bit frustrated these days. The verdict sees merit in the argument of lawyers engaged by the Tatas : ‘‘If this basis [the government act] is accepted as valid classification, ...a few unwilling [or even willing] owners or a political / third party without any lawful basis or right (could) get hold of sufficient number of persons to sit on land and stall the project or a scheme conceived in public interest, the state cannot reward such persons by enacting a law to return the validly acquired land (judicially declared or not) which is a dangerous precedent and can strike at the root of any developmental work.’’ In truth the verdict upheld the position that once acquisition had been given way to be valid, the land was vested in the state, and previous rights and titles stood ‘terminated’.

Strangely enough, forcible acquisition of land from farmers and handing it over to corporate houses like Tatas is regarded as ‘public purpose’ but the same cannot be returned to the farmers who were victimised in the first place, because the move doesn’t come under the purview of ‘public purpose’. This archaic British Law continues to rule the roost. Meanwhile, the state government may heave a sigh of relief after the stay order issued by the apex court. But the situation remains as volatile as it was before the verdict.

As expected the general mood in Singur is hopelessness as the people see no light at the end of the tunnel. This correspondent interviewed a number of people who suffered during the Singur agitation only to discover that they were giving up hope to get back what they have lost—land.

Sobha Khanra, a housewife of North Bajemalia of Singur did not take cheque. She is one of the unwilling peasants who refused to sell land. Khanra says, ‘‘If the government cannot return our land due to legal niceties, we might as well grab it by force’’. But Paromita Das, whose family lost four bighas to Nano Car Project and was severely beaten up by the police in 2006 for resisting the Left Government’s forcible land acquisition, was not so sure. Now she works as a domestic help in Kolkata while her husband toils as a daily wage labourer. They returned to Ghospara after the change hoping that Mamata Banerjee would return their land. As things are they look totally exhausted and dejected as well. Gopal Maitra and his wife Renuka Maitra who have lost one and a half bigha of land, think the adhoc allowance of Rs 1000 (later it was raised to Rs 2000/-) to be given to each family of land losers, is too inadequate to meet both ends because of mounting inflation.

In her facebook, Mamata Banerjee went rather philosophical after the High Court verdict : ‘‘I have no comments to offer on Singur verdict. Throughout my life, I have struggled for the cause of the farmers, working class, poor and under-privileged. Our commitment to be with them whether I am in power or not. I will continue to fight for this cause. Finally, the people’s choice in democracy will prevail’’.

But the ground reality in Singur today tells a different story—a gloom looms large. On September 24, Mamata Banerjee’s partymen observed the Singur Day, hopefully, not to allow the Singur spirit drifting into oblivion. After all Singur ushered in change in governance in Bengal. So said the convenor of Singur Krishi Jami Bachao Committee and a Trinamul MLA from Haripal.

The court verdict seems to have pleased the CPM—the party that will go down in history as the face of social fascism in the Indian context. Mr Surya Kanta Kishra, in his reaction to the court verdict, said, ‘‘We were for industry in Singur. But we were defeated. TMC has got mandate of the people. In such a situation we did not oppose the move to return land if that was possible. We repeatedly told the government a year ago when the Bill was moved, that proper legal method was necessary. We told the government that their hasty effort would come into conflict with the Central Law. There was no provision of differentiation between willing and unwilling farmers. It was better to add an extra clause to the Central Law, like Tamilnadu did. But the Chief Minister was not in the habit of listening to any advice. She thought her words were law. It is the State Government which created the impasse’’.

It seems the Misras are realising the reality late. Better late than never! How the Singur tangle will be resolved is anybody’s guess. A fact-sheet on ‘Singur’ may be illuminating as many people are forgetting many things. For all practical purposes Mamata Banerjee’s government is in a bind. They cannot keep their promise made before the crucial 2011 Assembly Elections. Nor could they bypass the law. They are trapped by their own short-sightedness and arrogance as well.

Singur conflict at a glance

Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 13, Oct 7-13, 2012

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