With the Calcutta High Court striking down the law undoing the Singur land acquisition, CPI-M lawmaker Abdur Rezzak Mollah Sunday said he wants to organise an “Occupy Singur” movement on the lines of “Occupy Wall Street” for the benefit of the unwilling farmers of the rural belt.
“Yes, I am planning to launch “Occupy Singur” movement. It will be on the lines of the “Occupy Wall Street movement” that shook the entire world last year. Though the circumstances of the cases are totally different, the flavour of the movement will be same,” Mollah told IANS.
The veteran Communist, who was land reforms minister during the Left regime, is known as a loose cannon in political circles for his repeated out-of-turn remarks against a section of the party leadership, especially former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and former industries minister Nirupam Sen.
During his tenure as land reforms minister, Mollah had openly protested against the procedure of land acquisition in the Singur area of Hooghly district for the car plant.
On the “Occupy Singur” movement, he said the agitation will benefit the unwilling farmers of Singur who have received nothing and are leading a tough life after losing all means of livelihood.
“My movement is aimed at providing the unwilling farmers with a livelihood. We want that till the matter is resolved legally – as the state government is planning to go to the Supreme Court – either the unwilling farmers be allowed to cultivate their land inside the factory premises or they be provided with alternative fertile plot outside the plant area by the state government. This should be done so that they can at least feed their families,” said Mollah.
Lashing out at the state government, Mollah said it is pretending to stand by the farmers.
“The state government is saying they will stand by the farmers. But the fact is the farmers are dying there. How long will they fight poverty and hunger? They should be provided with the means of living,” he said.
The veteran communist also said he wants the Left, and democratic forces tocome out in support of the movement.
Delivering a jolt to Singur’s unwilling farmers, who had opposed land acquisition for Tata Motors’ Nano project in 2006, the Calcutta High Court Friday struck down as unconstitutional the Singur Singur Lan dRehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, which scrapped the land lease given to the automobile giant by the erstwhile Left Front regime.
The Occupy Wall Street campaign that began Sep 17 last year saw demonstrators camping out in New York’s financial district protesting against income inequality, corporate greed and the power of financial institutions.
Meanwhile, Â Congress’ Â West Bengal unit Sunday said the Trinamool Congress-led state government must “introspect” to prevent any further mistakes.
“Neither industry nor agriculture, Singur has lost on both counts. The state government has lost the case in the high court. The state government needs a through introspection. If it doesn’t do that it will again commit a blunder,” said state Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya.
Holding the land law, enacted by the state government last year to return land taken from the farmers as “unconstitutional”, the Calcutta High Court Friday ruled sections of compensation in the legislation were in conflict with the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
A day later, the Mamata Banerjee government kick-started a damage control exercise by calling a meeting of a virtually defunct panel that had played a key role in the movement against farmland acquisition.
Banerjee, several of her cabinet colleagues and thinkers attended the meeting of the “Krishi Jami Jibon Jibika Rakha Committee (Save Agricultural Land, Life and Livelihood Committee)” which had spearheaded the movement for return of land to the farmers whose land the then Left Front regime had reportedly acquired against their will for Tata Motors’ Nano small car plant.
Agriculture Minister Rabindranath Bhattacharya said the committee has decided to start afresh the movement for return of land to the unwilling farmers.
Bhattacharya however said he would have been happy had the state government called an all party meeting to decide the next line of action on the issue.
“I would have been happy if the chief minister convened an all party meeting. I would welcome any move on the part of the government to call an all party meeting,” he said.