JOIN USHis recent remarks during an interview with a local TV channel have opened a Pandora’s box as he questioned the party stand and the government’s handling of the acquisition of farmland for industries.
Just as his remarks kept the top Marxist leaders busy with framing a broad framework for damage control, another blow came in the form of a frank confession by the health minister and senior party leader Surya Kanta Mishra. The latter admitted that some major administrative lapses coupled with organisational negligence on the part of the CPM were responsible for shifting of allegiance of a large section of the farming community from the party fold.
Coming back to Deb, his criticism of Buddhadev’s handling of the Singur agitation left the party groping for an alibi. “It was wrong to have allowed her (Mamata Banerjee) a nod to construct a makeshift platform by the national highway and squat there for days on. Had I been there, I’d have pulled it down and asked her to do this agitation close to her residence at Kalighat.”
While some in the party concurred with Deb, others felt that it was not a politically correct statement by Deb on the eve of the polls. The minister also decided to call spade a spade by refusing to agree with the CPM’s all-India political line adopted during the Vijayawada conclave last year. The resolution adopted at the conclave categorically forbade forcible acquisition of land from small farmers.
Against the party line
Going against the party line, Deb claimed that Bengal’s case was unique as without taking land from small farmers, no government could do anything. Virtually questioning Buddhadev’s changed position that the government would only act as facilitators for industry and industrialists themselves would have to purchase land from the farmers, Deb wondered: “If you would have asked Tatas to individually approach the farmers and acquire land for the small car project, Tatas would have left long ago and Mamata would have lost the opportunity to agitate.”
Alarmed over Deb’s argument in favour of land acquisition, the CPM issued a statement stating that the party’s avowed stand is against forcible acquisition of agricultural land and there has been no change whatsover to this policy.
Party leader Surya Kanta Mishra, who was drafted by the party to control the damage, conceded that land has been a sensitive issue for the farmer in Bengal. “I can never claim that our administration process was flawless. We’re now emphasising on takeover of land in rare cases and that through absolute unanimity.”
The opposition Congress and Trinamool have been savouring the discomfiture of the Marxists on the eve of the poll. “When we suggested that we should go by a consensus, we were ignored like anything. The CPM has been forced to eat its own words now,” said TMC spokesman Partha Chatterjee.