Left wants Tata back in Singur

The Singur land acquisition case in the Supreme Court notwithstanding, the CPM on Monday said it will work to restart the Tata plant if elected to power.

Even as the apex court has asked for relevant documents from the administration, senior CPM leaders say they will roll out the red carpet for the leading industry house that packed up and left Bengal in 2008, owing to “a militant movement” by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

“We’ll definitely work on how to withdraw the case against Tata after we come to power,” CPM central committee member Gautam Deb said. Deb and other top CPM leaders state that their priority is industrialisation in Bengal, which “has suffered extensively under Trinamool”.

No signs of development

“In the last 5 years, the ruling party government only paid lip service with occasional meets with top industrialists from across the country, claiming to have pledges of crores in investment. But we’ve seen nothing on ground,” said CPM MP and Politburo member Md Salim.

Deb said that once the Left-Congress coalition forms the government after May 19, they will initiate talks for Tata’s return.

“We want Tata to restart the factory at Singur. Although I doubt they will set up another small car project because that’s already shifted to Gujarat, they can set up something else here,” he said.

None of the leaders, however, wanted to comment on the Supreme Court’s observation that the land acquisition procedure might not have been by the book.While Left leaders seem keen on bringing Tata back, land-owners on both sides of the divide — willing and unwilling — have an axe to grind with the industry house.

‘Save farmland’

If unwilling farmers feel vindicated after the Supreme Court’s observations, willing land-owners could feel betrayed, if Tata gives up the land. Unwilling farmers like Anil Koley and Mahadeb Das, who were part of the “save farmland” movement since 2006, said that they have always maintained how the Left Front flouted laws to acquire land. “Now the court is saying the same thing.”