CPI-M rules out apology for Singur land acquisition

Ruling out an apology for "forcible" land acquisition at Singur for Tata Motor plant, CPI(M) state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra today said the land was acquired as per the Land Acquisition Act of 1894.

"The land was back then acquired by following the Land Acquisition Act of 1894," Mishra told a press conference here after the verdict by Supreme Court on Singur today.

"When the TMC government came to power in 2011 we had said that you have got the people's mandate and if you want to return the land there is no problem. But it should be returned by following the constitutional norms and laws," he said.

"We were never opposed to returning the land... Now the question will be how the land will be returned and in what condition. What will happen to those who had taken the compensation and returned the land ? Mishra said.

When asked whether his party would tender a apology and feel that the process of land acquisition at Singur was wrong, Mihsra said,"This is not an issue of tendering an apology. We have said it clearly earlier that the land cannot be acquired against the wishes of the farmer."

In a setback to CPI(M)-led Left Front, Supreme Court today set aside the controversial acquisition of 997.11 acres in Singur by the erstwhile Left Front government in West Bengal to set up Tata Motors' ambitious Nano car manufacturing plant. The land was acquired by the then government.

The land acquisition became a political flashpoint in the state from 2006 for the next few years. The anti-land acquisition protests became one of the prinicpal reasons behind the fall of the 34-year-old Left regime in 2011.