West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday launched a three-day protest in Singur, highlighting the agrarian crisis in the state.
Senior BJP leaders including Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, State President Sukanta Majumdar and National Vice President Dilip Ghosh attended an event organized by the party Kisan Morcha at a time when Trinamool Congress President and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is busy campaigning in Goa.
The BJP leadership earlier this month highlighted the issues of farmers’ distress, especially the loss of crops due to floods and rains, due to the impact of deep pressure in the Bay of Bengal and demanded compensation for the affected farmers.
flood outbreak
“Many areas of South Bengal have faced the wrath of floods this time. The areas of Hooghly and Howrah, which were part of the lower Damodar basin, have been submerged not once, not twice but thrice. After the Aman paddy was destroyed, farmers cultivated potatoes and vegetables, but unseasonal rains have destroyed them too,” said Mr. Adhikari.
BJP leaders demanded compensation to the farmers who lost their crops. Mr Adhikari threatened to take out a march from Singur to Nabanna (state secretariat) and asked his party supporters to form Krishak Bachao Committees in their respective areas. Pointing to the site where the factory structure stood, the BJP MLA said, “Mamata Banerjee has shown how to endanger agriculture.”
Singur is synonymous with the fight against forced land acquisition against Tata Motors’ small car project, which catapulted Ms Banerjee to power in 2011. While the TMC government has facilitated return of land to unwilling farmers, a major part of it is at the proposed factory site. Agriculture cannot be done because of concrete.
The BJP’s decision to protest in Singur is not only to raise the issue of farmers but to take the fight to rural Bengal. Interestingly, the three-day protest took place just ahead of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections on December 19.
Mr Majumdar asked why subsidized electricity is not provided to the farmers in the state. He and other leaders took a dig at the TMC president’s campaign in Goa.
“In Goa, there are many people from districts of West Bengal as migrant workers. The people of Goa should realize that if they support TMC they will have to go to other states to work,” Mr Majumdar said. Several BJP MPs and MLAs were present at the protest site.
Diversionary Strategy: TMC
The TMC leadership asked why the BJP was shying away from campaigning in Kolkata and instead went to Singur.
“It is nothing but a diversionary strategy to go to Singur. In Singur too, the BJP was defeated in the assembly elections,” said TMC leader and minister Firhad Hakim. Referring to Mr Adhikari’s criticism, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said the BJP leader has built his entire political career on the success of the Singur Bhoomi movement under Ms Banerjee.
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