For Trinamool, Nayachar may become a Singur

In politics, says the adage, nothing is permanent. In no other case is it as apt as in politics in West Bengal.

Barely six months after governance changed hands from the Left Front to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the ghost of Singur, which drove out the 34-year Left Front government, has returned to haunt Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Left went on the offensive today, daring the TMC to disclose the agreement on the Nayachar project that the West Bengal government had signed with Prasoon Mukherjee-led Universal Success Enterprise (USE) for the development of an eco-tourism park.

“The proposed petroleum, chemicals and petrochemical investment regions (PCPIR) would have been much more eco-friendly than the proposed thermal power plant. In all practical purposes, the land would be utilised in the name of eco-tourism by private real estate. The agreement lacks transparency and is yet to be made public,” said leader of the opposition Surya Kanta Mishra.

Adding teeth to the Left's demand is the fact that Mukherjee has secured land as viability gap funding for the project. “Mukherjee got the land from the Left government for a specific project, the PCPIR. It was a central project, but that project doesn't stand any more. This is some eco-tourism, industrial park and power projects. Why is viability gap funding required for this project? Land is scarce in Bengal,” said a Left leader.

Since 2006, the TMC had been vociferous in its demand that the Singur agreement with Tata Motors be made public, accusing the Left government of underhand dealings. Since it came to power, the TMC government, however, has not made the Singur agreement public, despite repeated promises to do so.

This is the first pre-planned, organised missive the Left has fired since its defeat in the assembly elections in April, when the TMC demolished the party, which had ruled the state for 34 years.

The Left leaders did not apologise about the industrialisation efforts the party carried out during its tenure, something that brought down the government. This was made clear in a 16-page statement presented by the party.

“Almost all initiatives taken by the Left Front government for the development of industrial infrastructure, like the Katwa Power Plant, the airport at Andal, the East -West Corridor and food processing and agro-based industries in North Bengal, are being halted or rejected for no reason, making the future of the state dark,” the statement said.

The Left also criticised Banerjee's policy of not raising power rates, saying there would be a severe crisis in power sector soon. The statement accused Banerjee's government of unleashing a reign of terror that had made democracy its worst victim. When she was leader of the opposition, Mamata Banerjee had, time and again, referred to the Left as killers of democracy.

“The report says 43 Left Front activists and supporters have been murdered, 10 more were abetted to commit suicide, 699 women were physically assaulted, 511 molested and 23 raped; 4,157 persons have to be hospitalised for the treatment of injuries suffered by them”, Mishra said.