With widespread protests over the alleged taking over of land for the Tata car project, the CPI(M) has lost its moral ground on SEZs.
CPI(M) applies different yardsticks for land acquisition in SEZs and Singur
NEW DELHI: With Singur on the boil and the West Bengal government’s stand on acquisition of land for industrial purposes differing from that of the CITU, CPI and RSP, the CPI(M)’s rigid stand on SEZs is likely to lose its sheen.
The party has been urging the UPA government to adopt the West Bengal model. But with widespread protests over the alleged taking over of agricultural land for the Tata car project, the CPI(M) has lost its moral ground on SEZs.
CPI general secretary A B Bardhan said on Tuesday that the land acquisition process in Singur lacked transparency. The CPI(M), in a recent note to the Centre, had asked it to take note of the “misuse” of SEZ land and “regulate real estate development” on them, even as the CITU shot off a letter to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi seeking amendments “prohibiting the developers from going into real estate business in the non-processing areas” of SEZs.
The CPI(M) accused the Congress of being “anti-reform” for backing protests against the Tata project. The CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury accused the Congress of working against the development of West Bengal.
The Congress retaliated saying that the CPI(M) spoke in a forked tongue — supporting SEZs and industrialisation in West Bengal, while opposing development projects in other states. The CPI(M) was in the forefront of the agitation against SEZs, especially, in states like Maharashtra. But the land acquisition process in Singur does not reflect the party’s own guidelines on SEZs.
The note asked for “livelihood security” of the oustees; and although, it did not demand jobs, it asked that they be offered “minor equity stakes in the companies floated for… building SEZs”. But WB industries minister Nirupam Sen has ruled out jobs to Singur landlosers at the Tata factory, or guarantees of alternative livelihood.
According to protestors, including Arundhati Roy and Medha Patkar, a chunk of the 997 acres of Singur land allotted to the Tatas, are multi-crop, while the CPI(M) claimed that 90 per cent land is mono-crop and only ten per cent is multi-crop.
The WB government has claimed that it is offering a high compensation package to the oustees — Rs 8.5 lakh for mono-crop land and Rs 12 lakh for multi-crop land. And in the face of stiff opposition from protestors and Opposition parties, the state has mooted a proposal to give alternate land to the Singur oustees.
While the CPI(M) said that 60 per cent land owners in Singur agreed to sell their lands, the activists said 382 farmers had given in writing that they are unwilling to sell their small holdings.
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