Mamata plans civil disrobement

Trinamul chief wants Singur women to march nude; her colleagues say it’s just hyperbole

KOLKATA: As political interest continues to strip off from the land-acquisition controversy in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamul Congress chief, has bared a strategy that might guarantee renewed media coverage.

She has announced a “nude protest march by mothers and daughters of Singur,” the site for Tata Motors’ small-car plant.

But the proposed civil disrobement movement, as it were, has exposed a marked cleavage between Banerjee and some senior members of her party about the prudence of such an action. A few leaders ruled out the march by suggesting that Banerjee might have uncovered the sensational idea in the ‘heat of the moment’.

Banerjee has said that she had been inspired by Manipuri women who, in 2004, went on a nude march to protest against alleged army excesses. “Mothers and daughters of Singur will not hesitate to take off their clothes to fight for justice if the state government does not return land taken from farmers,” Banerjee had said. 

“Land is mother. The chief minister does not understand the sentiments of mother, land, or human beings. The women of Singur will go all the way for justice.”

Rabindranath Bhattacharya, a Trinamul MLA, said he had not been apprised of the march and he could not comment on it.

Saugata Ray, another Trinamul MLA, said that if Banerjee had indeed proposed a nude protest, she must have done so in a moment of an emotional surge.

After she made the announcement, Banerjee was asked to explain what was common between a protest against land acquisition and a campaign against what were described in Manipur as sexual and human rights abuses.

Banerjee, however, failed to establish a persuasive link. Prima facie, marching seems to be one of the common elements between the Manipur action and ‘Strip for Singur’ programme.