Just when we thought the Singur impasse was over, a statement by Tata Motors dashed West Bengal's hope of getting the Nano factory back to work.
Minutes after reports from West Bengal hinted that the Singur issue had finally resolved with Tata Motors 'agreeing to give land,' the Tatas expressed distress at the 'limited clarity on the outcome of the discussions between the state government of West Bengal and the representatives of the agitators in Singur.'
Hence, uncertainty still looms large even after West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee struck an 'amicable' deal with the firebrand Opposition supreme Mamata Banerjee at a marathon meet at Kolkata's Raj Bhavan on Sunday.
As a direct consequence of the meeting, Banerjee agreed to call off the indefinite stir 'temporarily' at Singur while the chief minister promised to compensate the 'unwilling' sellers of land as demanded by Banerjee. Both sides seemed happy till they heard the Tata Motors announcement.
Will the Tatas shift the Nano factory out of Bengal? A million-dollar question, indeed.
Whatever be the end result, Singur's Nano factory will ever be remembered for more than one reason: the controversy it brewed as also for bringing to light the hitherto unexposed pro-industrialisation aspect of our 'beloved' comrades.
Never ever have we seen the members of the red bastion working round the clock to set a factory wheel rolling. While cynics mouthed epithets over the comrades' newfound enthusiasm, the pro-Left termed this 'an attempt to improve the state of Bengal.'
As for the people of the state, a huge section of the population feels if Tatas leave Singur it will deal a severe blow to the West Bengal's already negative image whereas there are quite a few others who think the issue is not of as much importance as it is being hyped out to be.
I have no qualms in admitting that I belong to the second group. For, an agitation threatening the existence of a factory is a regular occurrence in this Left-ruled state.
Within a 25-km radius of our ancestral home in Kolkata, at least 15 (if not more) factories became defunct in the last 15 years -- thanks to stir by Left-backed trade unions.
Most of these factory lands were thereafter 'conveniently' sold to real estate agents and, soon, one could see the dingy factory compound making way for swanky skyscrapers, shopping malls, multiplexes, et al.
Many ex-workers, it is heard, committed suicide and many families turned pauper overnight in the post lock-out period.
One of my paternal uncles had to confront abject poverty when he lost a cushy and well-paying job at the Usha factory in south Kolkata. One fine morning, the factory was declared closed and its staff sent home. None of them got any compensation whatsoever. My uncle, aunt and their grown-up daughters became dependent on their kin.
The image of tears of embarrassment welling up in my aunt's eyes as she accepted financial assistance from us is still etched in my mind.
Wish (Mamata) Banerjee were there then. Wish her idiosyncrasies (please don't assume that I am her fan) were as effective that time.
You may laugh at her 'well orchestrated madness' but you can't help agreeing with her when she blurts, 'people of this state have every right to know the details of the deal that the Left Front signed with the Tatas.'
After all, she was not asking for any classified information to be leaked. Neither was she eager to know the technical know-how of Nano.
Had the Left Front tabled a copy of the deal earlier, much of the chaos, confusion and heartburn could have been avoided. With the Right to Information Act in vogue now, it was outright illegal to keep the deal from the Opposition as well as the people of the state.
Was it arrogance, adamance or sheer negligence?
Or are we to suppose what Banerjee has been alleging during her long dharna at Singur was true? Was there some foul play in the land deal?
Or did the Left Front government think that the Singur agitation would be quashed the way protests by unemployed factory workers had been stifled in the past?
Perhaps they had failed to foresee the 'non-violent' agitation that Banerjee and her team are capable of launching.
And now that they have cowed down to her persistent pressure, it sends out a loud signal to their detractors -- unless you create nuisance in this state, you won't be heard.
That is definitely going to make the pre-election road ahead a tough one for the Left.
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