What happens in Singur.....

The wheel of progress of a Rising India is stuck in the soft soil of Singur. As matters come to a head, the exasperating impasse is a stinging indictment of the general political culture of West Bengal. However way the issue is resolved, both sides have something to learn. While Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's government must appreciate the hazards of browbeating the opposition every time, Mamata Banerjee needs to understand that her role is that of an opposition and not of a hinderer. By throwing a tantrum over Singur, she has undercut her credibility as the Chief Minister of choice, while the suave Buddhadeb, despite all his deceit, has actually gained in public perception.

When it comes to details, however, the government is covered thickly in muck. The party actually let TATA have a free hand in choosing the site for their project and then proceeded to acquire this land from the locals on behalf of the former. Despite the Chief Minister's promise that only non-arable land would be acquired for the purpose of SEZs, the government guiltlessly went ahead with acquiring fertile agricultural land in and around Singur. Little attention was paid to ensure fair exchange rates or to ensure that the local population was on board with the decision. When the Trinamool Congress demanded that the government explain its requirement for a whopping one thousand acres of land, when similar industries have been known to occupy significantly less area, the government skirted the issue; speaking vaguely about the need to build "ancillary units". Few details were furnished as to whether these "ancillary units" would be owned by TATA or how the government would ensure that the excess land would be used for the purpose of industry directly aiding the TATA main factory alone. In fact, the agreement between the Government of West Bengal and TATA Motors was never made public, even when provisions of the RTI were invoked. Finally, when the administration signed an agreement with Mamata Banerjee in the presence of the Governor, promising to return 300 acres of land, the government backed out almost immediately and offered a new package to the farmers. In all this, the dubious pressure tactics of TATA Motors and Buddhadeb's readiness to bend over backwards to serve the ambitions of a highly non communist potentate point to a very chequered, shady relationship between TATA and the Government of West Bengal.

For Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, this is bad karma at the very least. You can't just seize control in a state, systematically deindustrialize it for twenty five years and then do a volte face and claim to be a friend of modern industry. It does not work that way in a democracy. If the Left Front wants to atone for its sins, it must wear sackcloth and ashes and spend at least five years in the Opposition. Buddhadeb simply issued a decree to his party cadres to just turn their coats inside out and henceforth fight for industry, instead of against it. He must have been pretty naive to think he could get away with it.

So does Mamata Banerjee's strategy work. For starters, she seems to have succeeded in Singur. The local Panchayat elections resulted in a complete rout for the ruling CPI(M), particularly in Singur and Nandigram. The Left Front also suffered major setbacks at the ground level more or less uniformly across the state. This means that, at the local level in Singur, Mamata's dogged campaign has paid off; and her rhetoric has struck a cord with villagefolk beyond Singur and Nandigram. The CPI(M) can only blame itself for the success of these tactics; for the CPI(M) has spent three decades feeding the people of Bengal with its inexorable propaganda of anti-industrialization. By the time the CPI(M) decided to disown its ideals, the rural had been infected far too badly with the virus. A common scenario in rural West Bengal, even in Singur and Nandigram, is that of the traditional/generational CPI(M) supporter, who is at odds to figure out where his party and its ideals went.

The urban areas of West Bengal present a vastly different proposition. They have been the immediate beneficiaries of the party's new policies and feel that their new prosperity is under attack from Mamata Banerjee and her "old school politics". The trend is particularly marked in the smaller towns of Bengal, which are now waking up to promises of lucrative jobs and gleaming infrastructure in the new Indian economy. This is a generation of small town Bengalis that have grown up knowing that the party is all encompassing, like the sky. Now that the party itself has offered to lighten the yoke, they would much rather take the all powerful party at its word, than flirt with a temperamental opposition leader. Such is the craving for opportunity that the youth will settle with the Red Monster for much less than democracy and accountability.

An NDTV opinion poll found that 75% of people in West Bengal want the TATA factory to be built in Singur. This poll was held, presumably, in urban areas and even though the NDTV record on opinion polls is quite abysmal, it is not difficult to believe this figure. Mamata Banerjee might find herself rowing upstream if she continues her intransigence over the Singur issue. While villages may be the soul of India, young Indians have their hearts set on the city. Sooner or later, Mamata Banerjee needs to realize that uprooting the CPI(M) in the rural heartland will be a long protracted struggle which may never succeed.

One of Mamata's continued shortcomings is that she has never been able to project herself as a real alternative. Even before the Singur issue, the Trinamool Congress has always fought over small local issues and has failed to provide a statewide platform. With Singur, Mamata Banerjee has again come to be seen as obsessed with Singur, rather than with all issues surrouding the problems of West Bengal. Unfortunately, she has so far been unable to build up a real party machine; one that can work and deliver results in any part of the state without the leader herself having to shift base to that area. That said, Mamata Banerjee probably knows more about fighting the CPI(M) than any one else in India. In a democracy, no situation is hopeless.