Tata Motor's car project at Singur, West Bengal on track (Part V)
Singur out of bounds:
Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee did what CPM was waiting for. The unprecedented bedlam her party legislators created in the West Bengal Assembly on Thursday turned the entire focus on Trinamul vandalism and gave the government a free hand to take possession of the Singur lands.
And, in the disruption that spread all over the state, Mamata frittered the chance of capitalising on her questionable detention on way to Singur, only a day after the Left Front held a meeting there.
The government on Thursday brought Singur under Section 144 for an indefinite period, thus restricting public movement in and out of the area.
Mamata tried to encash on what she called her "illegal detention" by calling a 12-hour strike in the state. This, on a day when Lufthansa Airlines is making a comeback to the city after three decades.
The airlines had pulled out of Kolkata during the turbulent days of militant trade unions and bandhs. As the news spread, Trinamul supporters blocked roads at different places in the city, stoned two buses and set another one on fire. Train services, too,were disrupted.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee held that the strike would have no impact at all. "The Tata Motors project will come up,"he said.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose urged citizens to come out of their house and attend office ignoring the strike call.
Late in the night, preparations started to fence off the entire acquired area and large police contingents were sent to Singur.
The CM assured the Tatas, saying the small car factory in Singur would be a reality and "no one would be able to touch the Tatas".
Mamata, on her part, issued a "friendly advice" to the Tatas to leave alone the fertile agricultural land in Singur and choose an alternative site for the proposed small car factory.
The Trinamul chief ’s dramatic entry in the Assembly lobby, brandishing a copy of the Constitution, and storming of the well of the House by party members who broke furniture made of teak wood and dating back to the British days was something never witnessed earlier.
The chief minister described it as a "black day for democracy". Congress sided with Trinamul, its legislative wing chief Manas Bhuniya holding a joint news conference with Mamata in the Assembly.
The party extended only "moral support"to Friday’s bandh. As an afterthought, Mamata sought to bolster her industry-friendly image by leaving information technology out of the purview of the bandh. So much respite for the Kolkatan.
Compiled by Sukla
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