By IANS
Raipur : Supporters of the proposed Tata Steel plant in Chhattisgarh forcibly stopped Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta Saturday from leading a protest rally near the plant site.
Dasgupta was scheduled to head an anti-Tata protest march in Bastar district where the steel major has a Rs.100 billion investment deal to set up an integrated five million tonne per annum plant in Lohandiguda block under Chitrakote assembly segment.
“Besides a march, Dasgupta was scheduled to attend a meeting of farmers in the district affected by the Tata Steel plant in the district but hundreds of plant supporters and state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters as well a section of opposition Congress cadres did not allow him to enter Jagdalpur, the district headquarters,” Manish Kunjam, a former CPI legislator and a local tribal leader told IANS.
“The supporters stopped Dasgupta’s convoy at Bhanpuri close to Jagdalpur city and rejected his plea that he wanted to lead a peaceful march against blind industrialisation of mineral rich Bastar at the cost of driving out indigenous tribals from their native farm lands,” Kunjam said.
He added that plant supporters forced Dasgupta to return to Raipur, which is 300 km from Jagdalpur.
The supporters have recently formed Bastar Vikas Manch under the guidance of Bastar MP and BJP leader Baliram Kashyap to “flush out people from Bastar opposing industrialisation and development”.