By IANS
Kolkata : In the second such suicide since March, a farmer Thursday hanged himself in Singur, triggering fresh tension in the trouble-torn area in West Bengal that is on the boil over land acquisition for a Tata Motors project.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee rushed to the spot and threatened a fresh movement even as the deceased Prasanta Das' family members alleged that he took the extreme step Thursday night as he had been depressed since his land was acquired for the small car project.
"Tatas have to return the land they have taken," Banerjee thundered as the area simmered with angry sentiments and wails of Das's family members.
The 40-year-old farmer hanged himself from the ceiling of the cowshed of his house and his body was found in the wee hours of Friday, senior police official Kalyan Mukherjee said.
He was a resident of Khaserveri area in Singur, about 40 km from Kolkata in Hooghly district.
Das was a member of the anti-land acquisition Singur Krishijami Raksha Committee (SKRC) and was one of those injured in the September 2006 police baton charge in the area during the peak of Singur protests.
While the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said the farmer's suicide was not related to land acquisition, Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy admitted that Das probably was one of the farmers who refused cheque (money as compensation for the project).
"We are waiting for the post-mortem report. He probably did not accept money for the land," Roy said.
Banerjee asked, "While people are dying of hunger in Singur, on the other hand, in Nandigram pyres of dead are lit. What do they (CPI-M) want? I want to ask their leaders what do they want?" as people walked in procession to cremate the dead farmer.
Das' land was acquired by the government for the Tata Motors small car factory coming up in the area, Becharam Manna, a leader of SKRC, told IANS.
"He was depressed. He had not been able to till his land for one year and was worried about the future of his two daughters. He had refused to accept money as compensation for the Tata project and was an active member of the movement," Manna said.
The dead farmer's father Mahadeb Das said: "He (Prasanta) said 'I will not live' after the land was acquired."
Earlier on March 13, farmer Haradhan Bag had committed suicide in Singur. Anti-Tata project activists had claimed that land loss was behind that death too.
Fresh tension is brewing at the site of the upcoming Tata Motors' small car unit in Singur. On May 20, hundreds of Singur Krishjami Raksha Committee members clashed with police who had to fire teargas shells and charge with batons to disperse the mob that seemed determined to reclaim their lands acquired for the project.
Over 997 acres of land in Singur have been chosen by Tata Motors for its small car project. The issue has triggered a violent face-off between the government and farmers led by civil society groups and parties like the Trinamool Congress.