Kolkata, Nov 29 (IANS) Facing criticism over violence in Nandigram, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Thursday said the opposition parties in the state were working against the interest of the people by stalling developmental work and fomenting trouble.
“I have not seen such opposition in other state. In Gujarat or Tamil Nadu there are oppositions too but they don’t behave so irresponsibly. When it comes to development they all come together,” Bhattacharjee told a rally of his Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in south Kolkata.
“The mandate in the last election was to develop the state and move forward in all respects. A government cannot sleep and the question is not of CPI-M or Trinamul Congress. It is about employment of thousands of young people. So we have to move ahead,” he said.
“We have to widen roads and construct ports. Even in that they are opposing.”
“It is a pity that the people of Nandigram failed to realise what we wanted for them. Nandigram was to be another Haldia (the industrial town near Nandigram). A bridge over the river Haldi could have connected the two regions. The chemical hub could have transformed the area. Whether it is polymer, rubber, plastic or drugs, it is all about the chemical industry,” Bhattacharjee said.
“Haldia too was once like Nandigram. But see how it has shaped today with global giants setting up industries,” he said.
“The people of Nandigram would realise one day and regret. We would go to Nayachar (the new site of the proposed chemical hub in an island in the same district),” Bhattacharjee said.
He said the recurring violence in Nandigram since January was due to the Maoist presence there.
“The Maoists there killed people and led to the present situation. We had told the people of Nandigram in February itself that we would not acquire land,” he said.
“Work, work and work,” he said at the rally impassionedly trying to brush aside the events of the previous weeks which saw thousands of citizens hitting the streets over the Nandigram violence and a growing condemnation from all quarters, especially after CPI-M men allegedly unleashed a reign of terror to regain bases in the area since Nov 5.
A proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ), including a chemical hub, in collaboration with Indonesia’s Salim group in Nandigram in East Midnapore district, about 150 km from here, triggered violence in the area as the villagers resisted land acquisition firmly.
The toll in the violence since January this year has touched 35.