By IANS,
Kolkata: After the West Bengal assembly Tuesday passed the bill to return land to “unwilling” farmers in Singur, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded greater compensation for those who had willingly given their lands.
“We welcome the government’s move to introduce the bill. But what will be the fate of the so-called willing farmers, who were also coerced to give up their plots and take compensation. The government should look into the issue and arrange for greater compensation to those farmers,” senior BJP leader Chandan Mitra said.
The state government Tuesday got the bill passed for reclaiming 997 acres of land at Singur in Hooghly district so as to return about 400 acres to the owners.
Two years of sustained peasant agitation led by Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress had forced auto giant Tata Motors to move to Gujarat to set up the manufacturing plant for their small car Nano.
Mitra accused Banerjee of causing peasant unrest across the country by blocking the land acquisition amendment bill in parliament.
“(Mamata) Banerjee blocked the bill for three years, and since it was denied passage, so much trouble broke out in several places, including Kalinganagar (in Orissa) and Bhatta-Parsaul (Uttar Pradesh).”
State BJP president Rahul Sinha described the government’s move to accord recognition to 1,000 madrasas (Islamic seminaries) in the state as “dangerous” and said his party will oppose the move.
“It was wrong on the part of the state government to take this hasty decision. Instead of taking recourse to this communal politics to accord blanket recognition to all these madrasas, Banerjee should have gone through the reports of central and state intelligence agencies. This act might cost us dearly,” he said.
Sinha also criticised Banerjee for the “secret” deal she struck with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and demanded that the state government maintain “transparency” by making public the content of the agreement on the proposed Hill Council.
“It is being kept under wraps which areas of the plains will be included in the proposed autonomous council for Darjeeling. There is a lack of transparency. The government must make people known about the agreement,” he said.