By Mirza Mosaraf Hossain, TwoCircles.net
A decade after the agitations and protests over the Tata factory in Singur and the damage it caused to the then Left government, it seems the Trinamool Congress, which led the protests against the Tata factory has learnt little. The Mamata Banerjee government, which came to power on the back of immense support from the people, is trying to cheat locals of Bengal in a manner similar to the Nano factory, albeit in Bolpur and not Singur.
In 2001, the then Left government had acquired 294 acres farmland under the West Bengal Land Acquisition Act of 1984 from farmers of Shibpur, a Muslim-dominated locality about two km from Bolpur in Bengal’s Birbhum district for industry purposes with the promise that each family of the land givers would be offered a job. A total of 1,100 farmers gave their lands for a compensation of Rs 48,000 per bigha. Another 119 farmers denied giving their lands and five farmers refused to take compensation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnsX4RzHRM4&feature=youtu.be%20
TMC leader Anubrata Mondal threatening the DSP to arrest the farmers protesting against the WB government. Video courtesy: News Today, Kolkata
Although the land was taken as early as 2001, it became clear soon that there was little in the name of progress on the front of establishing industries, giving jobs to locals etc. Angered by the lack of any forward movement, in 2008 farmers who had given their land organized a day-long protest with the support of a number of organizations like the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML), Association for Protection and Democratic Rights (APDR) and State Organizing Committee (SOT) in front of the SDO Office of Bolpur demanding either industry or their lands. Since then, the protests have been frequent, although without much results.
In 2010, the then opposition party Trinamool supported the demands of the farmers and Partha Chatterjee, now education minister, in a meeting in the locality assured them that they would bring either industry or return the lands to the farmers if they come in power in the 2011 general election. But when they succeeded in winning Bengal and ousting the Left government, they failed to keep up their promises. Heartbroken, the farmers started to plough their lands after three years of the Trinamool Party in power and continued it for more two to three years.
In January of this year, Mamata Banerjee in a conference in Kolkata declared that a housing industry and a Visva Bangla University would be established at the land acquired in Bolpur. According to sources, HIDCO, West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation, has been given the responsibility for the housing project and it has been priced at Rs 70 lakh per bigha. Although this was the first news in years about what the government was planning to do with the acquired land, this news only angered the locals further as they had been made to believe that their children would be employed in the industries set up here. This led to farmers, who had been initially stayed away from protests, to also join their fellow farmers and fed up of the government promises, they formed Shibpur Jamihara Krishak Monch, for taking back their cultivable lands.
In April, a case was filed in the Kolkata High Court by Bikash Bhattacharya, a lawyer in Kolkata HC and a firm supporter of the protesting farmers challenging the government’s decision. The HC gave the verdict in favour of the farmers and issued a stay order. The final hearing will be held soon in the forthcoming days.
On November 15, some of the organisations, lawyers and farmers who lost land had a gathering in the Shibpur locality. The petitioner Bikash Bhattacharya, Abdul Mannan, the Opposition Leader of Bengal from Congress Party, Miratun Nahar, an educationist and social activist, were supposed to meet the gatherings of the land looser farmers. But local Trinamool workers under the leadership of Anubrata Mondal, the district President of Birbhum Trinamool Party, held them back. Mondal even threatened the DSP to arrest all who came to join the gathering. A skirmish occurred when the Trinamool workers opened fire and started to beat the farmers present there. Two farmers, Mirza Jasimmudin from Sabirganj village, who gave 25 bighas land each and Anarul Sk from the same village, who also gave 7 bighas for the same cause, were arrested. Although a case was filed against the TMC goons, police did not pick them up instantly as they did with the farmers. The case was filed against them under the non-billable 307 of IPC instead of 325 as their involvement was only with protests.
Shailen Mishra, an advocate at Bolpur Court who has been working with the farmers on the issue, spoke to TwoCircles.net. “The government is playing with the lives of the thousands of farmers. When they wanted to come to power, they promised to keep the interests of our people at heart. How can the same people now play with the lives and livelihoods of thousands of farmers?” He added, “ I don’t think a university would take nearly 900 acres land for its establishment. By saying that a housing project would be set up here, the government is working like a broker. The leaders would loot crores of money from this housing project whereas the life of the poor would continue to be so.
Alam Sekh, a 55-year-old who gave his lands for the projects, asked, “We gave our land for the industry in the hope that our children would be offered jobs. But what is the point of taking land from us if the proposed industry is not taking place?”
Another farmer who pledged his land, Zulfikar SK from Nurpur village, said. “The farmlands that we have are the sole means of our livelihood. We gave it to the government even with very low compensation hoping that we will be offered some permanent employment through which we will be able enough to run our families. If we get to know that the government would do business with our land, we would not have given our lands.”