singur
... the man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress --Ayn Rand (Preface to The Fountainhead)
Unlike Rand's celebrated book that touched generations in Singur, near my city, ego became the fountainhead of human regress. But ego is all these few men and women have as they fill the plates of journalists in eastern India who were undergoing a dry spell after a season of protests in 2007. Mamata Banerjee at last brought some rain- she blasted the "pro-Tata" media, often hitting below the belt, but came as a saviour particularly for them. Singur is not a Nano-sized copy for journalists, it is big news- all sexed up both nationally and internationally. It is not the story of cheapest car in the world, it is the costliest car ever made.
I was offered money to withdraw stir: Mamata
But as stalemate over the Nano factory continues Singur becomes a saga of misplaced ego, complacency and white lies.
Sify Special: Singur siege
Let's begin with the ego of West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Here comes a communist chief minister with a missionary zeal for capitalist industrialisation but without a homework. His government ended up bullying farmers and unleashing state force to seize farmlands that were fertile and developed over decades for agriculture. Mystery still shrouds the alleged rape and killing of a 16-year-old girl of Singur at the peak of the agitations in December 2006. Tapasi Malik's charred body was found inside the fenced off area.
Trinamool stir may hit Nano’s October launch
The West Bengal government led by the Marxists lied through the teeth in 2006 when it said the semblances of protests were opposition engineered and the farmers are queuing up to collect cheques. Another lie was the fertility of the soil- the government initially said the land was mostly mono-crop. Right to livelihood was trampled when fertile farmland that would raise multiple crops and a wide variety of vegetables in a year was snatched from the people. It provoked a revolt that found language in the political ammunition of India's comeback politician Mamata Banerjee. Without Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's "reformist ego" our lady of the moment would have been nursing her wounds of electoral losses in her austere south Kolkata dwelling.
By the same author: Goodbye Taslima, shame on India | Full coverage: Farmers vs SEZ
Then comes the ego of the Tatas who turned a blind eye to the simmering discontent at the very beginning and reposed faith in the words of the chief minister who does not even have the sanction (from his party) to speak his mind on issues as commonly accepted as the senselessness of bandhs. Corporate India loves to live in sanitised corridors of towering office buildings, boardrooms and dimly lit conference rooms of star hotels where journalists jostle for their bytes. Their egos boosted by global acquisitions and mergers, they feel snug in the belief they have thrown enough crusts and crumbs in the forms of schools, hospitals, sports facilities and health programmes for the faceless millions for whom the governments since independence only brought indignity.
‘Ratan Tata should pull out his Singur project’
The mindset in India's rural backyard or urban slums don't bother them till they blow up on their faces. "We are here to do business, politics is not our calling," many of them would say parroting the expressions of a teeny-booper living in her fancy world of Barbie, Britney and Brad Pitt. In a matter of ego, the Tatas proved themselves no different. The political class explained, the Tatas accepted, driven by the egoistic faith in their impeccable brand, which now wobbles at the doorstep of Mamata Banerjee's politics of brinkmanship. In retrospect, the Tatas should not have believed in what the CPI-M had assured about the acquisitions. Political classes in India are a breed apart.
Live bombs recovered from Nandigram
Ego is the life force of Mamata Banerjee, a politician whom the journalists love to caricature for her impulsive behaviour, Spartan living and many past actions that defy simple logic. Her words, speeches and comparisons of situations offer comic relief to urbanites but her actions can jeopardise their weekend plans. But the truth is that the civil society movement in CP-M ruled West Bengal largely rides piggyback on Mamata Banerjee's cadre power. "We don't support her ways but these are times when we need her cadres," a progressive civil society leader once confided to me at the peak of Nandigram agitation. She is what the "responsible" CPI-M in their over three decades rule produced- "irresponsible opposition".
Chaos personified, Banerjee perhaps is the right medicine for the CPI-M, only that the side effects now afflict an innocent majority in the state. In West Bengal, where there seems to be no end to CPI-M rule, Mamata Banerjee is the only face of opposition. She is just as irresponsible an opposition as the ruling party is in dispensing justice. Banerjee is doing to CPI-M exactly what it tried to do to the Congress but failed- on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal. The government of Manmohan Singh too had argued in favour of India's energy security.
Singur is Banerjee's baby. She nurtured it for over two years now and won't let the baby go off her lap at any cost, even if it succumbs without the oxygen of negotiating table. "We want 400 acres back," she thunders. What her plans are no one knows. From political nonentities to Naxalites and opportunist national leaders, everybody now rallies behind her.
On a dusky August afternoon, I drove past the verdant countryside to Singur after nearly one and a half year. I was excited. There awaits a good story and golden quotes to justify my presence as a foreign agency correspondent. For nearly a year it was all quiet on the Singur front as Nandigram stole the limelight. But I was stunned to find the same resolve of a section of farmers to fight the land seizures as they had shown two years ago. The Trinamool Congress victory in rural council elections, have only added political muscles to their resolve.
I found my way to one of the villages I had gone in 2006 for the first time for reportage. I was first mistaken as a Tata official then and almost surrounded by angry farmers. This time I met 70-year-old farmer Laxman Das. The archetypal bare-torsoed farmer said he would not back out till his land is returned. "I was happy. I got my daughters married and raised my children from the yield of my land," he said. There is nothing novel in what he said. Since 2006 every journalist who visited Singur got such copious "golden quotes" to represent the land losers views. The chief minister spoke countless times, on how he could not say no the Tatas when that particular piece of land was chosen by them. The question is why it was shown in the first place without assessing the ground reality and its fertility. The answer lies in the political might of the ruling party, something, which is now being challenged by Mamata Banerjee. The Left Front rode back to power with a huge majority in 2006. In Singur this year, Trinamool Congress swept the polls.
Farmer Laxman Das has an ego too. It is an ego the urban India, its journalists or even our merger and acquisition czars do not recognise. So much so that when Rahul Gandhi stood up to start his parliament speech mentioning the plight of a Maharashtra farmer's widow called Kalavati there was a peal of laughter. The name of a village woman uttered by the suave Congress leader only evoked laughter. We never loved our people, we never tried to bridge the urban-rural or rich-poor divide in true sense. An Indian villager is still represented as a simpleton in films. He is straight out of a wonderland.
In West Bengal they make up the audience of cheap non-multiplex Bengali films. Urban India "progressed" but Laxman Das remained where his forefathers were. Urban middle class painted their apartments in earthly colours, bamboo curtains and switched to large coffee mugs from bland cup-plates but Laxman Das remained where he was. It is beyond his comprehension why he would sacrifice his lifestyle for an automobile factory. Urban Indians let out their steam against social injustices in candle light processions (a natural extension of candle light dinners), send SMS to TV channels to register their protests and shop a variety of meonise in superstores pushing trolleys. Laxman Das derives the same pleasure walking barefoot in his paddy fields as we do walking inside squeaky clean multiplexes, clutching our colas and popcorns. It is only that we have no respect for Laxman Das's wishes.
My first visit to Singur was in July 2006. A protest was building up. I don't know why the Tatas failed to see it. They were convinced by the Marxists that "we are in control". Why India's top carmaker harboured illusions about political classes is not understandable. In investment-parched West Bengal, the entry of Tatas should have been cause for celebrations. But that was not to be. The choice of land forced the company to step into a political minefield.
But as things unfolded over the past weeks, I think the situation is turning scary. The pullout threat apart, the land for which Mamata Banerjee is squatting is not tillable anymore if the company officials are to be believed. I have sufficient reasons to believe that the 400 acres of disputed land, scattered all over the project areas according to the map available with us, is unfit for cultivation. In that case returning the same 400 acres would not serve any purpose.
So what is the way out? Banerjee has championed the farmers' cause, made her point, brought the issue on the national level. Now it is time to sit across the table and dictate compensation terms. The compensation paid or earmarked for the land acquired is not sufficient, according to some of the leading economists in Kolkata. It is high time Mamata Banerjee settles for a compensation that can bring smile on the face of Laxman Das and secure his family's future. Let Laxman Das be the large hearted simpleton of Singur, but not a sacrificial goat at the altar of politicians, corporates or urbanites who have long forgotten their rural cousins.
Singur is a lesson to be learnt- for everyone. Let the beneficiaries of the car project pay Laxman Das his due. Let us make him a stakeholder in human progress.
(At the time of writing this column, there were signs that Mamata Banerjee is softening.)
(Sujoy Dhar works for a foreign wire service as a correspondent in Kolkata. He runs a feature service, a portal and contributes for Sify.com as a columnist.)
| Slide Shows | Columns | Calendar
Share | 
Print | Rate 
