Born into a family of landlords, but a Communist by belief, Land and Land Reforms Minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah has been hitting the headlines ever since land acquisition was initiated in Singur. If Ratan Tata blames Mamata Banerjee for his Nano pull-out decision, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee could blame Mollah, one of his “firebrand” colleagues, for the setback.

Till the Vedic Village incident, Mollah was the messiah for the poor and marginal farmers, protector of their interest, but since August-end, he has been in the line of fire for having allotted 44 acres of land to set up a spa resort adjacent to Rajarhat New Town.

Inside the party and the government ‘two faces of Rezzak’ are being discussed. Secretly, he labels Buddha as “honest but impulsive” and criticises him openly for his ‘land for industry’ policy. In June 2006, when the CM asked Mollah’s department for acquisition of land in Singur, he vehemently opposed it, citing farmers’ interest. In mid-2005, when Indonesia-based Salim Group went to Bhangar in South 24 Parganas to identify land for their mega projects, including township, knowledge city, super expressway and health city, Mollah was the first to protest. The land issues which had benefited Mamata Banerjee in the recent elections were first raised by Mollah, and Mamata picked these up later.

The 67-year-old leader from Bhangar in South 24 Parganas became a minister in 1982, holding charge of Sundarbans Development Department. He was promoted to Marxist Bengal’s ‘prestigious’ Land and Land Reforms Department in 2001. Though he owns a large tract of 10-acre farmland at his Bhangar village, he is always in the forefront of the CPM-backed ‘land for landless agitation’. Considering his active role in such agitations, the CPM inducted him as a formal member in 1969, the time when the Marxists were involved mainly in agrarian movement. “I am always for the poor,” he said.

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