: Come September 25, and Mamata Banerjee will observe the first anniversary of her Singur agitation. Last September, on this very date, she had launched her campaign against the “forcible” acquisition of agricultural land in Singur with an impromptu demonstration and blockade of the local block development office. After several futile attempts to get her to withdraw, the administration called in the police. The massive lathi-charge that followed marked the beginning of Mamata’s comeback trail, after her political meltdown in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.
Singur has been a complex story and needs to be read right. On the one hand, it has given birth to a vibrant and to some extent virulent movement against the acquisition of agricultural land for industry. It was the Singur spark that ignited the Nandigram fire, which in turn forced the Government to retrace its steps of setting up a SEZ there. Mamata clung to the issue of land desperately even though she came across to industry captains as someone who was anti-growth. She perceived that land was the only issue which could put the Left on the back foot. At the same time, Singur is also emerging as the most visible symbol of the state’s industrial revival. As factory-sheds sprout in what were once empty green spaces, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s industrial thrust becomes more vivid and real. Should the Tata small car roll out of the plant by next year — and there’s no reason why it should not — Bhattacharjee’s position will be safer than ever before.
It is the intervening period that promises to be full of action punctuated with behind-the-scene parleys, new alliances, and failing alliances. The past year has been particularly significant for Mamata Banerjee. Those watching her closely will probably also acknowledge a perceptible change in her bearing. She is far less impulsive now, and more restrained in her temperament. The haggard, tattered look of yore has also gone. Now she can often be spotted holding a cell phone in her clenched fists at public rallies. At times, there is even a sling bag adorning her shoulder. As for the old fire, it has now given way to a new cunning.
So on July 8, 2007, while returning from Delhi, she drove straight to Indira Bhavan in Salt Lake, to wish the CPM patriarch, Jyoti Basu, who was celebrating his 93rd birthday. With a bouquet in her hand, she touched Basu’s feet, delighting...
