Enough is enough: Singur’s message to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was loud and clear today. For the first time since she launched her dharna against the Tata Motors’ small-car project at Singur on August 24, demanding the return of 400 acres to farmers, she faced resentment from villagers including Trinamool supporters she claims to be representing.

As Mamata egged on her flock from the dais, members of 22 syndicates doing flourishing business supplying construction material to the Tata project, along with villagers, gathered 2 km from the Trinamool protest site on the Durgapur Express and raised slogans against her. They also stopped her supporters from joining her. Of these 22 syndicates, 20 are run by Trinamool men.

The message in the slogans was unambiguous: “Mamata don’t play with the future of this state”, “We want Tata’s factory here and Mamata to go back”, among them.

The feelings were echoed in village after village around the project area on Wednesday, in all of which the Trinamool had routed the CPI(M) in May's panchayat elections. Of the 16 gram panchayats in Singur block, the Trinamool had won 15. Whether Joymollah, Beraberi, Khaserbheri or Bajemelia, there was disappointment and anger — Tata Motors' announcement to suspend work having wrought an overnight change.

Kajal Saha, the secretary of a syndicate, said: “Just as I am a Trinamool supporter, there are supporters of other parties also. We are not doing this with the backing of any political party — we just want to tell her that her movement is hitting us where it hurts.”

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