When asked about his sources of funding, Das declined to comment.

•Group For Rural Alternative Movement: Barely a year old, its secretary Mintu Dey says that all members are “Naxal-minded persons” from around Jadavpur University. The NGO was formed specifically to organise and support the farmers’ agitation in Singur.”There is no question of a compromise regarding Singur. If Tatas leave, so be it,” said Mintu Dey. Asked about his group’s funding, he said: “We get money from well-wishers and small collections from sympathizers.”

•Jana Sangharsha Samity: Set up during 1975 as part of Jayaprakash Narayan’s Nav Nirman movement, its single-point agenda today: socialism. Secretary Himanshu Mukherjee admits that the group has no “definitive” sphere of work. “We believe in socialism. Tatas should go back. That is the solution to all the problems in Singur,” he said.

•Belur Shramajibi Hospital: Another 25-year-old NGO, it set up a hospital in Belur, Howrah. Secretary A K Saha says the NGO takes care of the “health needs of the farmers of Singur.”

“We collected money from local people and workers of Belur area to build the hospital. We are not bearing any cost of this makeshift stage in Singur. We run the organization with public collectons,” said Saha.

•Naxalite groups: Four Naxalite groups are part of the 21 of Mamata’s Singur alliance. One of them is the “CPI(ML)-state organising committee,” a breakway group of Kanu Sanyal’s CPI(ML). It comprises just three leaders who were expelled from the CPI(ML) after they joined Mamata’s agitation in December 2006: Pradip Banerjee, Purnendu Bose and Dola Sen. They claim to have 700 “followers” in the state.

... contd.