“We will organise a peaceful agitation near the plant. It will be a continuous agitation. It is the state Government which is inciting violence. Recently, the state Home Secretary went to Singur and said that he will arrest farmers,” she said, when asked whether the agitation would be peaceful or not.

Her party has constructed 21 makeshift stages across the boundary wall of the Tata Motors site and along the Durgapur Expressway. “We are expecting 200,000 supporters to turn up from different districts, apart from the farmers of Singur,” said Becharam Manna, convenor of Singur Save Farmland Committee. Members of the Committee said there are chances of people storming the project site during the agitation, “If people get emotional, what can we do? We can only request them to show restraint. If the police use force, we will not sit idle,” said Manna. The party plans to block workers from entering the site, thus thwarting the project work.

Last week, the TMC and Save Farmland Committee organised a number of meetings in Singur and other districts to garner support for the agitation. The party is bullish because of its success in Singur in the recent panchayat elections.

Out of the 16 village panchayats in Singur, TMC has won 15. In the last elections it had won only four. It has also increased its tally from 12 seats, last time, to 37 in panchayat samitis. The party has won all the three zilla parishad seats in Singur. Naturally, it is time for Mamata and her supporters to flex some muscles.

... contd.