Mamata’s waiting for the main chance

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.

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 the old man. He told her that he was “so happy” that she had come even though he left almost immediately for a meeting. The message was clear: the new Mamata was willing to go to any length to dislodge Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

... contd.