singur – a case study by saibal bishnu

8/16/2019 Singur – a Case Study by Saibal Bishnu

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Singur – A Case Study

By Saibal Bishnu

19 September, 2008

Countercurrents.org

The Singur issue refuses to die down. The issue hasbecome like a fresh air to the ones who are against the

ruling communists in Bengal, and a pain in the neck for the

ones who prefers to call themselves pro progress, both in

the left and the right sides of the fence. Whatever be theoutcome of the Tata Small Car Factory at Singur, this issue

would remain a major case study for the left in India.

The so called grand alliance against the Singur plant does

not have a homogeneous nature, which itself is the biggest

success of the opposition. The opposition to this Singur plant

is so broad-based that it could accommodate a large variety

of stains of politics, opinions, beliefs, and ideas under it. The

opposition could successfully accumulate the support of

large mass of people from different walks of life, as the

opposition itself was multi dimensional. Let us try to examinethe major strains of the opposition.

Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee has no doubt

played the leaders role. Trinamool all these years have been

the strongest voice in Bengal against the so called

de-industrialization process here. One of their MPs once

opined they are ready to admit that the West Bengal

government is serious about industrialization only if the

Tatas build a factory here. Their opposition does not stem

from any ideological moorings; they would like to carry out

exactly the same process of industrialization if in

governance. But they do not want to be left in the lurch, andlet the CPI(M) led Left Front government take all the credits

of industrialization of the state. One of the views hints the

Trinamool's opposition to Singur project is at the behest of

the corporate interest of the rivals of Tata Nano, it gained

grounds specially since no one challenged the accusation

once Ratan Tata made, "Let me just say it is not just political,

because I happen to know that some of our competitors are

also fuelling some of this fire… they would be very happy if

the project got delayed," in an interview to the NDTV.

The traditional support base of Trinamool, a break-awayfraction of the Congress, has been the erstwhile zamindars,

jotedars and other parasite classes in the rural Bengal,

traders and urban middle class in the cities and towns. They

reinvented their whole strategy after a defeat in the 2006

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assembly elections. The new strategy can be best

symbolized by their new found catch phrase, ma-mati-

manush (mother-earth-human), vowing to protect the lives

and livelihoods of the rural peasants, which instantly caught

the imagination of many. In the urban areas, the campaigns

took a bit different route. To give an example, the Trinamool

has been organizing squads, street corners, posters, and

wall graffiti protesting against the policy of providing licenses

to set up foreign liquor shops in the localities. The middleclass Bengal also started identifying with the cause instantly.

The campaign was cleverly manufactured against the

backdrop of the same ma-mati-manush by playing on the

sentiments, that the Left Front government is providing a lot

of sops to the already rich Tatas to setup their factory at

Singur, and to balance the budget the government is

providing few thousands of licenses and plans to earn

revenues, thus endangering the future of generation next.

Interestingly the symbolisms they have started using of late

are reminiscent of the erstwhile communist movements in

Bengal, which people can easily relate to. Starting with

Tebhaga to Operation Barga the right to land to the tillers

has been the crux, which was immaculately re-invented by

the Trinamool by organizing peasants unwilling to part with

their lands for industrialization. The campaign strategists

have been using the slogans, revolutionary poems by

Sukanta Bhattacharya and other poets, revolutionary songs

of Salil Chowdhury which were once used during the

Tebhaga movement, the symbols which the people can

easily identify as the symbol of protest. Some of the

speakers even address the gathering in front as 'comrades'

and the whole campaign is aimed at putting across the pointthat the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has changed

after enjoying 'power' for 30 years, have become anti-farmer,

and the leaders of the party now symbolize state authority

whereas it is Mamata Banerjee who is the real messiah of

the rural poor and the middle class Bengal. This emotional

play is bearing some fruits no doubt, which is evident by the

fact that many prominent cult personalities in Bengal from

music, literature, theatre and cinema have been moved, and

openly voiced dissent against the course of industrialization

by the Left Front government. This whole movement of

Trinamool gained a lot of credence and popularity becauseof the open dissent by the cult personalities. But most

importantly, it is the ultra lefts and their participation in the

movement with Trinamool which changed the face of the

movements. The 26-day hunger strike by Mamata Banerjee

in 2006 to occupation movement in Nandigram in 2007 to

the blockade in Singur in 2008, the face of the movements

have turned from a Gandhian one to a pure agitation

movement which the communists can easily identify with.

There is a distinct possibility of agitations of more anarchic

nature in future.

The ultra lefts have their own ideology to align withTrinamool. According to the Maoists, SUCI, and some other

strains of the ultra lefts, Trinamool represents the national

bourgeoisie and urban petty bourgeois, who are vacillating

ally during revolution; whereas the Tatas are comprador


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bourgeoisie and the CPI(M) is playing as an agent of the

comprador bourgeoisie. So, according to their analysis of the

Indian capitalism and stage of revolution, allying with the

Trinamool Congress against the CPI(M) is their

organizational task, by following a policy of unity-struggle-

unity. It is very interesting to note here that, all these strains

of ultra lefts are compelled to organize movements with the

help of some bourgeois political party and play a second

fiddle to Trinamool, as they do not have mass support of their own, but they still continue to ignore participation in the

democratic setup of India. Probably they have lessons to

learn from the Maoists of Nepal, but that is entirely a

different story beyond the scope of this case study. Some

strains of the ultra lefts found a common cause with

Trinamool as they feel it is the CPI(M) which is implementing

neo-liberal agenda in the state, and it is important to ally with

Trinamool to fight against this process. In addition to the

ultra lefts of different strains and colors, the

environmentalists found in the small car Nano a major

violation to environment on two counts. Nano being a low

cost car can sell in huge number clogging the roads and

polluting the environment, and moreover acres of land are

getting transformed from agricultural to industrial land.

Neo-Luddites like Medha Patkar finds industries themselves

to be against progress, but didn't find it difficult to ally with

Mamata, who still calls herself a champion of industry in

public, and probably mutters in her mind, if only the industry

is built on thin air! Lastly after the sudden volte face on

N-Deal Amar Singh found in Mamata Banerjee an ally and

an 'ex-classmate,' to pin down the Left Front government

and thus the CPI(M). Though it is public domain news that

this same Amar Singh extended a red carpet to the Tatas tobuild the Nano factory in Uttar Pradesh in 2006, while he

was heading the Uttar Pradesh state's Industrial

Development Council. Strange are the bed fellows, but more

striking is the way the broadest possible coalition could be

stitched together against a common enemy, the cleverly

crafted imagery of an authoritarian CPI(M) rule.

Some Congress leaders also jumped on this bandwagon,

finding it an opportune moment to remain relevant and gain

some television coverage. Seven-time Congress MLA from

Sealdah, Somen Mitra found his political career in jeopardywhen he realized that his safe seat will cease to exist and

would merge with Manicktala constituency. For him the next

best opportunity is to contest from the North Kolkata

Loksabha seat as the Trinamool candidate and former MP

Ajit Panja is ailing and away to USA for treatment.

Interestingly this same Somen Mitra has been found to have

bought agricultural land in Singur itself to build a resort,

which was under construction while he was sitting at the

Dharna to protect agricultural land. The ex Trinamool Mayor

of Calcutta Corporation and INTUC leader Subrata

Mukherjee in a desperate attempt to find relevance in

Bengal politics, after the drubbing he received in the lastelection, has joined this protest. Although he is a labor union

leader by profession and his political career ceases to have

any significance without industry and labor.


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This movement would not have gained a critical mass,

unless the fundamentalists played a crucial role in it. Jamait-

e-Ulema-I-Hind leader Siddikulla Chowdhury, once a

Congressman, campaigned among the Muslims in the rural

Bengal, especially in the areas where some development

projects were planned and land acquisition was imminent.

The campaign gained huge momentum when it fueled a

primal fear among the Muslim community that the minority

population is the target of the CPI(M) led Left Frontgovernment, and the land acquisition means giving up on

whatever they held dearest, the small tract of land they

cultivate, the small cottages they call home, the village

mosques they pray in, and the nearby cemetery they bury

their near and dear ones. The propaganda was orchestrated

underground with video CDs distributed throughout the rural

Bengal. Clerics from foreign countries started visiting the

village mosques just before the recent Panchayat polls. The

target was again the common enemy, the cleverly crafted

image of an authoritarian CPI(M) rule.

This political strategy was a success story, as equating the

CPI(M) with the state government, and thus with state power

and authority was easy and Singur provided a golden

opportunity. The West Bengal state government was

desperate to attract investments to setup manufacturing

industries. The victory with a huge margin in terms of

number of seats in the 2006 assembly polls was taken by

CPI(M) as a landslide mandate to industrialize the state at a

very fast pace. At this time the Tatas were planning to setup

their Nano factory at Pantnagar, as they were getting 100%

outright excise duty exemption for a period of 10 years, with

100% income tax exemption for the first 5 years and then30% for the next five. This kind of incentives possibly help to

bring down the real cost of the small car by a few thousands

rupees. This also helps the investors to recover the

investment much faster. In order to attract the Tata Nano

Factory the Left Front government tried to match these

incentives and signed an agreement with them. Other than

the financial incentives, the Tatas were given a choice to

choose the site for their project. They chose Singur, which

has been a fertile land, but at the same time probably the

best location logistically to setup this project of small car.

Also the low operating cost in Bengal was a major factor for the Tatas to decide in favor of Singur as this is a very cost

sensitive project. The expectation of the government was

again two fold, generating employment and earning tax

revenues after few years to the tune of estimated 500 crores

per year, which can then be spent on the social sector facing

crunch in budgetary allocation. This project was also seen

as a harbinger for fast industrialization and building up

investor confidence. The resistance movement at Singur

germinated almost from the very beginning of the land

acquisition notification, and this became a melting pot for all

those strains of political colors. The government offered a

good price for the land acquired and the compensation for the first time in India included Bargadars, but the resistance

movement could organize a good number of people who did

not collect the compensation money, and thus can be

termed 'unwilling.' More transparency from the government


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could have avoided this situation too some extent but there

were several confusions and questions in the air on the

fertility of the land acquired, the cost benefit analysis of the

project, question of rehabilitation etc. The use of police force

during the land acquisition added fire to the fuel and

strengthened this protest movement, the broad-based

coalition was achieved and led to the incidents in

Nandigram. The success of the movement at Nandigram

were two folds, the government had to roll back its plans for the chemical hub and the defeats of CPI(M) candidates in

the Panchayat polls there. This success story further

encouraged the movement to go in for a stronger agitation

which led to the siege at the Singur project site. The

government recently declared an unprecedented

rehabilitation package (http://www.wbidc.com/images

/pdf/ad1.pdf) which can be attributed to this movement to a

great extent.

The state government was in a peculiar situation, with the

fiscal crunch it is facing under neo-liberal agenda of our

country, it was very difficult for the government to protect the

gains it has achieved through land reforms and Panchayat

decentralization. The social sectors like health and

education were getting neglected as avenues to raise

resources were becoming increasingly limited. According to

a document of CPI(M), rapid industrialization was the only

way forward, it stated, "there is constant fragmentation and

division of land holdings and a high proportion of rural

population dependent on agriculture along with a high

proportion of landlessness, it is essential that this population

dependent on agriculture finds avenues for employment

which will be mainly provided by industrial development." Accordingly, the idea of industrialization was to generate

alternate employment opportunities to the surplus labor in

agriculture so that dependency on land decreases,

considering the crisis agriculture is facing because of

economic liberalization. The idea was also to earn tax

revenues so that priority social sector spending can be

achieved.

The CPI(M) and its mass organizations were supposed to

play a very important role here. The government and its

agenda of industrialization had the potential to displace

farmers from land and destroy livelihoods for many,

especially at the Singur project site. They were caught in the

middle of the contradiction between the aspirations of the

middle class to gain employment through industrialization

and the farmers who were getting dispossessed from their

land precisely because of this. The educated middle class is

more enthusiastic about the industrialization since the

modern industry provides good scope of employment for

them, whereas the poor peasants being dispossessed are

not that excited, as there is not a direct relation between

their own employment and this kind of industrialization. It

was absolutely necessary that the Left take up the issues of the peasants, understand their sentiments, and organize

movements on behalf of the land losers. It was thought

impossible for the ruling party to organize movements

against its own government. As a result the peasants found


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in Mamata Banerjee their leader to protest against the

acquisition.

Here the distinction and a dialectical relation between the

party and its government was ignored and in reality the party

with its mass organizations was used to drive down the

administrative agenda of land acquisition in the drive for

industrialization. This alienated a large mass of people,

including a part of the intelligentsia. The support base of theparty eroded even among its long time ally, the peasantry.

The combination of the two features, withdrawal of the

CPI(M) from the forefront of struggle on behalf of the

peasants, and well timed propaganda by this broad based

alliance created a huge turmoil in the political scene in

Bengal, not seen in the last few decades. The situation has

led to such a paranoia that the infrastructural projects like

building a thermal power station at Katwa is facing protests.

People are protesting against any kind of land issues and

even erecting high tension electric posts in the rural Bengal

has almost stopped, and progress of rural electrification has

become a question. An anarchic Bengal is not impossibility

in future if this continues and the trouble with Gorkhaland

increases.

There are both ideological and social reasons for the CPI(M)

not to play the desired role as expected by the people.

Ideologically for them the accent is on delivering an alternate

policy and governance with relief to people of Bengal, which

includes employment generation, and thus industrialization.

At the same time fiscal squeeze through neo-liberalism has

restricted the scope for state governments, where delivering

alternate policies has become increasingly difficult. The onlypossible way out is inviting private and even foreign capital

with huge sops, a case study being Singur, and then earn

from the tax revenues to spend on social sector. They didn't

try to go back to people educating them on the limitations,

the difficulties, costs and pains of industrialization. Even

after the government Tata agreement, the peasant front

organization didn't take up the issues of the peasants to the

government. The long-time allies were left in the lurch and

the grand alliance happily grabbed the opportunity.

Thus Singur will remain a case study for the left in India, on

how to go about deciding and implementing policies under arestricted condition, also the dialectical relation between the

party and its government would have to be sorted out in

cases of these contradictions. As long as the CPI(M)

continues to promote the political line of providing relief by

participating in state governments as a tactics to build the

left democratic front towards revolution, continuation of the

government will remain a primary aim, and with the

constraints increasing, implementing alternate policies will

be an increasing challenge. The idea of using the Left Front

government as an icon of the left's politics and policies of

alternative to attract masses to build the proposed leftdemocratic front is still not being questioned even under

increasing fiscal squeeze under neo-liberalism, so situations

like these might happen again. For the opposition of the left

this was a case study on how to stitch a grand alliance and


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wean away a part of the core support base of the left. Both

have learned, next time these lessons will again be

implemented with much more finesse here or elsewhere,

possibly there will be more situations like this as the

contradictions are indeed sharpening.

Saibal Bishnu is Working in the IT industry, Kolkata, India

and keen observer of left politics.

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