Will we get our land back, Singur asks Mamata Banerjee

Five years into power, Singur perhaps represents Mamata Banerjee's biggest setback today - her failure to return 400 acres to the unwilling farmers who supported her movement.

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Mamata Banerjee
"I'm aware that people are still waiting for the return of their land. We had promised that we will give their land back. Let me remind, my government has already taken over the land but it is the Tata's who have gone to court," Mamata Banerjee said.

The anti-land acquisition movement in Singur had once propelled Mamata Banerjee to power in West Bengal. It even led to a re-think in the land acquisition policy in this country. But five years into power, Singur perhaps represents Mamata's biggest setback today - her failure to return 400 acres to the unwilling farmers who supported her movement.

In Singur to address an election rally, Mamata claimed, "I'm aware that people are still waiting for the return of their land. We had promised that we will give their land back. Let me remind, my government has already taken over the land but it is the Tata's who have gone to court." Mamata may have shifted the onus on the Tatas, but the burden of expectation is clearly weighing heavily on the Trinamool this elections.

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Eight years down the line, unwilling farmers who had opposed land acquisition continue their struggle. With the case pending before the Supreme Court, it is unclear when they will get their land back. Neither did they take the compensation money then nor do they have their land with them now.

"We lost more than a bigha to the factory. I don't know what the government is doing. The land is no more fertile. They have changed its nature so even if we get it back, it is of no use," laments Badrinath Kole.

Kole had participated in the agitation against the Tatas in 2008. His entire land lies inside the Tata Nano project site. At 50, he is paralysed and depends solely on the government stipend of Rs 2,000 per month and 15 kg rice announced by Mamata.

Eight years on, in hindsight, Kole says he perhaps made a mistake. "If we had taken money instead, things would have been better now. If the factory had been built, many would have got jobs. It's very difficult to run the household on just Rs 2,000 a month."

Not just Kole, several others like him in Bajemelia village, just off the Tata Nano site echo the same. After coming to power Mamata had enacted a new legislation and ''took over'' the 400 acres belonging to unwilling farmers. But the Tatas challenged the decision in Calcutta High Court which subsequently struck down the legislation terming it ''unconstitutional''. However, a defiant Mamata moved the Supreme Court where the case is still pending.

Since 2008, Singur has been divided between those who support the factory and gave land willingly and those who oppose it. However, with time the fault lines seems to have somewhat blurred. Those who willingly gave their farmlands believe that they atleast have something to fall back on. Like Sadanada Santra, who had taken the compensation money from the Left government in return of his land.

"Yes, I did accept the compensation. I needed money for my daughter's wedding then. Those who did not take money are suffering the most. They can't get their land back and are mostly jobless. If the factory had come up things could have been better. The next generation is only interested in jobs," Santra says.

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Singur may have become a symbol of agrarian resistance to forceful land acquisition, but the youth here are not too inclined to get back to farming. 21 year-old Tanmoy Ghosh, a third year graduation student at Singur's Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya is the son of an unwilling farmer. His family has ten cottahs inside the Tata Nano site.

While his father may have opposed the factory once, Tanmay says he does not see a future in farming. "If the factory had come up, our lives would have changed. Now the situation is grim. Neither can we farm nor do we have jobs here. We don't see a future in farming anymore."

Much has changed since the Tata's left Singur in 2008. Mamata became the chief minister, Tatas shifted the factory to Gujarat and Nano itself failed to capture the imagination of Indian consumers.

But nothing seems to have changed for the farmers on the ground. Five years back the question on their mind was, "When will we get the land back?"

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Let down by the political system, today they ask, "Will we ever get our land back?"

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