Mamata Banerjee is not letting Singur out of her sight, especially after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the erstwhile Tata Nano car factory site on January 18.
The PM’s speech, however, lacked promise for farmers who wanted the Tatas to come back to set up industries.
Notably, the Budget tabled in the West Bengal Assembly on Thursday mentioned annual support of Rs 4,000 for landless agricultural labourers to be paid in two instalments—Rs 2,000 during the Rabi season and Rs 2,000 during the Kharif season.
A database of eligible farmers not owning agricultural land and hence not entitled to the Krishak Bandhu (Natun) scheme will be created to estimate the number of landless agricultural labourers.
“We already have the Krishak Bandhu scheme. Farmers who have more than one acre of land will get Rs 10,000, while farmers with smaller plots will get Rs 4,000. Many farm labourers work on land owned by someone else; they too will receive assistance of Rs 4,000,” said CM Mamata Banerjee after the Budget session.
The Budget also mentioned setting up an agro-industrial Park in Singur, which Mamata had announced during her Singur visit on January 28, at which time she also proposed that the park would be set up over eight acres, for which Rs 9.2 crores were already sanctioned.
She had also said that Amazon and Flipkart were setting up big warehousing facilities in Singur, which the state government has already cleared.
The other announcement was the Mahatmashree (formerly Karmashree) Project based on the erstwhile Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), which promises 100 days of work that would benefit the people of Singur.
“Singur has a different importance for Mamata. She visited Singur after PM’s visit. Does she go to every constituency that the PM goes? No. She has gone to Singur because Singur is a very sensitive issue for Mamata Banerjee and has touched upon the issues of Singur in the budget too,” noted political analyst Udayan Bandhyopadhyay.
“She has been giving Rs 2,000 for farmers who have given land to the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government. This is not uncommon for politicians to use these schemes. In fact, she wants to highlight the people of Singur who have been voting for the Trinamool Congress (TMC); she wants to give any welfare scheme. But any welfare scheme has its drawbacks, including those announced for Singur—it does not always increase their (the beneficiaries') purchasing capability. You (the state) can spend money in any welfare scheme, but you cannot change the economic scenario just by implementing welfare schemes, as there is no big industry in the manufacturing field. You have to engage people in jobs first,” added Bandhopadhyay.
The analyst also pointed out that there should be conditions attached to welfare schemes, such as job opportunities that help increase spending power and make the state exchequer richer, instead of just depleting the coffers.
There are 18 Assembly constituencies in the Hooghly district, of which TMC bagged 16 seats (including Singur) in the 2021 Assembly elections, while the BJP bagged two. While a certain section of farmers agree that they have benefitted from various farmer and rural welfare schemes of the CM Banerjee government, the other section of farmers believe the BJP can usher in jobs for the youth while bringing in industries.
Also, many farmers are dissatisfied with the incumbent MLA Becharam Manna, who spearheaded the Krishi Jami Rakhsha Committee—an anti-land acquisition movement in 2006—against the atrocities of the erstwhile Left Front government.
The then chairman, Ratan Tata, announced the exit of the Tata Nano car factory from Singur in 2008, symbolising a victory for CM Banerjee as the mascot of the poor and voiceless, which propelled her to power in 2011 after overthrowing a 34-year-old Marxist government.
As a result, she does not want to take chances, and hence is sending out a strong message that she was, is, and will always be the protector of the people of Singur.