Mamata at the Rajarhat rally on Saturday. Beside her are stacked files containing “complaints” from aggrieved land-losers in the area. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Calcutta, Nov. 13: Mamata Banerjee today pledged to stop the Left Front government’s “forcible acquisition” of land from farmers in Rajarhat and threatened to take the legal route.

“Nearly 25,000 acres were forcibly acquired from farmers to set up industries in Rajarhat. But tell me, how many industries have come up here?” the Trinamul Congress chief said at a rally in Rajarhat this afternoon after participating in a padayatra there.

“Land was grabbed from poor farmers and given away to promoters close to the CPM,” Mamata alleged.

She said she would ensure “court cases are filed to give justice” to the land-losers. “It has to be seen how land was given through quotas without public notification.”

Mamata said party MP Kalyan Bandopadhyay, a lawyer, would be “asked to see what needs to be done legally in this matter”. The Trinamul chief said the state government should give back 10 per cent of the acquired land to the land-losers after development, a proposal she wants included in the Centre’s amended land acquisition bill.

The Trinamul chief said more and more Rajarhat farmers were “complaining about the forcible acquisition of land here”. To drive home her point, Mamata stacked 23 files containing “farmers’ complaints against the government” on the dais.

Putting one file after another on a chair, she told the gathering: “You all must be wondering why I am doing this and what these files contain? I have got complaints from 2.5 lakh people in Rajarhat that their plots were forcibly taken by the government. Some of them are yet to be paid their dues. These files contain their complaints. Land purchased at a nominal price of Rs 6,000 from farmers was sold to promoters at Rs 40 lakh. I will display these files at an exhibition in Dharmatala.’’

The Trinamul chief asked party MLA Jyotipriya Mallick and Calcutta mayor Sovan Chatterjee to “show the files to the people’’. The duo waved the files at the crowd, which began laughing.

Mollah at the CPM rally in Rajarhat. (Sanat Kumar Sinha)

Mamata also dipped into her customary quiver of couplets and brought out gems to pierce the CPM with. “Shakale banduk bikele prem, taar naam CPM (Guns in the morning, affection in the evening, thy name is CPM),” she said. As the sound of claps rang out, Mamata added: “Shakale naarbe kouto, bikele korbe feast/shakale korbe khoon, raate Marxist (Begging in the morning, feast in the afternoon/Murder in the morning, Marxist at night).’’

“Nor do I have any problem in giving land to NGOs in Rajarhat. My protest is against providing land to promoters who deprive poor farmers.”

She tore into state housing minister Gautam Deb for “wielding his clout” while distributing land in Rajarhat. Without naming Deb, Mamata said: “One minister says he had asked Hidco to distribute land. Who is he to decide on land allotment? How could his wife get land in the Rajarhat area?”

She added: “I have come to know that Hidco has the last say in Rajarhat. Haridas Hidco (Hidco is a nobody). I am saying panchayats have the last say here.”

A little before Mamata began her speech, state land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah organised a padayatra to counter that of Mamata’s. Mollah’s 4km walk at Bhangar, 5km from Mamata’s gathering at Chinar Park, evoked a lukewarm response.