Mohammed Salim

Calcutta, Dec. 12: The mention of “unwilling farmers” of Singur in a Railway Board letter has left the CPM bristling.

“The board chairman used a political phrase, ‘unwilling farmers’, in his letter to the state government. This is not expected of a senior government official. He could have mentioned that he did it under the instruction of the railway minister,’’ CPM state secretariat member and party spokesperson Mohammed Salim said today.

Railway Board chairman S.S. Khurana’s letter to the government on December 10 said: “The railways want to set up a world-class coach factory in Singur on the entire land (600 acres) after returning 400 acres to the unwilling farmers/landowners.”

Salim said: “Our stand has been clear on the issue.... The CPM wants industry in Singur and the government should try and ensure that. It offered the land to the railways after the Trinamul chief (Mamata Banerjee) floated the proposal to set up the coach factory. She should now move forward as both sides have agreed in principle to the idea.”

The former MP also objected to Trinamul Congress leader Partha Chatterjee’s allegation. He said yesterday the government’s stand that the land had been converted for industrial use was a “ruse”.

Salim said: “We don’t know why Chatterjee commented on a state-railways correspondence when he does not represent the railways.”

The Railway Board’s letter reflects minister Mamata’s pledge to return 400 acres of the nearly 1,000 acres in Singur to the “unwilling farmers”, but she has so far been silent on the correspondence between the utility and the state government.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, too, has stayed mum on the matter.

The CPM’s reluctance to openly oppose the return of land to the unwilling farmers as it had done earlier could be because of the huge erosion of its support base among farmers — a direct fallout of the Bhattacharjee government’s land acquisition policies for reviving industry in Bengal.

Some CPM leaders hinted that the government’s offer to the railway ministry was aimed at “exposing her (Mamata’s) politics on industry”.

According to the CPM leaders, Mamata offered to set up the coach factory in Singur to project a pro-industry face with an eye on the Assembly elections in 2011. But she wanted to retain her pro-farmer profile too, hence the insistence on returning the 400 acres.

The CPM, though, would like her to set up the coach factory without being able to return the 400 acres to the unwilling farmers, thus ensuring the use of the entire land for industry, which the government and the party wanted, as well as target Mamata’s development plank in the run-up to the elections.

Bloc’s China grouse

Some Forward Bloc delegates at the ongoing state conference of the party have criticised the leadership for “toeing the CPM line on China” as they felt Beijing’s claims on Arunachal Pradesh was “imperialistic”.

Party sources said the delegates felt that the Bloc should have an “independent stand” on the Sino-Indian border dispute and not echo the CPM.

“The recent aggressive Chinese postures in areas close to Ladakh and its anti-India pact with Pakistan as well as its loud objections to Indian leaders and Dalai Lama visiting Arunachal — all these smack of an imperialistic attitude. We criticise it while urging for better Sino-Indian relations,’’ a delegate said later.