Buddha's last-ditch effort to buy peace...
West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee cried peace and only peace on Friday, hours after Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata gave vent to his anxiety over the small car project at Singur.
Bhattacharjee opened his mouth for the first time since Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee stepped up her Singur agitation — seemingly make a last-ditch effort to broker peace with the Opposition over their threat to stall the Tata Motors factory's functioning.
Earlier Mamata said she was willing to make only "marginal adjustments" to the demand that 400 acres must be returned to unwilling farmers in Singur. She said she was willing to hold talks with Tata Motors only if an "in principle" decision was taken that these farmers would get back their land. "Suppose the Tatas say they need one acre to set up an office premises, it will be okay if they return 399 acres."
Reacting to Ratan Tata's remarks, the chief minister refused to comment on the Tata Motors' chairman's outburst. All he would say was, "I haven't seen the TV programme. I shall react, if I must, only when I have read tomorrow's newspapers."
The CM said, "We don't want any untoward or violent incident to take place (at Singur). It is my appeal that their agitation should be peaceful. We want peace and no one should indulge in violence. They (Trinamool Congress leaders who met the chief minister on Wednesday) promised me that their agitation would be a peaceful one. I hope they will keep their word." He added, "There won't be any problem if the agitation is done in a democratic manner." Bhattacharjee said he was "still hopeful" that the Nano would be manufactured in West Bengal, because "the people of the state want it."
According to observers, Mamata's apparent climbdown was only to counter CPM's campaign that Trinamool was anti-industry. Now with her party winning panchayat, school and college elections in Singur riding on the demand for return of land to farmers, there was little chance that she would relent. "It's very clear what the people want from the results of the panchayat elections," she said.
Since the beginning of the Singur agitation, Mamata had been careful not to alienate urban voters by being branded anti-industry, and had kept the door for negotiations open by agreeing to settle for 400 acres, leaving 600 acres to Tata Motors to construct the factory, observers said. Significantly now she was saying "all of 1,000 acres had been acquired forcibly," indicating to the possibility of scaling up the demand if the government did not compromise on 400 acres.
Bhattacharjee opened his mouth for the first time since Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee stepped up her Singur agitation — seemingly make a last-ditch effort to broker peace with the Opposition over their threat to stall the Tata Motors factory's functioning.
Earlier Mamata said she was willing to make only "marginal adjustments" to the demand that 400 acres must be returned to unwilling farmers in Singur. She said she was willing to hold talks with Tata Motors only if an "in principle" decision was taken that these farmers would get back their land. "Suppose the Tatas say they need one acre to set up an office premises, it will be okay if they return 399 acres."
Reacting to Ratan Tata's remarks, the chief minister refused to comment on the Tata Motors' chairman's outburst. All he would say was, "I haven't seen the TV programme. I shall react, if I must, only when I have read tomorrow's newspapers."
The CM said, "We don't want any untoward or violent incident to take place (at Singur). It is my appeal that their agitation should be peaceful. We want peace and no one should indulge in violence. They (Trinamool Congress leaders who met the chief minister on Wednesday) promised me that their agitation would be a peaceful one. I hope they will keep their word." He added, "There won't be any problem if the agitation is done in a democratic manner." Bhattacharjee said he was "still hopeful" that the Nano would be manufactured in West Bengal, because "the people of the state want it."
According to observers, Mamata's apparent climbdown was only to counter CPM's campaign that Trinamool was anti-industry. Now with her party winning panchayat, school and college elections in Singur riding on the demand for return of land to farmers, there was little chance that she would relent. "It's very clear what the people want from the results of the panchayat elections," she said.
Since the beginning of the Singur agitation, Mamata had been careful not to alienate urban voters by being branded anti-industry, and had kept the door for negotiations open by agreeing to settle for 400 acres, leaving 600 acres to Tata Motors to construct the factory, observers said. Significantly now she was saying "all of 1,000 acres had been acquired forcibly," indicating to the possibility of scaling up the demand if the government did not compromise on 400 acres.
Labels: Business
posted by Senorita at
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