Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Surya Kanta Mishra on Sunday said the change of guard at the Tata group was an opportunity for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to break the deadlock over the automobile manufacturing plant in Singur.
“She [Ms. Banerjee] was opposed to Ratan Tata. But now that Cyrus Mistry has taken charge, she can speak to him and resolve the matter,” Dr. Mishra said at a public rally at Polba in Hooghly district. A large automobile hub had come up at Sanand in Gujarat where the Tata Motors small car project was relocated, Dr. Mishra said adding that the original factory site at Singur remained a “graveyard”.
Questioning the industrial policy of the Trinamool Congress government, which has declared that it would not acquire land for industry, Dr. Mishra said, “They have made it a free-for-all for real estate agents.”
“Everything has been left to brokers and real estate agents. In the 19 months that this government has been in power, a chit fund company has taken possession of thousands of acres. All of this has gone on unchecked because the company has bought this government,” Dr. Mishra alleged.
He said that not just the Opposition, but now Trinamool ministers were also coming out in the open and saying that this was a “government of extortionists.” He was alluding to the remarks of Singur MLA and Minister Rabindranath Bhattacharya, who had admitted that extortion was going on under the auspices of the party.
Dr. Mishra was also critical of the “politicisation of the administration and the police.” “There is a rewards and punishment approach in the police now. Efficient police officials are punished and those who fail to perform their duties are rewarded.”
Dr. Mishra said that initially only supporters of the Left parties were under attack, but now the Congress was saying its workers were becoming victims of political violence. “Today, not a single day goes by when an incident of an intraparty clash of the Trinamool is not reported,” he said.
