The former Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, never listened to party cadres “at the grassroots level,” said the expelled former State Committee member of the CPI(M), Lakshman Seth.
Blaming the former Chief Minister for the spiralling violence in Nandigram in East Medinipur district in 2007, Mr Seth said Mr Bhattacharjee’s “arrogance” has defeated the party.
“The decision to give 40,000 acres of land to Salem Group in Nandigram was a collective decision by the Government. It was not the decision of Lakshman Seth of Haldia Petrochemical Authority (HDA), as we had no legal authority to acquire land. We were just told to identify the land through written communication…but Mr Bhattacharjee asked the locals to “tear off” the notification issued by HDA to acquire (the land). Can you show one notice of land acquisition (in Nandigram) by HDA, signed by me?” Mr Seth asked.
“Wrong signal”Mr Bhattacharjee’s message gave a “wrong signal” and the Trinamool Congress with other forces like Maoists and SUCI took advantage of it, said Mr Seth. “He (Mr Bhattacharjee) ignored my reports to the party day in and day out. We were getting beaten up, our cadres had to leave their villages, while our own government was a mute spectator...it was complete collapse of police administration (in 2007 in East Medinipur), which was under Mr Bhattacharjee,” said Mr Seth.
“But I was made a scapegoat by him (Mr Bhattacharjee). Neither it was my decision to sign an agreement with Salem Group nor I was acquiring land…is not that indiscipline (on the part of former Chief Minister)?” asked Mr Seth in an interview to The Hindu .
Comparing Mr Bhattacharjee’s governance with that of another former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, Mr Seth said that the two Chief Ministers had completely “separate” style of functioning.
“I received letter saying that mega-chemical hub will be constructed, but only after the agreement was signed. There was no consultation with party workers at our level…Jyoti Basu would never had done that. He used to listen to us, at times collectively, some times individually. So, we acquired 100 villages for the development of Haldia during his time. Mr Basu had acknowledged (Seth’s contribution) publicly and in this case (2007 acquisition), we could not acquire land in 27 villages,” Mr Seth said.
He said he has no “immediate plans” to join any party or start a independent forum.
