Resistance Grows in Singur
In the last month, the resistance
in Singur has grown remarkably. On 9th Oct. our party along with the CPI(ML) ND and CPI(ML) Kanu Sanyal had called for a Bangla Bandh on the Singur issue, which evoked a good response. We conducted a campaign along with these two parties for a week (15-21 October).
When the peasants of the villages of Singur refused to give their lands to the Tatas and accept cheques, the LFG fraudulently acquired these lands by invoking the Land Acquisition Act. However, in the face of the continued resistance of the overwhelming majority of landowning peasants at Singur, the administration has not dared to translate this ‘legal’ usurpation into physical possession and the peasants continue to hold on to their lands. To express solidarity with the fighting peasants, RYA organized a rally in Singur on 4 November and planted red flags on the land in a symbolic act of reclaiming it for the dispossessed people.
Singur today has the look of a police camp, with several police battalions and the Rapid Action Force setting up camps. Plainclothes police informers and armed policepersons can be seen all over the markets and public places. The presence of such a huge police force has created an atmosphere of terror in Singur.
To challenge the terror, AIALA decided to set up a people’s camp – for assistance and political campaign - from 7-11 November in Singur. Day and night AIALA and AISA comrades stayed in Singur, visited homes of affected people to hear their story and encourage them to continue the resistance. On 11 November, AIALA organized a public hearing there where local peasants attended and expressed their grievances. The villagers would not allow the AIALA camp to be dismantled, and took it upon themselves to continue it.
On 20 November, thousands of cadres and supporters of AIALA and Paschimbanga Krishak Samiti thronged Kolkata’s main road in an assembly march, reaching Rani Rashmani Road at Esplanade in Kolkata. The demonstrators were prohibited from going ahead, and there was scuffle between the police and the peasants while they were breaking the cordon. Some student participants were beaten and injured. A thousand peasants were arrested. The demonstrators raised the demand that (i) LF Govt. must stop taking over agricultural land in the name of industrialisation, (ii) LF Govt. should not relax or waive the ceiling of land (i.e. stipulated upper limit) in the name of industrialization, (iii) LF govt. must stop the plan of handing over agricultural retailing to the Ambanis (iv) implementation of 100-days job guarantee for the landless peasant through West Bengal. Job cards must be provided to all the peasants, and those who do not get 100-days job should be provided dole.