Left tries to plough the middle path

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Kolkata: When Jyoti Basu suggested land-for-land compensation formula for farmers in Singur, the former chief minister had probably thought it could help build a larger consensus on farmland acquisition in Bengal.

The 93-year old leader hoped Tirnamool Conngress leader Mamata Banerjee would come around and the formula would also help the Left Front regain confidence of farmers across the state.

But after careful deliberation, the Bengal government rejected the proposal, instead it came up with a white paper on initiatives taken in Singur to rehabilitate displaced farmers. And the government is confident it will work.

“You will find in Singur one day, not today itself, that the livelihood of all the people living there has improved. And with the experience of this people will understand,” says Nirupam Sen, Commerce and Industries Minister.

Banerjee, though, has dismissed the government’s idea and is not changing her stand. “They have forgotten how to deal with common man,” she alleges about the state government.

Banerjee is no mood to compromise and this means the land acquisition controversy in Singur and Nandigram will not be solved soon. With no remission in sight, Basu has appealed to the Opposition to restore calm in the larger interest of development in the state

“By pulling down the boundary wall in Singur or by killing people, what will they achieve? Will it help the cause of development in Bengal? Never,” says Jyoti Basu.

The want of consensus on farmland acquisition is fast becoming the biggest stumbling block for Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's government. Allies too have distanced themselves from the CPIM, and the road ahead is indeed uncharted as the chief minister calls it.