Singur is at the heart of the Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency, politically, even if not geographically. The centre of the popular resistance against the Left Front government decision to acquire land in the area for a Tata Motors plant, Singur was instrumental in propping up Trinamool Congress and catapulting its leader Mamata Banerjee to power.
But Singur is now a changed region. People want jobs and development, not sit on uncultivable land. The CPM failed them first, by initiating forcible acquisition of their land. The Trinamool returned the land, but the people were where they were earlier: back to square one, waiting endlessly for agriculture to pick up or industry to create jobs.
The BJP tapped into this grievance and sense of betrayal, and Locket Chatterjee was the beneficiary wresting the seat from Ratna De of Trinamool.
People insist that they were not against industrialisation, but that they only opposed the horrific manner in which the Left government forced them to part with fertile agricultural land. When Didi came to power, the upcoming Tata Nano plant was razed to the ground and the land returned to the owners. But the soil with the concrete rubble of the plant had become uncultivable. No help or finance from the government is forthcoming to remove the rubble-filled topsoil and revive cultivation. The way the Nano plant was razed also scared away industrialists from investing in Singur, or indeed anywhere in West Bengal. Sixteen years have passed and people in the region still stare at an uncertain prospect.
Farm distress, triggered by uncultivable land and poor procurement rates, coupled with rising unemployment figures have endured in Singur despite people choosing different parties to represent them.
Even the Trinamool sensed the people’s dissatisfaction with the agriculture vs industry debate and the state government announced an agro- industrial park in Singur on land acquired for the Tata Nano car project.
Indeed, the CPM is no longer defensive about the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee push for industrialisation that alienated the party’s traditional supporters.
The livelihood issues in Hugli-Chuchura, a densely populated urban cluster (district headquarters) that is part of Greater Kolkata, and other Assembly segments are different, but they all revolve around the trust factor. Mamata Banerjee tapped into her grassroots connect with the people with a long list of promises and the Trinamool swept all the seven Assembly segments in 2021.
Unemployment is an issue across the constituency, especially in the semi-urban areas where many sections have neither land nor jobs. Absence of road connectivity and efficient public transport is a concern for those who do have jobs. And, drinking water availability and quality remain a perennial problem.
With Ratna De having entered the Assembly from Pandua in Hooghly district, the Trinamool opted for Rachna Banerjee, who like Locket Chatterjee is an actor. The two have acted together and are known to be friends, giving the political rivalry an added edge.
Locket Chatterjee is harping on corruption in the state government and promising Central government largesse if Narendra Modi returns as Prime Minister. Banerjee, the host of the popular talk show Didi No.1, talks up the doles and welfare schemes of the Mamata government. But there are people’s concerns too about everyday issues that she knows she needs to address at the ground level.
CPM’s Monodeep Ghosh is training guns on both the governments, accusing both the Trinamool and the BJP of having failed the people. He goes house to house with puffed rice and batasha in hand, to beat the heat - sometimes sharing lunch with the residents. But it would take a lot of doing to build back trust in the CPM.
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