Singur tangle: Buddha begs to differ with CPM

KOLKATA: The story of industrialisation in West Bengal has just got a twist. CPM veteran and politburo member, Jyoti Basu on Friday morning put it on record that the ongoing industrialisation process in the state had been postponed for three months. But in the evening came a clarification from none other than the chief minister himself, virtually contradicting Mr Basu’s statements.

“Only the land acquisition process at Nandigram has been put on hold, nothing else. The government is even preparing to hand over land to the Jindals for their project at Salboni in West Midnapore,” chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said.

Mr Bhattacharjee was speaking to reporters at Writers’ Buildings soon after the state secretariat meeting. CPM state secretary Biman Bose, however, chose to avoid both the extremes.

He held that both the industrialisation process and the party’s efforts to convince people about the government’s industrialisation drive would go on simultaneously. “The party has not yet decided to put on hold the entire process of industrialisation,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Mr Basu who had come to attend the CPM state secretariat meeting at Alimuddin Street, said: “During the three-month period, our party will try to convince people of West Bengal about the desirability of developing industry.

We will convince them that our government will not set up industry at the cost of agriculture and farmers’ interests. We have started the process, but it could have been started earlier.” The controversial West Bengal Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2006, would not hinder the government’s industrialisation drive, he claimed.

The CPM state secretariat, among other decisions, has favoured extending the party’s pro-industry campaign till March. It had, earlier, decided to go for a state-wide campaign pitching for the government’s industrialisation drive for two months, ending February 28. But the secretariat on Friday decided to extend it by another month.