West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today convened a meeting of various outfits,political and otherwise,and intellectuals,who had been part of her 21-party conglomerate during her Singur movement days,in order to devise a strategy to salvage the Singur cause. The meeting comes a day after the Calcutta High Court struck down the legislation,Singur Land and Rehabilitation Act 2011,passed in the West Bengal assembly,describing it unconstitutional and invalid. The move by Mamata was described in political circles as an welcome effort to build public opinion to support the cause of Singur land return to unwilling farmers even as the state fights a legal battle with the Tatas. Mamata,however,did not make any statement after the meeting. The participants,who included among others Siddiqullah Chowdhury,Samir Patitunda,Prasun Bhattacharya and others,unanimously resolved that they remained committed to the cause of land return in Singur to unwilling farmers and also to protect the interests of sharecroppers,marginal farmers,and all those related to the land. The Trinamool Congress supremo also met members of Singur Jami Krishi Raksha Committee and other Trinamool supporters. The participants today agreed to meet again after about 10 days. They will go to Singur and a mass movement will be started there. The movement will not be against anyone but for the peasants who lost their land. Theatre personality Bibhas Chakraborty said,I have suggested to the chief minister that vis-a-vis the legal fight,we must also try to build a mass movement so that a public opinion is evolved in favour of the land losers. State president,SUCI,Soumen Basu said they had also placed a demand to raise the assistance of Rs 1,000 for the Singur farmers. We have not quoted any figure but we understand that an assistance of Rs 1000 is not enough and it should be raised to a reasonable amount, he said.
