New chapter on Singur movement: Class VIII history textbook focuses on TMC role, omits key players from Oppn

The chapter, titled “Jami Jal Jangal: Jiban Jibikar Adhikar O Ganaandolan” (Land, water, forests: The right to life, livelihood and people’s movements) focuses almost entirely on Mamata’s role in Singur. It says, “It was Mamata Banerjee who started the Singur movement by sowing paddy seeds.”

While lesser known TMC leaders like Becharam Manna, Rabindranath Bhattacharya and Tapan Dasgupta have found mention, two key participants have been left out. The Leftist SUCI, which allied with TMC ahead of the 2011 Assembly elections but fell out of favour later, and the Naxalite CPI(ML) (Liberation), which was also part of the Singur movement led by Krishji Jami Raksha Committee (KJRC).

“It wasn’t Mamata who started the movement. It began as a spontaneous resistance by local farmers and the TMC joined much later. KJRC was formed on June 4, whereas Mamata Banerjee sowed paddy on July 18,” said Sajal Adhikary, state committee member of CPI(ML)(Liberation), who spent months in Singur in 2006.

SUCI leader Santosh Bhattacharya, who was living in Singur during the movement, told The Indian Express, “Singur was a historic movement because in essence, it was a spontaneous movement of the people. It was not a party that began the movement.”

Avik Majumder, chairman of the expert committee that decides the syllabus for state board textbooks, told The Indian Express that no party had been mentioned by name and argued that history was in essence a “narrative” of events.