Singur semantics

It could be argued that West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had no option but to immediately assign to the CBI the investigation into the death of a girl at Tata Motors8217; Singur site. The air at Singur is so charged with conspiracy theories that taking the inquiry out of the state police8217;s remit is a prudent course of action. But to really clear the pall of misinformation at Singur, Bhattacharjee will need more than an inquiry into possible murder. He will have to draw his party, the CPM, into a policy exercise to imbue coherence into its assortment of positions on development works and public-private participation.

The Bengal government8217;s process of acquisition of land as part of an effort to bring industrial projects to the state is, as we have consistently argued, unexceptionable. Yet, if confusion remains, it does not largely come from the motley group of activists and political leaders who have transformed agitation at the site into a sort of pilgrimage. Confusion is nurtured in most part by the CPM itself. The party and its government have been caught in amazing semantics to make a case for a car factory at Singur. The project, they say, is a coup for the state, it will generate jobs and revenue. But it is not a special economic zone. Medha Patkar, who visits Singur in a gentler avatar, is right-hearted: she just has not understood that Singur is so different from other projects that provoke displacement. In sum, by contesting peripheral specifics, the CPM remains in denial that the Tata Motors project is in essence similar to many other projects, agitations against which the party continues to support.

The CPM is of course entitled to all the political rights conferred in a democracy. Its right to oppose 8212; SEZs in Haryana and large dams in Madhya Pradesh 8212; is ensured. But as a party in government in two important states of India and as a key pressure group on the government at the Centre, it must know its responsibility to act on consistent policy, and not political expedience. To allow itself the benefits of private investment and economic growth in Singur and recommend denial elsewhere will certainly keep the CPM caught in argumentative somersaults.