Dressed in a faded blue T-shirt and dhoti, Sanatan Bag, 52, of Singur's Beraberi village recalls the 2006 day clearly. He was about to harvest paddy in his field, when a huge squad of police surrounded the village. A few even lobbed tear gas shells at farmers protesting against land acquisition for the Tata Nano project. A lot has changed in his life since then. A lot has changed in Singur too. Bag, whose land was acquired for the project against his will, says the memories of Tata Nano are slowly fading from Singur. As he continues to sow paddy on his land, which was returned by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, he said elections do not excite him much. Panchayat polls are expected to be held in April. Of the 48 seats in the Singur panchayat samiti's 16 gram panchayats, the TMC controls 47. “They (the Left-Front government) acquired land against people's will. The protests forced Tata to wrap up and go from here. Thankfully, we got our land back. Today it pains me to see that leaders of the party that fought for us are in jail for corruption. Didi (West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee) gives a compensation of Rs 2,000 and 16 kg of rice per person per month to farmers who were unwilling to give up their land for the project, but that doesn't stop us from saying that corruption affects everyone," Bag told The Indian Express. Astu Das, 62, a farmer from Beraberi Purbapara, said, "The Tata episode is old news but corruption definitely bothers us. I hope Didi identifies all the corrupt people in her party and throws them out." It has been nearly 15 years since Tata exited Hooghly district's Singur, nearly 45 km from Kolkata. With no boundary walls, there are zero signs of the erstwhile project site. However, the 997 acres acquired for the project lie largely unused, barring a few portions where farmers have started cultivation. Panchayat polls are expected to be held in April. Of the 48 seats in the Singur panchayat samiti's 16 gram panchayats, the TMC controls 47 seats. TMC’s Dudh Kumar Dhara, an anti-acquisition leader, former Beraberi panchayat pradhan and current Singur panchayat samiti member, said, “Our government ensured that all landowners got their land back. We are now waiting for approval ( of a scheme that will help us ) to turn about 200 acres of land fertile. The TMC spent Rs 2.92 crore on constructing 12 pukka roads around the Tata site. About 3,600 farmers who were unwilling to part with their land for the project receive monthly compensation. We expect to bag all 48 seats. There is no faction feud, no corruption here. The panchayat poll will be peaceful.” Beraberi panchayat pradhan Dipankar Ghosh agrees, “Incidents like the School Service Commission (SSC) scam and recovery of money (from home of former education minister Partha Chatterjee's 'close aide' Arpita Mukherjee) do affect the minds of voters, but the people here are more concerned with local needs. Some votes may go to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has no existence here. Didi’s development work and welfare schemes are too popular to affect the party’s image.” However, some feel the recent cases of corruption being highlighted by the Opposition may spell trouble for the TMC, which is still riding high on the Singur agitation goodwill. “Home guards were recently appointed in Singur based on a 2017 notification. Twenty-three people were called for interviews but those who got the jobs were not the ones who were interviewed. There is corruption at every stage. Even ministers and MLAs are being arrested. In Singur, many youngsters who received training from Tata didn’t get jobs. There is corruption in each ward of the Singur panchayat samiti,” said Devdas Banerjee of Gopalnagar village. Former TMC MLA from Singur Rabindranath Bhattacharya, who joined the BJP after he was refused a ticket in the Assembly elections, is no longer active in politics but feels that the panchayat polls will not be peaceful. The 91-year-old four-time MLA said, “The government has no vision for Singur now. The people of Singur neither got industry nor agriculture. A major portion of land has turned fallow. Everyone here is disheartened. The CPI (M) and TMC both failed in Singur. With the kind of corruption cases that have emerged against them, the TMC should surrender. Imagine an education minister being arrested for a recruitment scam. As far as the BJP is concerned, it cannot stand in Singur till responsibility is given to the right person.” Meanwhile, the TMC is pulling out all stops to put up candidates with a clean image for the panchayat elections. In the Singur panchayat samiti, the TMC resorted to a voting system among party workers in 280 booths in Singur-Haripal blocks to seek suitable candidates. Students' Federation of India (SFI) state secretary Srijan Bhattacharya said, “Corruption by the TMC and disillusionment with the BJP will benefit us. We have worked hard in Singur for years. We expect 30 per cent votes in our favour in the panchayat polls. A section of people here feel that setting up industries would have been better. As far as the panchayat polls are concerned, it is more about extremely local issues.” Talking about some of the local issues, Sheikh Abdul Sukul of Joymolla gram panchayat said, "We need an adequate supply of drinking water. The government should also think about creating jobs for youth since most of them have moved out of Singur, leaving behind aged people."
