Police Brutalities in Singur
Grassroots Media Initiative
From: Sukla Sen <sukl...@yahoo.com>
Date: Dec 3, 2006 12:09 AM
Haji Habib Building, Naigaon Cross Road, Dadar(E), Mumbai
E mail - mumba...@gmail.com
Press Release
-
Bullets fired at protesting farmers of Singur
-
Opposition to Land Acquisition by the Tatas strengthens.
-
NAPM condemns the state's high handedness
-
Brutality reaches new heights as police gherao and torch the houses of the protesters
-
Rampant sexual abuse of women continues
-
Medha Patkar and other activists arrested
Today around noon the protesting farmers at Singur faced bullet firing in which three persons including a child and a woman received bullets and tens received injuries. Lately there has been confrontation between the farmers on one side and the Police and the CPM party cadre. Farmers of the area have been facing high handedness of the Left Front Government, which is openly supporting and facilitating the objectionable Land Acquisition for Car plant of Tata Company. Unleashing terror, CPM cadre were seen today helping Police forces in identifying houses of protesting farmers.
During yesterday's Bengal Bandh called by 19 organizations and political parties received a supportive response all over but was marked by clashes between the MLAs and party cadre of Trinamool Congress and CPM. The breaking of the furniture at Assembly was result of this clash between the MLAs of two parties and the protesting farmers or organizations had no role or support to it. Today though Smt.Mamata Baneerji has apologized for yesterday's incident but the issue is of thousands of farmers whose fertile land is being conquered by the state government acting out as an imperialist agent.
As you may be aware of, Justice M. Sengupta (Retd.), Smt.Mahaswetadevi, Shri. Deepankar Bhattacharya and Medha Patkar were invited for a Public Hearing held on October 27th at Bajemelia(Singur). The Report will be made public at the earliest and a Team of NAPM activist including Sachin Choudhary, Samar Dass, Sukendu Bhattacharya, Sukendu Da and Medha Patkar went to the area.
The local residents and activist have vowed to continue with the struggle until their demands of withdrawing the Police Force from the area, across table negotiations and withdrawal of Tata's if residents do not agree with the project, are met.
We appeal to all the progressive citizens of this country to oppose this blatant oppression and vulgar land acquisition by writing protest letters to Shri Prakash Karat (CPM), A.B Bardhan & D. Raja(CPI), Abani Roy(RSP), D Viswas(Forward Bloc) and Smt. Sonia Gandhi, sonia...@sansad.nic.in
In Solidarity,
Medha Patkar, Indrajit Mukherjee, Sachin Choudhary, Sukendu Bhattacharya, Samar Dass, Ulka Mahajan, Simpreet Singh, Mukta Srivastava
Recirculated by:
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............................................................
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dsenter
Police atrocities on farmers have to be condemned and the Singur
episode has tainted the image of leftfront regime in West Bengal more
than ever. But, I am writing this to remind the protestors that any
regime and its activities have to be judged in a relativistic
perspective i.e. relative to the socio-political and economic
situation. I fear the opposition parties, the leftists and other
leftish activists who are opposing the government move to acquire land
judge the regime or the government on absolute terms. How could a
self-proclaimed marxist government forcefully acquire land or
mercilessly beat up villagers who came to resist the police?--run the
usual complain. I would urge them to compare the leftfront government
actions with other state governments. Please place yourselves in the
shoes of the ruling regime. I know many of you will hate to be in power
or occupy any position of authority. I hold your ideological
commitments in high esteem but in a situation where all state
governments are hankering after investments from big investors, such as
Tata, how could a government not let the Tatas build their dream
car-plant on the land that Tatas themselves have chosen. The industry
minister of the West Bengal government has said more than once that
Tatas were shown many other places but they have stuck to Singur, which
apparently they have chosen using satellite pictures. The rivers and
relative elevation of the land and its proximity to Calcutta has made
singur a suitable site for a factory. The designated opposition party
in the assembly Trinamul congress has not been acting very responsibly.
They are extremely intransigent with their position that farmers cannot
give up their land. Their supporters have obstructed the entry of
officials who came to deliver section 4 notifications to the households
whose land lie in the project area.
I know that there are many unregistered sharecroppers in the area but
none of the opposition parties have ever attempted to register those
sharecroppers lest they loose their supporters among their powerful
supporters. So, why only blame the CPIM? Moreover, mamata and her party
colleagues have repeatedly rejected offers from the district magistrate
and state government to discuss compensation Mamata banerjee and
congress leaders say they are not anti-industry but they are yet to
prove their credentials. Since the left-front government had come to
power the congress leaders at the Center have consistently tried to
deprive West Bengal. The state leaders have remained passive to please
their bosses in delhi. Every five years they have hoped that they will
win the elections and do all industrial reforms to establish their
stronghold in Bengal politics. They have utterly failed. If Mamata
wants industries she also has to go tell her ardent supporters in
singur that in the interest of the economy they have to part with their
land in lieu of proper compensation.
Mamata Banerjee has recently questioned the UPA government on keeping
mum regarding the Singur issue. But she won't do that. Why is she
quiet regarding Kalinga nagar or Gujrat, just because she gets party
funds from the marwaris and gujratis in Calcutta? These are the
questions that has to be raised. Social activist Medha Patkar has
shared podium with miss Banerjee and her party but she has been to
singur only once before the day she was taken out of Beraberi by the
police. Yes, outsiders may come and raise the consciousness of the
peasants but how could she take sides based on what she found from one
or two visits and without paying any heed to the historical trajectory
of political formations in Singur and West Bengal? Medha may have found
out that there are many factories in the area. The most notable among
them is the Himadri chemicals which spreads noxious gases. Nobody made
any noise when that chemical factory came up in multicrop agricultural
land. Himadri chemicals had bought it from local farmers and middle
men, hence there was no hue and cry and no medha or mamata. I have been
visiting Singur for last four months almost every alternate day of the
week to speak with the farmers. Many of them have sold land in the past
or plan to convert them into non-agricultural ones. They also buy land
from their poorer neighbors to sell that off at a higher price later.
The movement would have made sense if it had asked for proper
compensation and fought for rehabilitation package for registered and
unregistered bargadars.
Contrary to this, the movement led primarily by Trinamul and other
formations (medha and mahashweta included) has tried to challenge the
legitimacy of the state action on the grounds of declining food
security, and faulty development paradigm. Those issues can be
addressed at scale of the Central government and policies. A state
government, Marxist or not,cannot help. The triumvirate- mamata, medha
and mahasweta have all criticized the regime as not being true to
Marxist principles and tradition of looking after the interests of the
poor. But how do they explain the turning of huge acres agriculture
land in the coastal counties into industrial towns in communist China
or declining agricultural output of communist Vietnam, once an
anti-imperialist icon. One should not want a china or Vietnam out of
West Bengal because we cherish freedom and condemn the police
atrocities. But investments, right amount of compensation and
ancillarization will definitely bring more prosperity to Bengal than an
agrarian economy where too many people huddle to get access to land and
a declining amount of ground water. I can assure this is not from a
party cadre although it may sound like that. I know many supporters of
medha Mahasweta and mamata think like me but they are unable to speak
the truth
Grassroots Media Initiative wrote:
> From: Sukla Sen <sukl...@yahoo.com>
> Date: Dec 3, 2006 12:09 AM
>
>
>
> NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE'S MOVEMENTS
> *Haji Habib Building, Naigaon Cross Road, Dadar(E), Mumbai
> E mail - mumba...@gmail.com <http://compose/?To=mumba...@gmail.com>
> *
> *Press Release*
>
> *2nd December, 2006*
>
> - Bullets fired at protesting farmers of Singur
> - Opposition to Land Acquisition by the Tatas strengthens.
> - NAPM condemns the state's high handedness
>
> *Update*
>
> - Brutality reaches new heights as police gherao and torch the houses
> of the protesters
> - Rampant sexual abuse of women continues
> - Medha Patkar and other activists arrested
> masters i.eTata's. This pathological obsession of the rulers
> (surprisingly in this case
> Left Parties) with the capitalist paradigm of development is in
> contradiction to the socialist ideals of our Constitution and ruining the
> lives of hard working, industrious, self-employed masses.
>
> *In more recent updates,* the protesters and their families are being
> gheraoed and their homes set aflame. Moreover, the police are sexually
> abusing the women and subjecting them to great human indignity. Medha Patkar
> and other activists and journalists who had gone to assess the situation and
> express solidarity with the people have been arrested.
>
>
> The local residents and activist have vowed to continue with the struggle
> until their demands of withdrawing the Police Force from the area, across
> table negotiations and withdrawal of Tata's if residents do not agree with
> the project, are met.
>
> We appeal to all the progressive citizens of this country to *oppose this
> blatant oppression and vulgar land acquisition by writing protest letters to
> Shri Prakash Karat (CPM), A.B Bardhan & D. Raja(CPI), Abani Roy(RSP), D
> Viswas(Forward Bloc) and Smt. Sonia Gandhi,
> *sonia...@sansad.nic.in<http://compose/?To=sonia...@sansad.nic.in&Subj=%22Sir,%20this%20promising%20invention%20needs%20your%20support.%20%22>
>
>
> In Solidarity,
>
> Medha Patkar, Indrajit Mukherjee, Sachin Choudhary, Sukendu
> Bhattacharya, Samar Dass, Ulka Mahajan, Simpreet Singh, Mukta
> Srivastava
>
>
>
> Recirculated by:
> --
> ===========================
> GRASSROOTS MEDIA INITIATIVE
> Above Rail Reservation, 134, Street 17, Zakir Nagar
> Opp. New Friends Colony A-Block
> Okhla, New Delhi - 110 025 India
> Tel: 011-26935452, 9868466401 Fax: +91-11-26936366
> E-mail: grassrootsme...@gmail.com, grassro...@lycos.com
> Web: www.grassrootsglobal.net/gmi, www.grassrootsglobal.net/cndc
>
> Contact: Hasrat Arjjumend, Secretary & Director
> ............................................................
> GMI promotes application of media & communication in development of poor and
> eradication of poverty and hunger through capacity building, research and
> mainstreaming of voices of voiceless.
>
> ------=_Part_28606_10644187.1165177872361
> Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
> X-Google-AttachSize: 6681
>
> <div><br><span class="gmail_quote">From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Sukla Sen</b> <<a href="mailto:sukl...@yahoo.com">sukl...@yahoo.com</a>><br>Date: Dec 3, 2006 12:09 AM<br></span></div>
> <div><span class="gmail_quote"> </span></div>
> <div><br> </div>
> <div align="center"><font face="arial,sans-serif" color="#660000" size="4">NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE'S MOVEMENTS</font><br><em>Haji Habib Building, Naigaon Cross Road, Dadar(E), Mumbai<br>E mail - <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://compose/?To=mumba...@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">
> mumba...@gmail.com</a> <br></em><br><strong><font size="4">Press Release</font></strong><br> </div>
> <div align="left"><strong>2nd December, 2006</strong> </div>
> <ul>
> <li>
> <div align="left"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(204,204,204)" color="#000000">Bullets fired at protesting farmers of Singur</font></div>
> <li>
> <div align="left"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(204,204,204)" color="#000000">Opposition to Land Acquisition by the Tatas strengthens. </font></div>
> <li>
> <div align="left"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(204,204,204)" color="#000000">NAPM condemns the state's high handedness</font></div></li></li></li></ul>
> <div align="left"><strong><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(204,204,204)" color="#000000">Update</font></strong></div>
> <ul>
> <li>
> <div align="left"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(204,204,204)" color="#000000">Brutality reaches new heights as police gherao and torch the houses of the protesters</font></div>
> <li>
> <div align="left"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(204,204,204)" color="#000000">Rampant sexual abuse of women continues</font></div>
> <li>
> <div align="left"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(204,204,204)" color="#000000">Medha Patkar and other activists arrested<br><br></font>Today around noon the protesting farmers at Singur faced bullet firing in which three persons including a child and a woman received bullets and tens received injuries. Lately there has been confrontation between the farmers on one side and the Police and the CPM party cadre. Farmers of the area have been facing high handedness of the Left Front Government, which is openly supporting and facilitating the objectionable Land Acquisition for Car plant of Tata Company. Unleashing terror, CPM cadre were seen today helping Police forces in identifying houses of protesting farmers.
> <br><br> During yesterday's Bengal Bandh called by 19 organizations and political parties received a supportive response all over but was marked by clashes between the MLAs and party cadre of Trinamool Congress and CPM. The breaking of the furniture at Assembly was result of this clash between the MLAs of two parties and the protesting farmers or organizations had no role or support to it. Today though
> Smt.Mamata Baneerji has apologized for yesterday's incident but the issue is of thousands of farmers whose fertile land is being conquered by the state government acting out as an imperialist agent.<br>As you may be aware of, Justice M. Sengupta (Retd.),
> Smt.Mahaswetadevi, Shri. Deepankar Bhattacharya and Medha Patkar were invited for a Public Hearing held on October 27th at Bajemelia(Singur). The Report will be made public at the earliest and a Team of NAPM activist including Sachin Choudhary, Samar Dass, Sukendu Bhattacharya, Sukendu Da and Medha Patkar went to the area.
> </div></li></li></li></ul>
> <div align="left">Earlier the police's and CPM cadre's oppression had led to death of one youth and injuring of several women and children. Turning Singur into a battlefield, age old farming and fisher folk communities are being evicted using the British days Land Acquisition Act(1894) to serve their masters
> i.e Tata's. This pathological obsession of the rulers (surprisingly in this case Left Parties) with the capitalist paradigm of development is in contradiction to the socialist ideals of our Constitution and ruining the lives of hard working, industrious, self-employed masses.
> <br> </div>
> <div align="left"><font color="#cc0000"><strong>In more recent updates,</strong></font> the protesters and their families are being gheraoed and their homes set aflame. Moreover, the police are sexually abusing the women and subjecting them to great human indignity. Medha Patkar and other activists and journalists who had gone to assess the situation and express solidarity with the people have been arrested.
> </div>
> <div align="left"> </div>
> <div align="left"><br>The local residents and activist have vowed to continue with the struggle until their demands of withdrawing the Police Force from the area, across table negotiations and withdrawal of Tata's if residents do not agree with the project, are met.
> <br><br>We appeal to all the progressive citizens of this country to <font color="#cc0000"><strong>oppose this blatant oppression and vulgar land acquisition by writing protest letters to Shri Prakash Karat (CPM), A.B Bardhan & D. Raja(CPI), Abani Roy(RSP), D Viswas(Forward Bloc) and Smt. Sonia Gandhi,
> </strong><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://compose/?To=sonia...@sansad.nic.in&Subj=%22Sir,%20this%20promising%20invention%20needs%20your%20support.%20%22" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">
> sonia...@sansad.nic.in</a> <br></font><br><br>In Solidarity,<br><br>Medha Patkar, Indrajit Mukherjee, Sachin Choudhary, Sukendu Bhattacharya, Samar Dass, Ulka Mahajan, Simpreet Singh, Mukta Srivastava
> <br> </div>
> <p>
> <p></p><br clear="all">Recirculated by:<br>-- <br>===========================<br>GRASSROOTS MEDIA INITIATIVE<br>Above Rail Reservation, 134, Street 17, Zakir Nagar<br>Opp. New Friends Colony A-Block<br>Okhla, New Delhi - 110 025 India
> <br>Tel: 011-26935452, 9868466401 Fax: +91-11-26936366<br>E-mail: <a href="mailto:grassrootsme...@gmail.com">grassrootsme...@gmail.com</a>, <a href="mailto:grassro...@lycos.com">grassro...@lycos.com
> </a><br>Web: <a href="http://www.grassrootsglobal.net/gmi">www.grassrootsglobal.net/gmi</a>, <a href="http://www.grassrootsglobal.net/cndc">www.grassrootsglobal.net/cndc</a><br><br>Contact: Hasrat Arjjumend, Secretary & Director
> <br>............................................................<br>GMI promotes application of media & communication in development of poor and eradication of poverty and hunger through capacity building, research and mainstreaming of voices of voiceless.
> </p>
>
> ------=_Part_28606_10644187.1165177872361--
dsenter
An earnest request to M-trio--Medha, Mamata and Mahasweta: Please visit
Bidadi near Bangalore. The Karnataka government is acquiring 10,000
acres of multi-crop land for real estate development, which will not
generate any jobs for the farmers, not even jobs of maid servants,
because it is going to be hi-tech city. Moreover the government is not
paying adequate compensation. Please help us compare the developments
in West Bengal with similar trends at other places. In the light of
these developments the M-trio and their ultraleft friends must
reconsider their stand on Singur.