Singur verdict Didi’s victory: TMC

Shubhadeep Choudhury                                                        

Tribune News Service                                                               

Kolkata, August 31

It was a sea of green (Trinamool Congress colour) on the streets here as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s supporters held processions, hailing the Supreme Court verdict on the Singur land acquisition. “Eta aamader didir jai (It’s our Didi’s victory),” claimed Sarkar, who is among the farmers whose land was acquired by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation for the Tatas to set up a car plant.

For Mamata, the verdict is a vindication of the movement led by her against the acquisition that paved the way for her victory in the 2011 Assembly elections, ending the Left Front’s three-and-a-half decades of rule.

Welcoming the Supreme Court verdict, Mamata said she would return the land to the farmers within the deadline of 12 weeks set by the court. 

Addressing the media here, she said the decision to forcibly acquire farmers’ land was a suicidal step by the then Left Front government. “But they have learnt nothing from the mistake,” she claimed.

Announcing that a memorial would be raised at Singur as a tribute to those killed in the Singur movement, Mamata said she had nothing against the Tatas and they were welcome to invest anywhere in the state, including Singur.

The CPI(M) state secretary, Suryakanta Misra, pointed out that the two Judges who had delivered the Singur judgment “differed on the nature of the legality of the land acquisition.”