Kolkata, Dec 1 (IANS) Congress strongman from Murshidabad Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Saturday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of betraying the expectations of the people of Singur, and said signs were ominous for her party Trinamool Congress.
“The people of Singur gave away their everything for her but now they are literally begging for their daily meals. She (Banerjee) has betrayed the faith people had reposed on her,” said Chowdhury, also the minister of state for railways.
“She is now treating the people of Singur as a threat. Otherwise why she would have so much of security for her meeting?” he asked.
Banerjee Friday held an administrative meeting amid tight security at Hooghly district’s Singur, only a day after some farmers shouted slogans against newly-appointed Minister of State for Agriculture Becharam Manna.
The farmers, who had not accepted the cheques from the erstwhile Left Front government in return for giving their land for a car project, were aggrieved over not receiving the dole of Rs.2,000 and rice at Rs.2 per kg announced by Banerjee, for months.
Chowdhury also said seeds of destruction of Trinamool have been sown and the “party’s end has begun”.
“Intra-party feuds have become a regular feature. Trinamool’s facade may look grand from outside but within it the seeds of destruction have been sowed. This is the beginning of the end of Trinamool,” he said.
“If now the Congress can start a state wide movement against Trinamool, the party will be finished with most of its leaders joining us,” added Chowdhury.
The farmers, who were promised by then opposition leader Banerjee that 400 acres of the acquired land would be returned to them if her Trinamool Congress came to power, had been the pillars of the volatile anti-land acquisition movement in 2007-08 against the proposed small car plant of the Tata Motors.
The intense stir ultimately forced the automobile major to shift the plant to Gujarat.
Eighteen months into Banerjee’s rule, the farmers are yet to get back their land due to a legal row between the Tatas and the state government.
