About Singur

The following was written in response to a mail on Singur:

We in Kolkata have been closely following the developments in Singur through newspaper reports.
The first thing I agree to is that the Tatas are not to blame at all for this fiasco. They are businessmen and will go wherever they can make profit. Also, I know that the Tatas have the most humane face among all the industrial houses in India. So, no stigma on them.
Now, Mamata. She is a politician. Not a very wise or crafty one. But she has a large following due to her sincerity and many believe that she is not a hypocrite. She is doing all this for votes, as any other politician would do. Once we have blamed the CITU for closing down thousands of factories, making the workers unemployed and ruining them, and ruining West Bengal. Now it is Mamata's turn to 'pay them back in their own coin'. I do not say that it is ethical. But is there anything ethical in today's Indian politics?
I would blame the CPI(M) equally for this mess, since they went into a "secret" deal with the Tatas. No public dealing can be secret unless it concerns the country's security. To this day that secret deal has not been revealed.
A government can acquire land for a public purpose. But gifting away multi-crop agricultural land to a private company for building a factory for their own profit is not acceptable. This is not a 'public purpose'.
Lastly. Industrialisation of West Bengal.

Industrialisation does not come through building factories only. It comes from the cooperation of the employees, from the will to work, from the love of work of the workers. Now, this love for work has been totally destroyed by the CPI(M) in their thirty years' rule. Now the very moment a worker joins a company, he views his employers as exploiters, as his enemies. This way no state, no country can be 'industrialized'. Tell me if I am wrong.