WEST BENGAL: MAMATA STARTS EATING AGAIN, BUT POT STILL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CALCUTTA 000578 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS PACOM FOR POL/AD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EAGR PGOV PHUM IN SUBJECT: WEST BENGAL: MAMATA STARTS EATING AGAIN, BUT POT STILL SIMMERING ON AGRICULTURAL LAND FOR INDUSTRY ¶1. (SBU) Summary: At midnight on December 28, Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee ended her 25-day fast to protest construction of a Tata car factory in the rural West Bengal district of Singur. Banerjee's health had been declining and two days earlier she had been put on oxygen. This ends, at least for now, a month long protest by Banjeree, her party and others opposing the Government of West Bengal's (GOWB) acquisition of farm land for the car factory. Civil society leader Medha Patkar, ultra-Left activists and the BJP had also rallied against the state government's support of Tata. However, Chief Minister (CM) Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee remained firm throughout that the Tata project would proceed in Singur as planned. The clash between CM Bhattacharjee and Banerjee reflected the growing tension in West Bengal and throughout India between retaining the traditional Gandhian "swadeshi" ideals of agricultural self-sufficiency and the need to develop industry and a modern economy. End Summary ¶2. (SBU) The evening of December 28 Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, responding to requests from PM Singh, President Kalam, and former PM Vajpayee, ended her hunger strike against Tata's acquisition of land for a car factory in Singur, West Bengal. Banerjee, who was rushed to a nursing home to convalesce, indicated that she had been assured by India's top leaders that, "Singur's farmers would get justice." GOWB leaders appeared relieved that the fast was over. West Bengal CM Bhattacharjee had written four separate letters to Banerjee, offering to discuss all of Banerjee's concerns once she stopped fasting. Banerjee began fasting on Dec 3 in an attempt to force the GOWB to return land to Singur's farmers, many of whom Banerjee said had been unwilling to sell their land or "forcibly uprooted" from their land. (Note: The GOWB had acquired 997.11 acres of land for a small-car manufacturing facility to be constructed Tata Motors in Singur, which is 40 kilometers from Calcutta. The Tata company plans to set up the factory to manufacture their proposed "People's Car," selling for just around 100,000 Rupees (USD $2,200). End Note.) ¶3. (SBU) Banerjee's decision to end her hunger strike caps a difficult month for the reform-minded Bhattacharjee, as he attempts to push West Bengal toward industrialization. A series of strikes, four in all, disrupted life in Calcutta and West Bengal throughout December. The Singur issue was the cause for three of the strikes. First came a 12-hour general strike on December 1 over the Singur issue, which was followed up by a 24-hour statewide strike on December 5 by the Socialist Unity Center of India (SUCI),who were protesting a police crackdown on its supporters protesting against the land acquisition. On December 14 came the `countrywide' industrial strike called by the Left affiliated Center for Indian Trade Unions (CITU). However, the strike was less countrywide and more focused in Leftist bastions of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, and became a general strike in those areas. Closing out the month was the Trinamul Congress' call for a 48-hour general strike on December 21-22 - which was called off at the last minute -- to protest the December 18 death of a teenage girl within Singur's enclosed area. ¶4. (SBU) Compounding the GOWB's troubles over Singur was the involvement of civil society activist Medha Patkar and Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy, who joined the cause of Singur's farmers. The state government prevented Patkar from reaching Singur to speak with the farmers, so Patkar went ahead to organize farmers in areas in West Bengal where the GOWB was proposing to set up Special Economic Zones. Smaller ultra-Left political parties like the CPI-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML) Liberation and the CPI-ML- Kanu Sanyal joined in the fray against the CPM as did the Maoists. On December 2, scores of villagers led by the Maoists fought pitched battles with the police at Singur. Police used teargas shells and baton-charges to break up the demonstration, and nearly 50 people were injured, including some women. On December 4, ultra-Left activists attacked a Tata showroom to protest the new Tata project. They left behind posters calling on the company to abandon its project; demanding, "Leave Bengal and don't uproot our farmers." Prohibitory orders preventing the congregation of more than 5 persons were imposed in Singur. The chambers of commerce are concerned that the controversy and its attendant political action on the street will project a negative image of West Bengal as an investment destination. ¶5. (SBU) Comment: Singur was a test of will for GOWB and even more so for the Chief Minister Bhattacharjee and his vision of CALCUTTA 00000578 002 OF 002 creating greater industry in West Bengal. While the GOWB is breathing a sigh of relief that the media-circus around Banerjee's hunger strike has died down, the sensitive issue of how to encourage industrialization over the historically entrenched agricultural sector will remain. The involvement of nationally-known figures from civil society lent credibility, and more importantly, an alternative, pro-farmer, anti-corporate, anti-globalization voice to the controversy. West Bengal's experience is one that will likely be repeated elsewhere as the India faces the daunting task of modernizing its economy by shifting the many agriculture-dependent workers (approximately 60 percent of Indians are dependent on agriculture) from the highly inefficient agricultural sector, which contributes only approximately 24 percent of the GDP, into other areas of employment. The old Gandhian ideal of village-level self-sufficiency in agriculture, "swadeshi," still remains a strong emotive force in discussions over the future of industry and agriculture. The fact that this battle is being waged in a Communist-run state is ironic as the Left has been actively blocking efforts by the GOI to implement necessary reforms in the agricultural sector. However, if the CM Bhattacharjee and the CPM-governed GOWB can push the interests of a major corporation like Tata over the objection of its traditional rural constituency, an important precedent may have been established, allowing the GOI to implement policies to encourage more industry and commercial development in India. JARDINE