WEST BENGAL: MAMATA STARTS EATING AGAIN, BUT POT STILL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CALCUTTA 000578

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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

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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