Medha and Arundhati out to stall Bengal's development:CPI(M)

Kolkata, Dec 11 (UNI) Alleging that social activists Medha Patkar and Arundhati Roy were trying to stall development of West Bengal, CPI(M) State Secretary Biman Basu today said a section of intellectuals was out to mislead and confuse people over the Singur issue.

" There are some intellecutals, who claim to be having no truck with politics. But they get foreign funds to block development as they are doing now by trying to confuse the people on the Singur issue, " Mr Basu said in an obvious reference to both while addressing a rally of Students Federation of India(SFI), a frontal wing of the CPI(M).

Joining the force against setting up the small car factory on agricultural land, Ms Patkar recently asserted that she would take up the issue at the national level.

Alleging that the Left Front Government was 'falsifying' facts, she said a 'Narmada like situation' was prevailing in Singur as the Government had forcibly acquired from farmers the land for the proposed project.

Booker Prize winner novelist Arundhati Roy was also one of those, who recently demonstrated in front of the CPI(M) Headquarters in Delhi to highlight the Singur issue.

" Without hindering the state's developmental process these intellecutals could have tried to bargain for the compensation and rehabilitation packages for the people, whose land had been taken, " Mr Basu, also a CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and the Left Front Committee Chairman, said.

Rejecting the allegation that acquisition of farm land for industry would make the state deficient in food production, Mr Basu said the state government had initiated steps to increase the production of foodgrains with the help of modern technology, high yielding seeds and high quality manure.

" The state is already producing much more foodgrains with a land area which is far less than many other states. We are self -sufficient in foodgrains and we shall remain so, " he said.

Ridiculing Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee for going ahead with her hunger strike movement, the CPI(M) leader said, " She is behaving like a child without any logic. " Mr Basu said while the Opposition was crying foul over acquisition of farm land at Singur, only 997.11 acre had been taken for the project out of a total area of more than 3,000 acre.

He said as a counter to the Opposition campaign, the farmers, who had voluntarily given away their land for the small car project, would come down to the city tomorrow to speak to the people the 'truth'.

UNI KDG SJC RN1715