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Tatas will have to go back: Mamata

By Indrani Roy Mitra in Singur
February 11, 2007 14:35 IST

"I will enter Singur with a sea of people on February 15," cried Mamata Banerjee at a rally near Singur on Saturday.

Dismissing allegations that Trinamool Congress supporters had earlier attacked the journalist and cameraman of a Bengali news channel, Banerjee said, "Those are the doings of some outsiders who want to malign our image."

Criticising the CPI-M's 'unjust attempt' to acquire farm lands, the leader said, "Terror tactics and arm-twisting won't help the CPI-M and Buddhadev Bhattacharya for long. Fascism and dictatorship had never succeeded in the past and neither would they in future. Tatas will have to surrender to people's wish. They must go back from Singur."

The onus, said Banerjee, 'rests on the people of Bengal to resist illegal acquisition of farm lands'. She stressed that the government must return the lands to those farmers who sold their farm lands unwillingly.

The Trinamool Congress leader said her party was ready for discussion provided the CPI-M lifted Section 144 and returned the 'illegally acquired lands' to their lawful owners.

"It's time," she said, "the chief minister realised that force and coercion can never be the ways of politics. We are living in democracy and, therefore, should not give in to unlawful ways."

Throwing a blatant challenge at the Left Front government, the Trinamool Congress leader said, "Once Section 144 is lifted, we will march to Singur and dismantle the wall built by the Tatas."

Earlier, Trinamool Congress had cried foul over the Left Front government's imposition of Section 144 in Singur reasoning that 'it was the government's deliberate attempt to stifle the voice of conscience'.

Indrani Roy Mitra in Singur

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