You should see things in perspective. This is the period (after 2004) when the Left parties had maximum gain. You referred to the recent panchayat election. In this three-tier election we have won a majority of panchayats and have 54 per cent share of the total votes. This shows that we are strong and deep-rooted in West Bengal. That does not preclude the fact that we have suffered a setback in 4, 5 districts. We have taken a serious note of this and will examine this reversal. We have done the preliminarily assessment.
You mentioned Nandigram. Nandigram is just one part of the bigger issue. We have decided to step up the drive for industrialisation in West Bengal. We have done a lot in rural restructuring in the last three decades by way of land reforms and regular panchayat elections.
After the Left government came to power we have held, so far, seven panchayat elections. After doing a lot for rural agriculture, to develop further we need to develop industries. The issue which has come up, which Nandigram symbolises is the issue of land and land acquisition.
In our country the method of acquisition is done according to the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. That is the only way the state government can acquire land. In West Bengal because of intense and extensive agriculture development, very little land is available for industries. It is in this background, that the issue of land acquition for industrialisation has come up.
We recognise the issue after the experience of Nandigram where we had the proposal for development but it was not executed. Within one month of the proposal, we announced that we will not take land but people were already upset. They got inflamed by the idea that their land will be taken away. We lost in those areas where there was an apprehension that such a land acquisition may take place. We are going to seriously address that question. We have asked our party leadership in West Bengal to rework the strategy of industrialisation taking into account the issue of land.
Image: A woman describes a police operation in Nandigram, some 130 km south of Kolkata, March 2007. Massive protests were seen across West Bengal against the killing of villagers in police firing over the purchase of land to make way for industrial parks. Photograph: Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images
Also see: Violence Rocks Nandigram
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