Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh along with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banjeree met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday and apprised them of how farmers faced a tough time in Singur because of anti-farmer policies of the West Bengal government.
"I met the PM and President on behalf of SP and TC along with Banerjee and apprised them of how farmers in Singur and common man suffered due to failure of the state government and Tatas to honour an agreement brokered by West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi on return of farmers' land," Singh said.
Banerjee and her party were not anti-industry but only wanted return cultivable land to farmers, as per the terms of the agreement signed between her and the state government.
Accusing the Tatas of ditching people of West Bengal, especially Singur, over their failure to honour the terms of the agreement and leaving the state for Gujarat, Singh wondered whether Ratan Tata wants to be industrialist or a politician.
"Ratan Tata spoke about Good M (Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi) and Bad M (Mamata Banerjee). On what basis did he make this comment. Mamata Banerjee only wanted the surplus land of farmers to be given back to them, while we all know how 'good' Modi is.
"We want Tata's reply by this evening whether he wants to remain an industrialist or a politician," Singh said.
The SP general secretary, who had last month shared the dais with Mamata when she was agitating in Singur against Tatas Nano Car project, had said at that time that 'they (Tatas) have acquired 1,000 acres. Trinamool Congress has only asked them to return the excess land to farmers'.
Singh said both President and prime minister gave them a patient hearing and promised to take action in the matter within the purview of Constitution.
Pointing out that the Trinamool Congress leader has always fought for the rights of farmers, the SP leader said she will also agitate in Noida for the rights of farmers there who have lost their lands because of special economic zone projects.
"I have met and told Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and Finance Minister P Chidambaram that the government should review its SEZ policy, as this SEZ is more of a social exploitation zone, which is affecting the farmers," he said.
Banerjee, who was also present alongside Singh told reporters that they have 'requested the President and the prime minister to take action under Article 355 in West Bengal over the failure of the state government to honour the agreement which was brokered by Governor."
Attacking the Left Front government in West Bengal, Banerjee said, "the Left parties had withdrawn support to the United Progressive Alliance government over the nuclear deal while they themselves failed to honour salient features of the agreement they signed with us over returning excess land to farmers in Singur."
She wondered why the state government did not think of investing in infrastructure during its three decade long rule in the state.
Banerjee also criticised Tatas who she said 'have money to publicise against us and there seems to be some politics behind their exit from the state'.
She further emphasised that she only wanted a fair deal for the farmers.
