 | | Bhattacharjee at the state conference on Wednesday |
Calcutta, Feb. 16: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose today came under fire at the CPM state conference over the land policy pursued by the Left government, with a section of delegates saying the "unnecessary haste" in acquiring land for industry was the main reason behind the Assembly poll debacle, sources said. "Some delegates from Hooghly (where Singur is located) today slammed Buddhababu and Bimanda for our government's land policy. They said both the leaders had adamantly and unnecessarily pursued the policy of acquiring land by force to set up private industry. The delegates said this faulty policy was the main reason why a big chunk of the poor moved away from the Left, leading to the electoral defeat,'' a CPM leader said. A delegate from Burdwan said much more than organisational shortcomings, it was this "administrative wrongdoing" that led to the defeat. "These days, many of our leaders at Alimuddin Street are blaming middle-level leaders and cadres for our defeat, accusing them of making the organisation weak and inactive. The top leaders are also saying that a section of the electorate turned away from our party because of the high-handedness of these mid-level leaders," the Burdwan leader said without naming former chief minister Bhattacharjee, CPM state secretary Bose and former industries minister Nirupam Sen, who is said to have been the architect of the Left government's industrialisation drive. "But we feel, being from the grassroots, that much more than organisational deficiencies, it was the administrative wrongdoings on matters related to land that led to our collapse,'' he added. A CPM leader from East Midnapore asked the leadership to clarify whether the notification for acquiring land in Nandigram was issued at the behest of then Haldia Development Authority chairman Lakshman Seth or on the prodding of the party higher-ups. Asked about the criticism faced by the top guns, CPM state secretariat member Shyamal Chakraborty said: "The functioning of our government and the running of our organisation are two points that were discussed… criticised by the delegates. If a disease is suppressed, how will treatment proceed? All this is being done to rectify the party so that it can move in the right direction.'' Chakraborty admitted that the land policy had been implemented in haste. "For long, we have been saying that Bengal must be industrialised to move forward. There's nothing new in it. But everything was done hastily. That wasn't proper. That's why we had to face problems.'' He said the Left government did not face hurdles in acquiring land in West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia or Durgapur but ran into resistance in Singur and Nandigram as farmers in these two places had not been consulted or taken into confidence. "We should have spoken to the farmers and taken their opinion. But everything was done hastily. So, we must listen and bear whatever criticism is being made at our state conference." The issue of "Trinamul anarchy" in several districts was also discussed during the meeting at Promode Dasgupta Bhavan, the state CPM headquarters in Calcutta. Delegates from West and East Midnapore, Purulia, North and South 24-Parganas, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar said it had become "difficult'' to hold on to the organisational base. | 
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