The Communist Party of India (CPI) has admitted that the erstwhile Left Front government in West Bengal had made a "mistake" in the land acquisition process in Singur for the proposed Tata Motors project.
"Though the government had taken over the land with the good intention of bringing in a big industry which would have provided employment and revenue to the state, the method adopted was not correct," CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy told PTI.
"They (the Left government) should have convinced the peasants. Those who did not want (to give land), should have been given alternative lands and more compensation (should have been paid) and all that. Unfortunately, the government there made a mistake," he said.
Reddy was responding to queries on the Supreme Court verdict which, on Wednesday, quashed the entire land acquisition process carried out by the erstwhile Left Front government in West Bengal.
He said since the intention of the then West Bengal government to bring in the industry was good, there was no need now to offer an apology to the affected farmers.
"We should certainly take lessons. This type of a mistake should not be committed. When a private entity is to start an industry, the government can subsidise and if necessary, it should be asked to provide more money," he said.
The CPI leader said the Singur episode had created a "negative impression" of the Left Front's attitude towards farmers and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee took "full advantage" of it politically.
"Instead of asking for the land to be given back to the farmers, she should have asked for better things such as land-for-land, more compensation, employment for those displaced and compensation for agricultural labourers. But instead, she went for a political fight," Reddy said.
"She was successful in creating a negative impression about the Left but on the whole, Bengal lost (a big industry). I believe that even in the coming period, there will be a negative impact (on industrial investment)," he added.
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