We are always with farmers in their movements, says CM

Kolkata: Recollecting the Supreme Court's landmark judgement of declaring acquisition of land by the erstwhile Left Front government at Singur as "unconstitutional and void", Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday extended her greetings to all farmers in the country stating that she is always with them in their fight and movements.

The Chief Minister tweeted: "The Supreme Court on August 31 in 2016 had given the historical judgment stating that the land acquisition by the erstwhile Left Front government was illegal. I extend my greetings to all farmers in the country on its third anniversary. We are always with the farmers in their movements."

This comes when Banerjee along with other senior leaders of Trinamool Congress will stand by the farmers during a movement called by them to protest against their deprivation by the Centre in the first week of September.

The movement in Singur launched by Mamata Banerjee was the beginning of the end of the Left Rule in Bengal. It was the Singur movement that gave birth to the slogan of Trinamool Congress - "Maa Mati Manush".

The Left Front government had decided to acquire 997 acres of agricultural land to set up an automobile factory of Tata Motors. The farmers strongly resisted the acquisition of land. The rape and murder of Tapasi Mallick, the daughter of a local farmer, had added fuel to the fire.

Banerjee held a dharna in front of Singur Police Station demanding arrest of the criminals. She went for a hunger strike for 26 days at Singur and again 14 days at Dorina crossing when the Left Front government had not kept their words despite engaging into an agreement in front of the then Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi in this connection.

Before the 2011 elections, Banerjee had promised that if voted to power she would return the land to the unwilling farmers.

It was her government that had not only once again turned the land to cultivable condition but its assistance to farmers to carry out agriculture activities there had turned Singur to a global model for agriculture. The judgment was then given by the division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice Arun Mishra.

In the past nine years of Trinamool Congress government, a series of steps have been taken up that led to an increase in a farmer's income to Rs 2.91 lakh in 2017-18 compared to that of Rs 91,000 in 2010-11.