Is it even funny?
It all began in 2006.
Ratan Tata announced the dream people's car. Priced at Rs. one lakh the announcement created a lot of buzz in the media, forcing comparators like Hyundai coming out in the open voicing how & why a car at such a lean budget was not that bright an idea. Around May 25th the same year, the problems began...farmers openly protested the "forcible" acquisition of their fertile land...& it simmered silently for 6 months, while the State government took no notice & opposition seeped in as a parasite in the garb of a people benefactor, coming in with an indefinite hunger strike to gather attention in the ill oriented democracy.
Work began in 2007 amidst seething discontent of people (one cant say for sure whether they were the concerned parties or paid hands) & early in the year 2008 the High Court declared that the acquisition was fair & legal. By the beginning of July, a sort of a movement began to take shape...protesters broke into the factory premises, the workers were given security & for the first time, Nano's future in Singur became a serious question. Finally in the beginning of October, the project moved out.
Who lost? Who gained? Who had the last laugh?
I usually log in to rediff to get a hold of daily headlines...somehow, the contrasting title of these 2 posts, obviously separated by about 2 years struck me...
Where one went explaining how Krishi Jami Raksha Committee was trying its best to move Tata Nano plant out of the fertile lands, the other depicts a dramatically different attitude of farmers from the same organisation. The news telecast today, abysmal as it always is, flashed over & over as to how a farmer had committed suicide as an aftermath of loss of hope of livelihood when the plant moved out ... Also on TV, I saw a statement by RPG group saying how WB had been good to them...some face saving exercise for the state it seemed like....At the backdrop of the dandiya strains streaming in through my window & the Durga Ma idol being shown again & again on the TV screen by the same channel, i was forced to wonder...who had it done good to? Was is good for the farmers who are now seen on screen crying at the loss of jobs & livelihood which would have resulted, if not for them, for their children? Was it good for the State, which was on the verge of changing its image as a industry unfriendly state? Was it good for Ms. Banerjee, the quintessential didi who may (though I seriously doubt it) gain political mileage out of it?
Human beings are resilient...they manage...they managed after the Mumbai local blasts, they managed after the Hiroshima bombings, they managed after 9/11, they have been managing among umpteen terrorist threats...they will manage to come out of this. Corporates too will manage to bridge in the losses over time. Politicos will continue to thrive on limited 'critical incident' based public memory. Nothing will happen, no one will stop. As they say, life goes on...
1 comment:
No one has gained anything....all have lost. TML lost its crores of money spent, farmer's lost their land anyways, local youth lost their job prospects, mamta banerjee lost major votebank, west bengal lost a chance to become a industrly firiendly state, Indians lost time to get hold of their dream car Nano
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