That fight in me lives on: Mamata Banerjee on anniversary of 26-day fast against Singur project

Reminding people of her 26day hunger strike which she started on this day 16 years ago to oppose forcible acquisition of farmland in Singur for a car factory West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday claimed she still has that fight in herBanerjee also the Trinamool Congress supremo said in a Twitter post that she would never sit silent if the rights of the people are threatenedThe CM tweeted 16 yrs ago today I began my hunger strike for the farmers of Singur amp rest of the nation It was my moral duty to fight for those who were left helpless due to the greed of the powerful That fight in me lives onSingur in Hooghly district once known for multiple crop farming first came into the limelight after Tata Motors selected the area for its Nano car factory in 2006 The then Left Front government had acquired 99711 acres along National Highway 2 and handed it over to the company for setting up the plantAlso Read Ensure your name on voter list to avoid detention under garb of enforcing NRC Mamata BanerjeeBanerjee started a hunger strike on December 4 of that year demanding the return of 347 acres that was forcibly acquired She ended the fast on December 29 after receiving a letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh The agitation however continued and Tata Motors left Singur in 2008Antiland acquisition movements at Singur and Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district are considered to have catapulted the TMC to power by defeating the 34yearold Left Front regime in 2011After Banerjees tweet on Sunday her political rivals blamed her for failing to get any major industry in the stateSenior BJP leader Rahul Sinha claimed that Banerjees agitation not only did a blunder to the people of Singur but also harmed the economyIf Tatas could have started the factory here the entire picture of the state would have changed Millions of people could have got jobs Now after Tatas left no other industry house has invested here That means the people in Singur not only lost the opportunity to get a factory but also their agricultural lands Sinha told PTIAfter a longdrawn legal battle between the TMC government and the Tatas the farmers got back their land in 2016 However the land could not be used for agricultureCPIM Rajya Sabha MP Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharjee when contacted referred to Banerjees claims that it was not her but the Left party who was responsible behind the Tatas leaving SingurThe other day she blamed the CPIM for Tata Motors leaving Singur Today she is saying this She hardly speaks the truth She is a pathological liar Bhattacharjee saidDuring a rally in Siliguri in October this year Banerjee had said she returned the land to the people that were forcibly acquired while claiming that it was the CPIM that drove Tata Motors away and not herThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever