CPI-M rules out apology for Singur land acquisition

Kolkata, Aug 31 (PTI) Ruling out an apology for "forcible"land acquisition at Singur for Tata Motor plant, CPI(M) statesecretary Surya Kanta Mishra today said the land was acquiredas per the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. "The land was back then acquired by following the LandAcquisition Act of 1894," Mishra told a press conference hereafter the verdict by Supreme Court on Singur today. "When the TMC government came to power in 2011 we had saidthat you have got the people’s mandate and if you want toreturn the land there is no problem. But it should be returnedby following the constitutional norms and laws," he said. "We were never opposed to returning the land… Now thequestion will be how the land will be returned and in whatcondition. What will happen to those who had taken thecompensation and returned the land ? Mishra said. When asked whether his party would tender a apologyand feel that the process of land acquisition at Singur waswrong, Mihsra said,"This is not an issue of tendering anapology. We have said it clearly earlier that the land cannotbe acquired against the wishes of the farmer." In a setback to CPI(M)-led Left Front, Supreme Courttoday set aside the controversial acquisition of 997.11 acresin Singur by the erstwhile Left Front government in West Bengalto set up Tata Motors’ ambitious Nano car manufacturing plant.The land was acquired by the then government. The land acquisition became a political flashpoint in thestate from 2006 for the next few years. The anti-landacquisition protests became one of the prinicpal reasons behindthe fall of the 34-year-old Left regime in 2011. PTI PNT KKDIP