First, people are not yet convinced about the very raison d”etre of the anti- Rajarhat agitation. Most people understand that because of a lack of campaign issues, TMC leader Mamata Banerjee is disinterring old, settled local issues in the hope that she will find a few skeletons. She would like to keep the anti CPI(M) pot boiling at a searing temperature right up to the 2011 assembly polls. Her style of opposition politics is short term success oriented, its rhetoric is frenzied and screaming without much concession to truth or facts. The idea is to raise and unleash mass passions, without any thought for long term consequences, so long as it hurts the CPI(M). This style is paying her party rich dividends as common people are disillusioned with the latter part of the 34 year long Left rule. It is by no means certain that such success will be maintained when the TMC replaces the Left as a ruling party or in coalition.

The process of land acquisition at Rajarhat, close to Kolkata in the North 24 Parganas district, began during the nineties, for a new township. Most small farming plots and some wetlands were acquired by local development authorities and real estate entrepreneurs linked with Left party bosses at very low rates, by today’s standards. However, compensation terms in those days by prevailing standards were not very low. As infrastructure developed later, and the township took shape, naturally the price of land rose several times within a short period.

It is a fact that many displaced old residents of the area feel embittered over this, feeling cheated out of their livelihood and homes. It is equally true that in some pockets force was used to make people move. Most of the 150,000 people who moved out did not receive the kind of generous package that their luckier counterparts at Singur got, years later. Naturally it was not difficult for the TMC to feel that here was another expanse of troubled waters where there could be profitable fishing.

Initially, the ruling Left front did not do very much for these people. But now under the pressure of the TMC agitation, Housing Minister Gautam Deb has announced virtually a fresh compensation a rehab package even job facilities. To that extent the TMC agitation has been positive.

But not for much else. So far, over 8600-odd acres have been acquired and a township has come up. Big and small IT firms, over a score of Central government offices and outstation companies have set up shops. Infrastructure is gradually being built, though problems of transport, water supply and power remain. Power supply has been delayed because of a TMC agitation in some pockets.

Still, even as civil construction of the township, road building etc continues, over 20,000 employees report daily for work, transforming the contours of the local agricultural -based economy earlier. A healthy service sector, always more productive and remunerative than agriculture for workers, is coming up.

Incidentally, local TMC MLA Tanmay Mandal and Congress (I) leaders like Manas Bhuyan and earlier Mr. Saugata Ray (now a TMC Minister in the UPA-2 Ministry) were kept informed and involved, in the development of Rajarhat. Efforts of the state government drew praise from Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who sanctioned the second financial hub in the country for Rajarhat.

The TMC leadership saw red. Short of campaign ideas for some time, and with the CPI(M) launching a vigorous pre-poll campaign for stability and development through a series of rallies, Ms Banerjee sensed the possibility of a momentum shift. So the disaffected farmers and poor Rajarhat became a handy political fodder for her. Even as the raucous TMC campaign got under way, with its usual component of gheraos and sit down demos at Rajarhat a la Singur earlier and Ms Banerjee ominously threatening to “see the end of Rajarhat”, the LF succeeded in making it clear that they would not repeat their ill-advised ”Gandhigiri” of the Singur type.

Unlike Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, never an exponent of the rough and tumble politics which Ms Banerjee excels in, Mr. Deb is a street fighter all the way. He has matched Ms Banerjee and hordes of TMC leaders speech for speech, abuse for abuse, gibe for gibe. What is more, he has picked holes in TMC-released statistics in government –run ads and his briefings. In the verbal war of words, he has fought the TMC to a standstill, keeping it engaged on the Rajarhat issue.

And he has been effective. With their penchant for exaggeration , TMC leaders claimed that 25,000 acres were taken over so far displacing 10,00,000 people. The actual figures are respective, 8600 and 1,50,000 (census figures). Following the issuance of these corrections, TMC leaders have been forced to avoid their claims.

The lesson is simple: the left front, consistent with its fightback (ghure daran) programme, will not let the TMC enjoy the kind of space it yielded earlier at Singur.

Reports suggest that there is some confusion among TMC ranks as they meet political resistance. For instance, the protest programme was scaled down from a gherao to a sit-in, the venue shifted from Rajarhat to Salt Lake. And Ms Banerjee did not address the protest rally on December 9, much to the disappointment of anti-left agitators! The reason? No one spoke officially, but insiders say that instead of over 100,000 supporters and displaced persons expected, intelligence reports said only 30,000 or so turned up. And the mood was not sufficiently ugly for her taste.

There has been no separate of lobby of intellectuals supporting the agitation at Rajarhat. as yet. Most people are fed up of protest rallies and traffic disruptions in urban areas whether in support or against the TMC or the LF. Besides, IT biggies like Infosys and Wipro are moving into the new town, promising over 30,000 new jobs in the short term, provided some roads and other work is completed by local authorities.

Already branded “disruptive“ over the Singur episode, TMC leaders have emphasized they would not oppose IT companies from working at Rajarhat—a concession they did not allow the Tatas for the Nano car project. Besides at Sankrail and other areas, Ms Banerjee is getting a taste of her own medicine: construction on railways factories proposed for Sankrail and other areas have been held up as local people now want written confirmation from the Railways about their job and rehab protection, announced verbally by Ms Banerjee! She says she would not set up factories in areas where locals do not want it, but has not appeared convincing. She has not said anything about keeping her promise of jobs for the land-losers. It remains to be seen how she steers the anti Rajarhat agitation in the weeks ahead. (IPA Service)