BJP's Mukul Roy calls Singur agitation a 'mistake'

Senior BJP leader Mukul Roy on Saturday said the Singur movement, which had catapulted Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress to power in West Bengal, was a "mistake", as it neither helped industry in the state nor did any good to the farming community.

Mukul Roy's comments came in the backdrop of the BJP's farmers' wing, the Kisan Morcha, planning a mass convention in Singur, which had hogged the limelight in 2006 and 2007 amid widespread protests in West Bengal against the Left Front government.

The agitation had led the Tata group to shift the Nano manufacturing plant out of the state.

"The Singur movement by Mamata Banerjee was a mistake and completely wrong. It neither served the purpose of industry nor agriculture," the former Trinamool leader said.

"The farmers are now suffering as the land there cannot be used for agricultural purpose. I was then a part of the TMC, but I feel that the movement was wrong," he said.

Reacting to Mr Roy's claim, the TMC leadership termed him as an "opportunist".

"Now, he feels it was wrong, to serve his own political purpose. He is an opportunist, trying to malign the historic anti-land acquisition movement by farmers," TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said.

The stir in Singur, which comes under the Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency, culminated with the end of the 34-year-old Left rule in the state and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, which was at the forefront of the protests, stormed to power.

BJP candidate Locket Chatterjee won the Hoogly Lok Sabha seat in the recent general elections.

-PTI