‘Trinamool mulling legal action against Tata’

Monday, October 20, 2008 at 2:10 am

Condemning the recent open letter written by Tata chairman Ratan Tata in which he had called upon people of West Bengal to support Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government’s efforts for industrialisation, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today (Oct 18)said her party would take legal action. “Our party is looking at what legal action can be taken against this. I condemn this high handedness. The people of Bengal will give a fitting reply,” Banerjee told reporters when asked to comment about the letter.

The open letter, which appeared in some local dailies on Friday, exhorted the people of the state to support the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government in building a prosperous state or see it consumed by destructive politics. “When 12 people, including Tapasi Malik, were killed in and around the project site at Singur, Mr Tata had remained silent. What prompted him now to issue the letter?” she asked.

Saying that Tata had declined West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi’s invitation to attend a meeting at Raj Bhavan to settle the impasse at Singur, she noted neither the government implemented the agreement reached at the meeting, nor did it disclose its agreement with the Tatas for the small car project at Singur.

“The Tatas are giving Rs 450 crore to the Gujarat government at 12 per cent interest, while in West Bengal they were to give Rs 200 crore at 0.1 per cent. Did the government here give the sops to the Tatas without getting anything in return?” the Trinamol chief said. Banerjee said, “Let the CPI(M) be guided by the Tatas. We will be guided by the people. If Mr Tata wants to oppose us, let him join politics and oppose us politically.”

Pointing out that nearly one crore youth from West Bengal were working in other state, she said, “How many of them have been provided jobs by the Tatas here?” She said that while the Tata Motors small car project was coming up in Singur, a section of workers associated with the project had not been given salaries regularly.

“While the Tatas were free to expand his business in West Bengal, he should not treat the youth of the state as bonded labour,” she said. Banerjee claimed that the state government’s industrial policy had failed to provide job security to the youth and said that if her party came to power in the state, one of its priorities would be to ensure job security.

The Trinamool Congress had stood by the Jet Airways employees who were recently laid off by the management, Banerjee said.

(Agencies)

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

‘Trinamool mulling legal action against Tata’

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