August 31, 2018
Second anniversary of the historic Singur verdict
Today, August 31, is the second anniversary of the historic Singur verdict. On this day in 2016, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the acquisition of land in Singur for the building of a small car factory was illegal, and so the land acquired had to be returned to the farmers, who were always unwilling to part with their multi-crop plots.
The struggle for the farmers of Singur was one of the biggest milestones in the political career of Mamata Banerjee. Hence, as soon as the verdict was announced, the Trinamool Congress Government began preparations for returning the plots. Various techniques, including chemically altering the nature of the soil, were also started to be implemented to return the land to its fertile self. After all, Singur has always been a multi-crop land.
On September 14, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee handed over land deeds to the farmers at a grand ceremony in Singur. She symbolically initiated the re-cropping of the land by sprinkling maize seeds. Two years down the line, Singur has almost returned to its former self – acres upon acres of golden harvests of paddy, potato, pulses, maize, sesame, mustard and several more crops.
The Singur Movement is now internationally renowned, and it was Mamata Banerjee who single-handedly put it on the world map. Her struggle and eventual victory is a landmark in the agrarian history of the world, not just of India.
On this special occasion, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted to express her solidarity with farmers of the entire country:
“On August 31, 2016, the SC, in a historic judgment declared that the land acquisition made by erstwhile Left Govt in Singur was illegal. On 2nd anniversary of the historic judgment, my best wishes to all farmers of the country. We are always committed to their struggle & cause”.
