Mamata Banerjee takes on Congress over Raiganj AIIMS

ITAHAR: Four years after the Tatas shifted out of Singur in 2008, another high-profile hospital project in Bengal is caught in the politics of one-upmanship. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Thursday that her government won’t forcibly acquire land for the much-touted All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) project at Raigunj.
At a meeting at Itahar on Thursday, Mamata said: “We have no objection with setting up an AIIMS-like hospital in Raiganj, but we won’t allow acquisition of land holding farmers at gunpoint.Don’t forget I fought against this system of forceful land acquisition and led hunger strikes during agitation in Singur.”
Mamata made this announcement at a time when the Union Cabinet had cleared the setting up of two AIIMS hospitals — one at Uttar Pradesh and the other in West Bengal. The Bengal project is likely to fall through if the state government doesn’t provide the land. The centrally funded project was planned for North Dinajpur, the home turf of Congress MP Deepa Das Munshi.
Instead, the chief minister promised two multi-facility hospitals for North Dinajpur of which one has been planned for Raigunj. “We have sanctioned two multi-speciality hospitals for this district, one of which would come up at Raiganj,” the CM said. The announcement came with a warning though. “Don’t get into cheap politics over the issue,” Mamata said without naming any political party or leaders. However, it was quite apparent that her target was none other than Congress MP Deepa Das Munshi, who had led rallies in Raigunj blocks against the state government’s delay in providing land for the AIIMS project. In fact, the Congress MP knocked on the doors of Congress president Sonia Gandhi on this matter.
Responding to the CM’s accusing her of doing cheap politics, Deepa blamed the CM for doing dirty politics to queer the pitch of the AIIMS project when land was available in the area. “The CM is playing politics on the issue. There is no question of forcible land acquisition when farmers at Panishala, the proposed project venue, are willing to sell their land against money. Let the state government send its officials and survey the area. After all, the AIIMS tag matters and there is no point holding it back when the proposal has been passed in the Union Cabinet in 2009. And more, the state government doesn’t have to spend anything for the central project other than providing the land. The CM has promised two hospitals, but she can’t deny the people of Raigunj a hospital of AIIMS status,” the Congress MP said.
Das Munshi isn’t giving up. She will be taking to the streets against the Mamata Banerjee government from September 19. “We will launch a stir from September 19 against the step-motherly attitude of the state government. We will reach out to the people of Raigunj, collect money for buying the 100-acre land for the proposed AIIMs project and buy out the land from farmers. We will then hand over the land to the Centre to start the project,” the Congress MP said.