What is the need for a Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) when the Chief Minister has time and again said that no land will be taken at Nandigram?
The committee is an apolitical platform where we stand united. There are so many demands that have not been met so far. The government has given compensation to the next of kin of only the 13 who died on March 14 last year.

What about the families of those who died earlier and later? What about the injured?
We have to be united in our fight for them and hence the need for BUPC. Moreover, we do not trust the Chief Minister. So many times he has backtracked on what he had said earlier.

What is the future of Nandigram? Don’t you want any industries here?
Who said that? Unless you have industries where will our brothers and children get jobs? Earlier, the government acquired 700 acres of land at Jellingham near Nandigram and not a murmur was heard because it was a swamp.

But if you acquire fertile land the people will resist.

For 30 years you have taught people “land is like your mother”, and now you are taking away their land. How can people reconcile the two?

The Chief Minister has said Maoists have infiltrated into the area
He is playing the Maoists card to arrest innocent people. Yesterday, some activists from APDR, a human rights organisation, were arrested here. They were engaged in humanitarian work. Where are the Maoists? The CPM cadres are themselves are Maoists.

The Chief Minister distributed land pattas here among the poor and landless. Your comment?
I won’t go into the eligibility of who received the pattas. The Chief Minister has earmarked this land for Salim Group, and now he has given it to the people of Nandigram.