While the CPM’s move aimed at sending a strong message that it was ready to counter the threat posed by the Trinamool, the party could not pull the crowd at its first rally after its defeat in the panchayat polls.

“Low attendance at the CPM’s rally confirmed that the farmers are against the CPM. They could gather only a few people, most of whom were outsiders,” said SKJRC convener, Becharam Manna.

Nearly 300 CPM supporters, with CITU-backed Tata Projects Labour Union, carried out a procession from Sahanapara at Singur to protest against the Trinamool- sponsored attack on project workers.

“The Trinamool is mounting pressure on the Tata Motors to shift the project site. They are creating panic. We held the rally to make it clear that we will not tolerate this,” said CPM district committee member Dibakar Das. The members vowed that they would counter the Trinamool’s terror campaign.

SKJRC supporters held group meetings across Singur and urged locals working at the project site to boycott the work in the interest of farmers. They claimed that more than 70 per cent labourers have responded to their appeal by abstaining from work on the project today.

The Trinamool supporters also blocked railway tracks at Belmuri railway station in the morning for two hours demanding that the 400 acres of land forcibly acquired for the project be returned to the farmers. Several trains including the Rajdhani Express and the Bibhuti Express remained stranded at the Dhaniakhali station in Hooghly for hours.

The activists sat on the tracks along the Howrah-Burdwan route and raised slogans against the government’s reluctance to return the land. RPF personnel rushed to the site and persuaded the demonstrators to withdraw their protest.