Addressing the concluding ceremony of the 22nd Industrial Trade Fair at Milan Mela ground, Chatterjee said: “On the issue of all round development there should be no conflict, no hesitation and no competition.” He said that land acquisition is not unique to Bengal and it has happened across the country.
“There is a propaganda that there is no scope of industrialisation in West Bengal following the withdrawal of the Nano project,” he said while sharing the dais with the state Industry Minister Nirupam Sen. “I am totally out of the political scenario and will remain out of it. But development should not be a matter of confrontation.”
The Speaker also put his weight behind the organising of fairs at Kolkata Maidan. “There is a lot of talks going on about pollution. Of the 365 days in a year, if fairs are held for 100 days there should be no opposition to it.”
Insisting that he is not criticising the judiciary, he also questioned why books should not be sold at the Maidan.
According to Somnath, the policy of confrontation and fractured policies have made the parliamentary democracy weak. “I got the opportunity to enter Parliament in 1971, but looking back in 2008 I feel sad that the respect once the parliamentarians received is missing now,” he added.