Calcutta, July 28: Land and land reforms minister Abdul Rezzak Mollah today spoke out against the government’s land use policy and threatened to make things difficult for his party in case he was ignored.

“I have written to (state CPM secretary) Anil Biswas about a certain policy of the government. We will discuss it after they (the party brass) return from the politburo meeting,” Mollah said.

The minister, also a member of the CPM state committee, recently wrote to Biswas protesting against the government’s allowing conversion of agricultural land for commercial use.

Asked if he also had reservations about the West Bengal Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill 2005 ? aimed at unlocking land in closed or sick industries and making his department’s permission mandatory before conversion of land in municipal or panchayat areas ? Mollah said: “No. I’ve given my approval to it.” The bill would be tabled in the Assembly next week.

The minister was reportedly not happy with the government decision to allot 500 acres for an IT complex between Rajarhat and Dum Dum airport without his knowledge last month. Asked whether he would resign from the cabinet if his protest was not heard, Mollah said: “I will not quit before seeing the end of the matter. I will burn myself, but along with me, I will burn others as well. Then we will see who is proved right in the end.

“There are others (ministers) who are scared. They keep quiet or compromise. But I have raised my voice. My protest may or may not be registered, but it’s my duty to make myself heard at the right level.”

Mollah had earlier taken to task the corrupt officials of his department.

In the letter to Biswas, the minister had wanted to discuss certain issues regarding his department’s functioning. “Rezzakda did not say he wanted to quit the ministry. He wanted to discuss certain issues, which I will take up with him soon,” the CPM state secretary said a few days ago.

Mollah was critical of his own government during a conference of the CPM’s South 24-Parganas unit last year. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and other leaders were then forced to explain the government’s position to angry comrades who thought its policies were leaving farmers without land to till.