Singur saga: A tale of missed opportunities for WB

 

 

ON THE eve of Durga Puja in October 2008, industrialist RatanTata announced thatTata Motors would withdraw from the nearly completed Nano car plant in Singur, attributing the decision to Mamata Banerjee’s anti-land acquisition movement, which he claimed had derailed what was meant to be a “groundbreaking project” -- the world’s cheapest car. The withdrawal marked the culmination of a bitter political conflict that significantly reshaped West Bengal’s industrial and political landscape, and even 16 years later, the legacy of Singur is viewed as more than just a tale of missed opportunities. In 2006, Tata Motors announced the Nano project, a revolutionary car priced at just Rs 1 lakh, to make vehicle ownership affordable for millions of Indian families. Singur, a rural area near Kolkata known for its multicrop fertile agricultural land, was chosen as the manufacturing site by the Left Front Government and Tata Motors.

 

The then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who had called for rapid industrialisation to boost the State’s economy, enthusiastically backed the project, hoping it would turnWest Bengal into an industrial hub and end the flight of capital from the State. However, the decision to establish the plant at Singur in Hooghly district faced fierce opposition from a group of farmers who refused to give up their land, sparking a bitter conflict that would ultimately derail the project.

 

Mamata Banerjee, then the Opposition leader eager to revive her political fortunes after a setback in the 2006 Assembly polls, quickly rallied behind the farmers, demanding the return of 400 acres of land from those who had not willingly sold it. She led fierce protests against what she called the “forcible acquisition” of land. Despite attempts by the then Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who played the role of the mediator between the Left Front Government and Banerjee, to resolve the impasse, the deadlock persisted, ultimately leading to the Tatas exiting Singur. Ratan Tata, who dubbed the decision to withdraw fromSingur as“painful,” had blamed Banerjee for it and at a press conference famously said, “I think Ms Banerjee has pulled the trigger,” referring to her relentless opposition.