20 Years After Nano Row, Suvendu Adhikari Hopes For A Vehicle Factory In Singur

Twenty years ago, Singur changed the course of Bengal's politics. After the 2006 Assembly elections, the Left Front government of then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee set out to bring industry to the Hooghly farmland. It handed the project to Tata Motors, which planned to build the Nano, the country's most affordable car, at a plant there. The factory never rolled out a car. Instead, it set off a farmers' agitation that helped Mamata Banerjee drive the last nail into the coffin of Left Front rule in 2011.

The Tata group moved the project to Gujarat then, where Narendra Modi, as the chief minister of a BJP government, cited it as proof of his pro-business policies, a big step in his rise to national prominence within half a decade after that.

Back in Bengal, on Thursday, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who heads the state's first BJP government, signalled that industry may finally return to Singur. Adhikari said in New Town, after unveiling the state's new industrial policy, that his government had held preliminary talks with heavy commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland about the land once given to Tata.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and others at the policy launch in Kolkata.
Photo: NDTV.

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"We would do something on the land in Singur which was given to Tata for the Nano factory. We had some words with Ashok Leyland. But we don't want to be limited to signing MoUs only," he said.

Mamata Banerjee, then the Trinamool Congress chief, had alleged in 2006 that the acquired land was highly fertile, multi-crop farmland. Tata moved out within two years.

Suvendu Adhikari, who was a prominent face of Mamata Banerjee's party in agitations in Nandigram alongside Singur, said on Thursday that farmers would not face violence over land acquisition. "Farmers will not be fired upon for the sake of land acquisition for industry," he said.

Mamata Banerjee on a hunger strike in 2006, protesting against the Tata Motors project. Photo: NDTV File

The state has nearly 2 crore educated unemployed people, and 70 lakh migrant workers have left for other states for want of jobs, Adhikari said.

Under the new policy, the state will offer special incentives for using eco-friendly energy. It has also announced a separate package for large industries. Units that employ women will get additional benefits, and the state will offer grants to build hostels for working women. Manufacturing units have been promised financial assistance linked to State Goods and Services Tax (SGST).

"During the tenure of the previous government, the industrial belts of Chittaranjan and Haldia were completely devastated. Syndicates and extortion rackets will no longer be tolerated in Bengal. Every promise made in our election manifesto will be fulfilled," Adhikari said.

READ | "Want Tatas To Come Back To Singur": Bengal BJP Chief

Industries Minister Tapas Roy had earlier said the government had specific plans for Singur.

Before the last Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally in Singur. Banerjee, then chief minister, responded with a rally nearby. The Trinamool Congress candidate lost the Singur seat. Since the change of government, industry has been watching Singur closely.

After coming to power in the 2011 elections, Mamata Banerjee moved to return the land to farmers who had been unwilling to part with it. She visited Singur and sowed seeds in the fields to mark the return.

Speaking to NDTV on the sidelines of the event, Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta said the government was working towards building a large land bank. "Land has been a very touchy issue over here in Bengal. There are lands available for the short term. The chief minister has already spelt it out," he said.

In the longer term, Dasgupta said, existing laws would have to be reviewed. "We will need to review the entire ceiling system of small holdings so that agriculture can be improved, but at the same time industry, when necessary, and infrastructure projects can be done," he said.