KOLKATA: Fourteen years after Tata Motors’ exit from Singur, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday chose to travel back in time, asserting she did not drive industry out of the state. The protests spearheaded by her along with the Socialist Unity Centre of India, the rights groups, Medha Patkar and Arundhati Roy et al swearing by the tribal rights had brought the then-ruling Left Front headed by the CPI-M to its knees in 2008. The Nano, the supposedly cheapest and the smallest car of the moment, was the talking point. Slid off the buyers’ market, Nano has disappeared, as Didi’s Trinamool Congress lives on in Singur to fight poll battles.
“Some people are saying nonsense… I did not drive Tata Motors out. It was the CPI-M. They acquired land forcibly and I returned it to the unwilling owners,” said Mamata. “We do not discriminate against any industrialist,’’ Mamata tried to clear the air. She was addressing a Bijoya Sammilani, a post-Durga Puja event, in Siliguri.
Mamata’s remarks are significantly ahead of the rural polls due next year. Political observers found her statement an effort to build up her investment-friendly image as opposition parties are portraying Bengal as an industry-starved state.
Mamata’s allegation drew flak from the opposition. “No one can imagine the extent of lies she can tell publicly. The people of Bengal know who drove the Tatas out of Bengal. People know who ruined the future of Bengal’s youth,’’ said CPI-M’s central committee member Sujan Chakrabarty.
State Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said Mamata spent government money to dismantle Tata Motors’ structure in Singur. “She claims to have returned the land and promised cultivation, but the area is lying barren,’’ he said.
BJP MP Locket Chatterjee, under whose constituency Singur is located, said, “Whenever I visited Singur, the villagers showed me their training certificates issued by the Tatas. It was Mamata Banerjee
who led the movement against the company.”