On December 4, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee celebrated the 16-year anniversary of her hunger strike that led to the exodus of Tata Motors from the state. In a tweet, she wrote, “16 years ago today, I began my hunger strike for the farmers of Singur & the rest of the nation. It was my moral duty to fight for those who were left helpless due to the greed of the powerful. That fight in me lives on. I’ll never let the rights of my people be threatened!”
16 yrs ago today, I began my hunger strike for the farmers of Singur & rest of the nation.
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 4, 2022
It was my moral duty to fight for those who were left helpless due to the greed of the powerful.
That fight in me lives on. I’ll never let the rights of my people be threatened!
The exit of Tata Motors from West Bengal
Between 2006 and 2008, Tata Motors attempted to start a manufacturing plant in West Bengal. In 2006, land acquisition for a Tata Motors plant began in Bengal. The land was acquired by the state government, and in 2007, Tata Motors began the ceremonial construction of the plant. However, controversy over the land acquisition process caused problems with the completion of the project.
At that time, CM Mamata Banerjee was the leader of the opposition. Tata was planning to start a manufacturing plant for Tata Nano in Singur, West Bengal. Banerjee was the leader of the opposition in the state. During the process of acquisition of land in previous years, massive protests erupted against the Tata manufacturing plant and the state government. It was alleged that the state government had forcefully acquired multi-crop land from landowners at an inadequate price.
There was a massive protest against land acquisition for the Tata Manufacturing plant. This protest escalated into violence and bloodshed when police forces under the Left Front government opened fire at the protesters. Mamata Banerjee, as the leader of the opposition, led the charge against the same.
She became the frontrunner of the protests and started a movement called “Save Farmland”. Soon, high-profile professional protesters like Medha Patkar, Arundhati Roy and Anuradha Talwar joined the protests to drive Tata Motors away from the state. Following the uproar, Tata Motors finally decided to cancel the project in West Bengal in September 2008 and started the process for the same in Gujarat’s Sanand. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at that time.
“Welcome to Gujarat”: Said the then CM Narendra Modi
As the story goes, when Ratan Tata announced in a press conference in Kolkata that Tata Group was leaving West Bengal, then-CM Modi sent an SMS to Ratan Tata and said, “Welcome to Gujarat” in the message.
Following the message, then-CM Modi not only assured Tata Motors of land to build a massive, state-of-the-art manufacturing factory at Sanand, but the Gujarat government also made sure that the plant got built and started production as soon as possible. Initially, the plant manufactured the Nano model, but later it started producing the Tiago and Tigor models.
In a statement, Ratan Tata said, “I’ll never forget the way he [Modi] found solutions for companies that were looking for a home.”
During an interview with CNBC, Tata said the deal materialised only in three days. When Tata announced they would establish the plant in Gujarat, CM Modi announced it would take just a rupee worth of SMS saying “Welcome to Gujarat” to get Rs 2,000 crore of investment from Tata.
Tata said in the interview, “What I have stated is [that] he invited me to move the factory to Gujarat, and I said we’d come if we had a home. He [Modi] said I’ll get you the land you want in three days. And then he delivered that on the third morning. He said, ‘Ratanji, here’s the land that I promised.” Praising PM Modi for fulfilling the promise of delivering land in just three days, Tata added, “That does not happen in India.”
Years have passed since the controversy, but the locals at Bengal’s Singur have not forgotten what they did. the majority of the locals who took part in the protests now believe that they were wrong at that time. One of the protestors said, “We got nothing out of the agitation. By using us and later abandoning us to fend for ourselves, political parties served their own interests. No industries came up in the region, and the land returned to us in 2016 is not cultivable. We are living in extreme poverty.”
Netizens react to Banerjee’s ‘celebrations’
CM Banerjee’s tweet did not go well with the netizens. Debjyoti Dasgupta said, “Don’t boast abt Singur. It not only ensured Tatas scram away but also no other industry enters WB. 16 yrs since Singur What has Bengal gained since then?”. Harshad Joshi replied to Dasgupta and said, “Illegal Bangladeshis only, nothing else.”
Illegal bangladeshis only… nothing else
— Harshad Joshi (former HJ91) (@_hj91_) December 4, 2022
Dr Anima Burman said, “You are an opportunist. You are a street-level fighter in the true sense and you should have remained at that level always. You neither possess the quality nor the dignity of the post of Chief minister. The sooner you vacate the chair the better it will be.”
You are an https://t.co/J9BZL4JHWx are a street level fighter in the true sense and you should have remained at that level https://t.co/3TTVwkT4BO neither possess the quality nor the dignity of the post of Chief minister.The sooner you vacate the chair the better will it be.
— Dr. Anima Burman🇮🇳 (@AnimaBurman) December 4, 2022
Dr Avirak KS said, “It was the beginning of the end. A typical example could be how Ratan tata wanted to initiate the tata motors factory in Kolkata. Didi did her best to evade him, killing all employment and growth opportunities. Thus he shifted his plans to Gujrat and they made the best of it.”
It was the beginning of the end.
— Dr. Aviraj K S (@drAvirajKS) December 4, 2022
Typical example could be how Ratan tata wanted to initiate the tata motors factory in Kolkata. Didi did her best to evade him thereby killing all employment and growth opportunities. Thus he shifted his plans to Gujrat and they made best of it.
Following Tata’s investment in Gujarat, several other companies showed interest in the state, rapidly taking the state to the position of one of India’s most affluent states. On the other hand, the farmers of Singur have come to realize what mistake they did 16 years ago.
