West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee addresses the public during a Singur rally in Hooghly on January 28, 2026 | Photo credit: ANI
Addressing a public meeting in Singur in Hooghly district, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday (Jan 28, 2026) said that unlike many others, she had kept her promise to return land to the people of the area.
The Chief Minister’s public meeting comes nine days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting in Singur. “I was ready to die for Singur. I promised that the land would be returned to the farmers and I kept my promise. What have you done? Nothing. Apart from giving lectures, you have done nothing. Have you ever laid a brick here,” Ms Banerjee said.
Singur was synonymous with the fight against forcible land acquisition that brought Mamata Banerjee to power in the state in 2011. Singur is also believed to be the place where West Bengal’s industrialization dreams met a dead end after Tata Motors decided to move a small car factory out of the state.
During his speech, the Prime Minister touched upon the fact that Trinamool Congress’s syndicate tax and the deteriorating law and order situation did not lead to setting up of industries in the state. But much to the disappointment of the people who came to his public meeting, Mr. Modi did not make any announcement about investments in Singur.
The Chief Minister, on the other hand, announced development projects near the abandoned premises of a small car maker, Tata Motors, and said that these initiatives would create employment for thousands of local youth.
“We have developed an agro-industrial park in Singur on eight acres of land. We have commissioned a private industrial park where Amazon and Flipkart will set up warehouses and create employment for thousands of people in Singur,” she said.
Ms. Banerjee said that both agriculture and industry will prosper in Singur. Several farmers who were given back land after the Supreme Court canceled the land acquisition claim that the land is no longer fit for cultivation.
The chief minister said she would not allow the BJP to enter Bengal and hit out at the Union government over the ongoing Special Intensive Review (SIR). Ms. Banerjee alleged that the ECI wanted to erase the names of two crore voters and influence the outcome of the parliamentary polls.
“You are hiding the names of legitimate voters in the guise of SIR. Do you not have faith in the people? Will the ECI decide by removing two million names who will be able to vote? Or will the people decide who will come to power with their votes? This is democracy, not autocracy. I want to warn the autocrats,” she said.
The Chief Minister was expected to visit Delhi where she was scheduled to meet Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar in the coming days. However, Ms Banerjee said she canceled her plans due to the death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash.
Published – 28 Jan 2026 22:34 IST
