I want the Tatas to return to Singur; send signal West Bengal is open: State BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya

Speaking to news agency PTI, West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said that the newly formed BJP government wants the Tata Group to return to Singur.

Bhattacharya said the state government wants the Tata Group to return to the Hooghly town, describing it as an economic imperative and a strong signal that the state is once again open for business.

He said bringing the Tatas back to Singur would help erase what he described as the “wrong message” sent to investors after the Nano project was forced out of the state nearly two decades ago.

“We want the Tatas to come back and that too in Singur. We want to send a message to the entire country and the world that West Bengal is investor friendly and ready to welcome investment,” Bhattacharya said on Friday.

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Dad’s Nano project in Singur

The remarks come as the newly installed BJP government prepares a new land policy that it believes will form the backbone of renewed industrialization efforts in a state that was once India’s manufacturing powerhouse but has been steadily losing ground for decades.

Referring to the controversy surrounding the exit of the Nano project from Singur in 2008 following the anti-land acquisition movement led by Mamata Banerjee, Bhattacharya said the dismantling of the Tata Motors plant became a defining image of Bengal’s hostility to industry.

“The scene of Tata’s departure from Bengal and the dismantling of infrastructure sent a very bad message – that industries are not welcome in Bengal. Subsequently, the low money culture, syndicate paradise and institutionalized corruption worsened the situation. We want to correct this perception,” he said.

Asked whether Tata’s return to Singur would constitute prajaschitta (atonement) for what he described as the mistakes of the previous regime, Bhattacharya said the exit of Tata Motors had permanently damaged the state’s investment climate.

“We want the Tatas to come back to Singur or Bengal in any form, be it auto or any other sector. They are one of the oldest and most respected and trusted groups in our country,” he said.

Why Singur?

The election of Singur is politically charged. If the movement against Tata Motors helped TMC chief Mamata Banerjee gain power and eventually end the Left Front’s 34-year rule, it also became a symbol of Bengal’s retreat from mainstream investors.

The departure of the Nano project from Singur in 2008 and the subsequent dismantling of the near-complete factory sent shockwaves through corporate India. He signaled opposition to large-scale industrial projects in West Bengal.

Nearly 20 years later, the BJP is seeking to reclaim the same seat to showcase the return of industry to Bengal, which is inevitably accompanied by a major overhaul of land acquisition policies.

“We did not have a comprehensive land policy. Mamata Banerjee said that the government will not acquire even an inch of land for industries and companies will have to buy land directly. Industries cannot acquire land door-to-door with such an absurd and flawed policy,” Bhattacharya said.

He said the government was working on a new land policy, although he declined to divulge details ahead of its formal introduction.

“I can say that industrialization will not happen without a comprehensive land policy. The government is working on it and the results will be visible in the coming months,” he said.

Economic Problems of West Bengal

The state BJP chief sought to frame West Bengal’s economic challenges in a much longer historical arc.

“West Bengal bears a 50-year-old wound of economic degradation. From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, there were riots, including the Naxalite movement. Then came 35 years of Left rule and 15 years of TMC rule. Industrial stagnation became institutionalized,” he said.

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When compared with other states, Bhattacharya said foreign investors have largely skipped over West Bengal.

“Maharashtra attracts around 13.6% of India’s FDI, while Bengal’s share is around 0.6%. These numbers speak for themselves,” he said.

Still, he claimed that investor sentiment had already started to change after the BJP’s election victory.

“An industrialist met me today and said they had decided to shift their plant and business outside Bengal. But they changed their mind after May 4,” Bhattacharya said, referring to the date the election results were announced.

Calling Bengal the “gateway to the east”, he said the state’s geographical location, ports and connectivity gave it a natural advantage in attracting investment, provided political certainty was restored.

On Jobs

On employment generation, one of the main promises of the BJP government during the campaign, Bhattacharya said the administration would pursue a balanced strategy combining labor and capital intensive industries.

“Unemployment cannot be solved with one model. We want both labor-intensive and capital-intensive industries. Unless we achieve comprehensive and inclusive growth, we will not be able to send the right signal to the rest of India,” he said.

The BJP leader also launched a scathing attack on the economic performance of the previous regime, claiming that thousands of companies had either left Bengal or ceased operations over the years.

Claiming that several companies have shifted out of Kolkata, several more firms have gone into liquidation and tens of thousands of small and medium enterprises have shut down, Bhattacharya said the government’s priority now is to reverse the trend and restore investor confidence.

For a state where Singur once epitomized the clash between industrialization and land rights, the BJP’s attempt to bring back the Tata Group has significance far beyond a single investment proposal.

It reflects the new government’s broader political aim to rewrite one of West Bengal’s most fundamental economic stories – to transform a place that symbolized the departure of industry into evidence of its return.

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