Nirupam Sen at Writers’ Buildings. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Calcutta, Oct. 3: Ratan Tata isn’t the only one who wants out. Industries minister Nirupam Sen too would leave Bengal if he could.

“I don’t feel like living in Bengal,” a distressed Sen, tireless mover of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s industrialisation campaign, said after Tata’s pullout decision today.

Sen’s reaction indicated what the government thought about the future of industry in Bengal — at least amid the gloom this evening.

“It’s a black day for us. Ratan Tata’s decision to shift the Nano factory out of Singur will definitely cast its shadow on the people of Bengal,” he said.

“We could not even imagine that the principal Opposition party could stall a unique automobile project of international importance by doing narrow politics.”

Bhattacharjee did not utter a word but his body language said everything. The chief minister left Writers’ Buildings at 8.15pm, head uncharacteristically bowed, eyes fixed on the floor. He ignored the reporters lining the corridors.

Two hours earlier, Tata had left the building informing him he was pulling the Nano project out of Bengal.

Government sources said Bhattacharjee was especially distressed because Tata had told several industrialists that the Bengal government, especially its chief minister, could be “trusted” and “taken seriously”.

“The brand ambassador of Bengal’s industrialisation (Tata) has left just at the time we all were beginning to think that there indeed was a turnaround taking place in Bengal,” a senior government official said.

“It will be very difficult to woo industry now that the Tatas have left. Our task has been made much, much more difficult.”

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at Writers’ Buildings. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Sources said the government was not worried about those who had already invested in the state, such as Videocon or the Jindals, but about those who had shown “some interest” after the Nano project came to Singur.

“Getting the automobile sector to invest in Bengal, especially someone like the Tatas, was a huge thing for us. It’s unlikely that something like this is going to be repeated in the near future. An avenue for generating employment in the state has disappeared,” an official said.

Reflecting on this, Sen said: “I cannot say if any political party can really gain from the Tata Motors pullout. But Tata’s decision has disheartened the eight crore people of Bengal, particularly the younger generation who were hoping to get jobs.”

He added: “I want the Opposition to do some self-introspection (because it has) harmed the interests of the people of Bengal as a whole. They will have to answer to the people for what they have done.”

Sen said Tata had left because he could not have met his Nano rollout deadline from Singur.

He explained the government had not forcibly broken up Mamata’s siege near the project site because “we didn’t want to allow the Opposition to gain political mileage by cashing in on the police intervention”.

Officials said a cloud now hung over many of the government’s development plans with the Opposition threatening “another Singur or Nandigram” wherever land had to be acquired.

“The power plant in Katwa is also turning doubtful because of the Opposition’s threats,” an official said.

The only silver lining appeared to be Tata’s fulsome praise for the chief minister.

“It’s good that Tata has praised the role of the government in setting up the factory,” Sen said. “It would send a positive message to other industrialists who are willing to invest in Bengal.”