Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday vowed to “bring back the Tatas” to Bengal, which the BJP believes is key to reviving industry and creating jobs in the state.
He did not mention any specific industry or site in this context.
The BJP believes that the departure of Tata Motors’ proposed Nano car factory from Singur in 2008, following a two-year political campaign by Mamata Banerjee, triggered a further flight of industry from Bengal and pushed the state deeper into unemployment.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya too had earlier pledged to “bring back” the Tatas, particularly the automobile factory.
“We will certainly bring back the Tatas. The Singur land is no longer under government ownership, as the previous government returned those land parcels to the farmers and original landowners,” Suvendu said to a question from The Telegraph during a news conference at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in New Town on Friday.
Suvendu said his government also had plans for the Singur land, which was no longer fertile and was of little use to farmers.
“Many of those landowners have been unable to cultivate mustard, potatoes or paddy — or even practise pisciculture — because the soil was mixed with Tata’s rods, cement and other construction materials. The nature of the soil has changed,” the chief minister said.
“A senior MLA, Tapas Roy, has been entrusted with the responsibility of industrial reconstruction. Many project proposals have already reached me.”
The BJP’s emphasis on bringing the Tatas “back”, although the group is already present in the state through many of its entities, is not difficult to understand.
Party insiders underlined that a Tata “return” would have immense symbolic significance, for many in Bengal believe that the proposed Nano factory’s departure had triggered the exit of many other industries from the state.
“Although the Tata group continues to operate in Bengal through other entities, losing the automobile-manufacturing unit, which falls under heavy industry, affected the state’s ability to attract similar industries,” a senior BJP leader said.
“Therefore, the CM and Samikda are mentioning the Tatas to reassure industrialists and convince them to take the return flight to Bengal.”
The Tatas’ information technology behemoth, TCS, employs nearly 55,000 people in the state, mostly in Calcutta, which happens to be one of the company’s top bases in India.
On Friday, the company announced a further expansion, collaborating with US infotech giant Oracle to launch an AI data platform lab and centre of excellence in the city.
Besides, manufacturing companies Tata Steel and Tata Hitachi are operating in Bengal. In the hospitality sector, Indian Hotels Company Ltd, which owns the Taj brand, has expanded its Bengal operations by partnering with local investors, notably the Ambuja Neotia group.
“The Tata group did not pause the growth of its existing operations (in Bengal) but did not undertake any major new ventures in the state, either,” an industry source said.
The Tata chiefs have tended to stay away from the Bengal Global Business Summit, the industry jamboree that the previous government used to hold, reflecting the frosty relations between former Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata and Mamata.
Tata had famously described Mamata as the “bad M” after the Singur exit.
It remains unclear in what form the new government wants to “bring back” the Tatas to Bengal. The conglomerate has over 100 independently operating companies, grouped into major industry sectors, with 29 publicly listed enterprises.
Suvendu said that, unlike the previous government, he did not want to make false promises or indulge in mere photo sessions. He had, therefore, formed a committee headed by industry department secretary Vandana Yadav to review all proposals.
Singur farmers said they were ready to provide their land again if the government wanted to establish industries on the site vacated by Tata Motors.
Even some of the leading lights of Mamata’s anti-land-acquisition movement in Singur said they would help convince the farmers to part with their land, if necessary.
“The chief minister has rightly said that the character of the land has changed and that industrialisation is the only viable way of utilising it,” said Doodh Kumar Dhara, former leader of the Singur Krishi Jami Raksha Committee that spearheaded the movement against the Nano factory.
“We welcome chief minister Suvendu Adhikari’s initiative for industry in Singur. We are ready to help the government acquire land.”
The BJP government knows that inviting investments and industrialists is fine, but a proper land policy is crucial to making it work.
Samik and other BJP leaders had earlier indicated that the state would revise its land policy to facilitate a new wave of industrialisation, a commitment included in the BJP’s manifesto for the April Assembly polls.
Suvendu, however, claimed that land would not be an issue. He said his month-old administration had so far not faced any problems over land acquisition, whether for border fencing or for road and railway expansion.
“There will be no repeat of incidents like Nandigram under the CPM, where bullets were fired,” he said.
“Nor do people support the approach taken by Mamata Banerjee, who effectively told industrialists to manage things on their own because she could not help them.”
Suvendu said his government had adopted a three-pronged policy to address unemployment and promote self-reliance through small, medium and large industries. He said states that had successfully overcome the challenge of joblessness had followed a similar model.
“First, they filled vacancies at different levels of the state government with qualified and meritorious youth, from police personnel to teachers,” he said.
“Second, they expanded employment opportunities through central government schemes, bringing about a revolution in banking access for small and large entrepreneurs. They supported unemployed youth through subsidy-oriented business schemes and encouraged self-employment.”
He added: “Third, they facilitated industries in sectors such as heavy industry, MSMEs, food processing, horticulture and fisheries by establishing small, medium and large processing units.”