The stage had been set. Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari had introduced him as the “good M” — a reference to Ratan Tata’s parting shot after Mamata Banerjee’s agitation forced the industrialist to shift the Nano project from Singur to Gujarat’s Sanand 18 years ago.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi seemed to have other plans. Standing on a tract of land once acquired for the Nano project, Modi on Sunday uttered not a word on the possibility of reassigning the plot for industry, choosing rather to focus on agriculture. On the much-vaunted industrialisation of Bengal, the Prime Minister spent just a minute of his 40-minute speech.

Bengal BJP leaders, who had been building up hype with claims about a possible return of the Tata group to Singur, privately expressed surprise at the Prime Minister’s reticence on the subject. Singur residents, many of whom had unwillingly given up their land for the Nano project in 2008 but now want industry, expressed disappointment.

Addressing a huge crowd in Singur, Modi said: “There will be industry and investment in Bengal only when there is an improvement in law and order. Looters, the mafia and goons have been given a free hand here. You all know, there is a syndicate tax in Bengal. This is Modi’s guarantee that once the BJP comes to power, this syndicate and mafia raj will come to an end.”

BJP supporters walk to Modi’s rally with a handmade model of a Tata car factory in Singur on Sunday. Picture by Amit Kumar Karmakar

While the Prime Minister devoted only a minute to industry, he spent nearly 10 minutes outlining his plans to promote agriculture, fisheries, and food-processing units. He made particular references to potato and onion cultivation in Hooghly, where Singur is located, and the Dhaniakhali tant sari.

His focus was on alleged Trinamool Congress corruption, “infiltration” and women’s safety as he vowed to end Mamata Banerjee’s “Maha Jungle Raj”.

Earlier, senior BJP leaders, including state unit president Samik Bhattacharya and leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, had spoken about the Nano controversy from the same dais in Modi’s presence.

Adhikari quoted Ratan Tata, who had famously said after the relocation of the Nano project to then Modi-helmed Gujarat that “I hope there is a bad M and a good M”.

“Now we will listen to the good M,” Adhikari said.

Union minister of state Sukanta Majumdar raised the slogan “Bhata noi, Tata chai (Not allowances, we want Tata)”.

Political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty said the lack of any reference to the Tata episode in Modi’s speech would only lend credence to the claims of a “setting” (understanding) between Trinamool and the BJP.

“It was disappointing that the Prime Minister spoke on multiple issues but did not utter a word on the future of the Singur land,” Chakraborty said.

“Had Modi sent out a strong message of industrialisation from Singur, it would have become a challenge for Mamata ahead of the Assembly elections. This is a relief for Trinamool and will only intensify the ‘setting’ theory.”

Chakraborty wondered what kind of inputs the state BJP leadership might have sent to the Prime Minister’s Office for the Singur speech.

“The PM’s Singur speech without the Tata issue was like a plate of biryani without salt,” he said.

Hundreds of Singur farmers, including leaders of the Singur Krishi Jami Raksha Committee who had led the anti-land-acquisition movement under Mamata but now want industry, attended Modi’s rally in the hope of an announcement on the industrial development of their land.

“We expected a direct message on a new industry in Singur as the majority of those who had opposed the Tata project now feel it was a mistake,” said Doodh Kumar Dhara, who was associated with Trinamool during the Singur movement.

After a Supreme Court order in 2016, the Mamata government began returning land to Singur’s farmers and took initiatives to make it suitable for agriculture again. However, the farmers alleged that a large portion of the land had not been restored to its original condition.

Although the state government has recently taken measures to make the rest of the land suitable for agriculture, farmers claimed that agriculture was no longer possible on at least 300 acres because of the layers of concrete that had lain there for 18 years now.

A sizeable number of farmers now believe that choosing industry over agriculture would have been the better option, a sentiment the state BJP tried to capitalise on ahead of Modi’s rally.

Some BJP leaders was unhappy with Modi’s silence on the subject and his decision not to target Mamata over Nano’s exit.

A BJP source, however, argued that a Prime Minister cannot speak about using for industry land that has been returned to farmers following a Supreme Court order.

Farmer Kush Das countered this: “He could have said that the BJP would help farmers once again use the land for industry after coming to power. The Supreme Court had said the acquisition process was illegal; there is no bar on reusing the land for industry.”