Suvendu Adhikari vows to bring Tata Group back to West Bengal

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari pledged to bring the Tata Group back to West Bengal, criticised the industrial policies of the Left Front and TMC governments, and promised a balanced approach to industrialisation while safeguarding farmers' interests and generating employment

Kolkata: Nearly two decades after the Singur movement altered West Bengal’s political landscape, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday vowed to bring the Tata Group back to the state, accusing the Left Front and the previous TMC government of presiding over two contrasting failures – forcible land acquisition and what he called “photo-session industrialisation”, respectively.

Addressing a press conference here, Adhikari said his government would pursue a middle path that protects farmers’ interests while attracting investments, asserting that “we will bring back the Tatas to West Bengal”.

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The remark touched upon one of the most enduring fault lines in West Bengal politics.

The Tata Motors Nano project at Singur in Hooghly district became the epicentre of a political movement that transformed the state’s electoral landscape. The agitation against land acquisition catapulted Mamata Banerjee to the forefront of the state’s politics and ultimately helped end the Left Front’s uninterrupted 34-year rule in 2011.

On Friday, Adhikari sought to turn that political memory on its head, arguing that while governments changed, West Bengal paid the price through lost industrial opportunities.

“We don’t want to indulge in lies and organise photo sessions like the previous government did to attract industries,” he said.

The chief minister said his government was working on a land acquisition framework but stressed that industrialisation could not come at the cost of people’s consent.

“We are against forcible land acquisition like what happened in Singur and Nandigram during the Left Front regime. At the same time, we are against the previous (TMC) government’s policy of doing nothing while holding photo sessions and spreading claims about bringing industries,” he said.

Seeking to position the BJP government between the two competing political narratives that have dominated West Bengal’s industry debate for nearly two decades, Adhikari said development and public acceptance must go hand in hand.

“People opposed the CPI(M)’s forcible land acquisition. People also opposed what the TMC government did – asking industries to leave West Bengal as the administration would not acquire land. We believe industries can come without confrontation and by taking along all stakeholders,” he said.

While reiterating his commitment to bringing the Tata Group back to the state, Adhikari did not specify whether any future Tata investment could be linked to Singur.

He pointed out that the original factory land was no longer under government control after it was returned to farmers following a Supreme Court verdict.

“The character of the land has changed. Rods, cement and industrial materials remain embedded in the soil. Several project proposals have already come to us, and I have constituted a team led by the industries secretary to examine them,” he said.

The Singur land continues to evoke competing narratives in West Bengal’s political discourse.

While the movement became a symbol of resistance against forcible acquisition, many locals later complained that parts of the land were neither fully restored for cultivation nor developed industrially.

For years, critics of both the Left and TMC governments have described Singur as a place where West Bengal lost both a factory and valuable time.

Adhikari also hinted at major policy announcements in his government’s first Budget, scheduled to be presented later this month.

“The Budget will make it clear where we want to take West Bengal’s economy. Our focus is on employment generation, economic revival and making the state self-reliant,” he said.

The chief minister said the state would soon roll out a 125-day employment scheme for economically weaker sections and indicated that industrial development would form a key pillar of the government’s economic strategy.

In another attack on the previous administration, Adhikari announced a probe into the expenditure incurred on the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), the flagship investment summit organised annually during the Mamata Banerjee government.

Alleging financial irregularities, he claimed that Rs 635 crore had been paid to an event management company for organising successive editions of the summit.

“An investigation will be conducted. Those responsible will not be spared,” he said.

The BGBS had long been projected by the previous government as evidence of West Bengal’s investment potential, though opposition parties frequently questioned whether the investment proposals were converted into actual projects.