Because moment someone says Tata and Singur in same sentence,old memories come back immediately .
Samik Bhattacharya,the president of the West Bengal BJP and a member of the Rajya Sabha,has now said that Tata Group will come back to West Bengal with new investment proposals . Big claim ah,because this is connected to that old Tata Motors' Nano project issue which left Singur in October 2008 after protests led by Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee.
Bhattacharya also brought up late industrialist Ratan Tata's departure and said,"The Tata Group will surely return to West Bengal. On October 3, 2008,the Tata Group was forced to leave Singur,West Bengal. Even today, people of Bengal have not forgotten that wound."
And tbh,that line about wound is where politics and emotion are mixing heavily . For many people in Bengal,Tata exit was not just about one car factory . It became symbol of jobs lost,development stopped midway and one big chance slipping away.
Few things standing out clearly here:
- Tata Motors' Nano project left Singur in October 2008 after intense protests .
- Samik Bhattacharya says BJP is working to bring Tata Group back to West Bengal.
- He claimed,"Industries will return. Jobs will return,and West Bengal will also move forward again towards development."
But at same time,statement is also clearly political . BJP is trying to show itself as party that can bring industry,jobs and economic growth back to state . And with elections always somewhere in background,such announcements are never just simple announcements only.
After Nano project moved out,it was later relocated to Sanand,Gujarat,under then Chief Minister Narendra Modi . That part of story still gets repeated again and again,especially by BJP,because it fits their argument that West Bengal lost something big at that time.
Bhattacharya is now saying industries will return and jobs will return . Sounds hopeful,but people will naturally ask what actual proposals are,when they will happen and whether Tata Group itself will move seriously on this .
And this is where whole thing stays hanging . Is this really beginning of industrial comeback for West Bengal,or just another old wound being reopened for politics…
