Singur: The story so far

For Tata Nano and Singur, the journey starts from a “Holy Thursday” for the Left to a “Black Friday” for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday.

Newspapers headlines screamed calling May 18, 2006 — a day when the seventh Left Front government assumed power in West Bengal under Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee — as “holy Thursday” for industry in the state and a victory for “brand Buddha”.

After declaring, with Tata group chairman Ratan Tata, that the world’s cheapest car would roll out from Singur with an investment close to Rs 2000 crore, like a cricketer scoring a century on debut, Bhattacharjee asked the media, “How do you like the beginning? Little did he know that it was a good beginning for a saga that is still unfolding.

 

Protests started cropping up within a week, as farmers organised demonstrations on May 25 against forcible land acquisition. Even before the TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee stepped in by sowing paddy near Tata factory site against acquisition process, resentment came from several quarters including former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu.

From there on, Singur was all about a Mamata Banerjee show, which turned out to be the Waterloo for brand Buddha. When Tata Motors initiated construction at the site early 2007, the year saw Banerjee going for a marathon 26-day fast starting from December 3 to 28.

In the mean time, the Calcutta High Court upheld Singur acquisition calling it legal in January 2008, but it was just a small respite for the corporate house, before the Banerjee storm. After gains in panchayat elections of 2008 May, she went all-out against the Nano plant by staging an indefinite dharna in August.

This ultimately led to Tatas' suspending work in September and announcing the pull out in October after many rounds of failed talks including those in the presence of the then governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi. Almost immediately Nano found its home at Sanand in Gujarat. Later in 2009, Tata raised the issue of compensation with the Left Front-led state government on a visit to Kolkata.

The pullout of Nano, in a way, also marked the end of the road for the Left government. In the assembly elections of 2011, a 34-year uninterrupted rule of the Left rule came to an end, while Banerjee made her way to Writers’ Building.

She started the process of returning 400 acres of land to unwilling farmers, on May 20, 2011, the day she took charge.

Followed by a controversial ordinance on June 9 and later replacing with a Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011 on June 14, she underlined her stand. But it was the beginning of another legal saga. In September, a single judge ruled in favour of the government, which has now been set aside by the Division Bench.

Amid political comments and counter comments the state government and the TMC are trying get out of the “Black Friday” by appealing to the Supreme Court, while Singur awaits more uncertainty.