In a massive setback for the Trinamool government in West Bengal, Tata Motors on Monday won the Singur land dispute case. The controversy dates back to 2008 when Tata Motors, facing the then opposition led by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, announced the withdrawal of its ambitious Nano car production plant. During that time, the CPI(M) led Left Front was in power in the state and the BJP accused the TMC of driving industries away from the state.
Now, the social media user slammed the Trinamool government for the same after a three member Arbitral Tribunal gave an unanimous award in favour of Tata Motors to be compensated Rs 766 crore plus interest for its investment in the now-scrapped Singur plant in West Bengal. Taking to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Dr. Indranil Khan, the state president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha said that the Singur Case is not a loss to Mamata Banerjee or her party TMC.
He added that it is the loss of the people of West Bengal as they lost industry, jobs, favorable investment climate and now a staggering 1700 crores of taxpayers money. He noted that the government of West Bengal will now pay the compensation of 765 Crore principal along with 997.97 Crore interest and 1 Crore compensation amounting to Rs 1762.97 crores not from the TMC party fund or Mamata Banerjee’s personal account, but from the taxes that have been deducted from the hard-earned money.
He further underlined that Trinamool government got all that they sought for, Power along with all possible varieties of Corruption from coal to cattle, rich to sand in order to enrich themselves and their families. Another social media user remarked that the suffering of the people of West Bengal in the Singur Land Case is undeniable. He continued that the loss of industry, jobs and the unfavorable investment climate has had a significant impact in the state. He mentioned that the financial burden placed on the taxpayers is also a concerning aspect.
Commenting on the matter, BJP Leader Gopal Krishna Agarwal who is also an economist said that West Bengal might end up paying huge sums to Tata Motors as compensation and Singur remains a shining example of bad economic effects of cheap politics. In addition, multiple social media users slammed that Mamata Banerjee is directly responsible for the debacle.
A timeline of the Singur land dispute
In May, 2006, Ratan Tata declared the Nano car project at Singur on the day coinciding with then West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee taking oath for the second term. Nonetheless, the project ran into trouble with farmers staging protests against forcible acquisition of land for the Tata project.
The then opposition leader Mamata Banerjee carried out an indefinite hunger strike on December 3 that year against the project. Banerjee called off her protest following appeals by then President APJ Abdul Kalam and then prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
In March, 2007, Tata and the then Left government signed the Singur land deal lease. By May, the talks between the Left regime and the TMC had failed. On February 15, 2008, Tata announced the Nano roll out by October. However, on September 3, Tata suspended work and a month later, it announced that it was moving out Nano operations from West Bengal to Gujarat.
Consecutively in 2011, Mamata Banerjee-led TMC swept the state assembly election defeating the CPI (M) nearly after 34 years. After coming to power, Mamata Banerjee announced the ordinance to take back Singur land. On June 22, 2011, Tata Motors challenged the Singur Act in the Calcutta high court seeking stay on government order. The Calcutta high court denied the grant stay and Tata had moved the Supreme Court.