Even as India’s burgeoning economy grabs global attention and India’s new transnationals grab foreign companies, concern still persists in the United States over the social issues that may delay or even sidetrack industrial projects, especially given the largescale protests over the Tata Motors small car project in Singur, West Bengal. And when a group of Indian MPs came to New York, they found this controversy attracting attention and worried questions.

Six Indian MPs came to New York as part of a delegation of the India-US Forum of Parliamentarians. And they were invited by the prestigious Asia Society to discuss Special Economic Zones. The focus though was on the Tatas’ controversial Singur project, and the panel spent its time debating and disagreeing over a possible solution.

IUFP Chairman and Rajya Sabha MP, Biju Janata Dal, BJ Panda told SAW, "You need a good success story where everybody’s a winner. Where the farmers are winners, where the companies that come and make an investment are winners, where the state is a winner. We have not yet come to that stage. I’m hoping that in Orissa and elsewhere, we’ll see the first such example and then perhaps the lessons can be applied, not just in Singur, but to other places where we have SEZ policies coming up and where we have land acquisition issues."

Lok Sabha MP, Shiv Sena, Suresh Prabhu says, "Here it seems some section of society like farmers are losing first, and maybe some other sections will lose later. So, this will not really work. So how to balance and how to have a trade-off, that’s the challenge before us."

The audience at the Asia Society was equally interested in what message the Singur controversy, even if it involved an Indian company, was sending to potential foreign investors in India. But the representative of the party leading the charge against the project brushed off those fears.

Rajya Sabha MP, Trinamool Congress, Dinesh Trivedi adds, "I don’t think so. If at all, these kind of controversies strengthen their faith in Indian democracy and Indian rule of law. And, if at all, more and more people will come. If we have made a mistake, there is something called a course correction and I think this will lead to more investment in India."

Those eyeing India as an investment destination will hope those words ring true. The Singur controversy came to the United States and the result was the same as in India – heated discussions and disagreements among Indian politicians!

Anirudh Bhattacharyya