A recent meeting between Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran and West Bengal Chief Minister has sparked discussions of a potential reset in Tata-Bengal relationship. This comes over a decade after the infamous fallout at Singur, where protests led by Mamata (then in the Opposition) forced Tata Motors to abandon its Nano project in 2008.
On July 9, at the West Bengal state secretariat Nabanna, the state’s leadership and the Tata Group marked the first formal engagement after years of a fraught legacy. A warm photo-op, Mamata greeting Chandrasekaran with an uttariya (a traditional stole or gamchha) and an agenda signalling deeper cooperation suggest a turning point. The symbolism is especially powerful given West Bengal heads into elections next year.
Sharing the photos of Chandrasekaran meeting Mamata, the All Indian Trinamool Congress from its official handle on X, posted, “Smt. @MamataOfficial hosted Shri Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons and the Tata Group, for a constructive dialogue on Bengal’s industrial growth and emerging opportunities.”
The party said the meeting reflected Bengal’s commitment to fostering meaningful public-private partnerships that drive innovation, investment, and inclusive development.
This development follows the treacherous past that the company has experienced in the state.
From Singur to ‘new partnership’
In 2006, then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattarcharjee of the Left Front government invited Tata Motors to set up a factory in Singur, Hooghly district, to manufacture the Tata Nano, billed as the world’s cheapest car. The idea was to create an industrial resurgence in West Bengal, a state long mired in industrial decline and labour unrest.
However, the 997-acre land acquired by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) became a site of escalating tension. While 75% of the landowners accepted compensation, a vocal minority, supported by the Trinamool Congress (then in Opposition), alleged forcible acquisition and inadequate rehabilitation. According to reports, around 2000 out of 13000 affected farmers refused compensation.
Mamata Banerjee went on a 25-day hunger strike in 2006 and made Singur a symbol of her pro-farmer, anti-corporate acquisition campaign.
In 2008, after violent protests and continued political turmoil, former chairperson of the Tata Group Ratan Tata, who died in October last year, announced the pullout of the Nano plant from Singur. The Times of India reported a despondent Ratan Tata, recalled how he had mentioned that if somebody holds a gun to to his head they are welcome to pull the trigger but he is not the kind of person to leave under pressure or threat in the face of a prolonged agitation led by Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee.
Within weeks, the project relocated to Sanand in Gujarat under the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi citing security reasons to continue production in Singur, a move that not only marked a turning point in Gujarat’s industrial trajectory but also dented West Bengal’s investment image.
"I hope that there is a bad 'M' and a good 'M'. We need that transition," was the industrialist's response with Modi by his side to a question in a veiled reference to the approach of Mamata and Modi respectively to the project, it was reported.
Sealing the exit, he went on to say, “I think some time back I mentioned that if somebody puts a gun to my head, you will pull the trigger or you take the gun away because I will not move my head. I think Ms Banerjee has pulled the trigger.
The Nano debacle became a rallying cry in the 2011 West Bengal Assembly elections. Mamata used Singur, and later Nandigra, to campaign against “forcible land acquisition”, eventually ending the 34-year rule of the Left.
After assuming power, Mamata made her first Cabinet decision to return 400 acres of land to “unwilling farmers”. The TMC-led government passed the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011. Soon after, Tata moved Calcutta High Court challenging the Bill.
In 2014, the Calcutta High Court ruled in favour of Tata Motors, holding the Singur Act as unconstitutional and void.
In 2016, the Supreme Court quashed the land acquisition process as illegal and ordered the return of land to farmers. The court directed the state’s survey settlement department to identify portions of the land to be returned to landowners. It also said that the compensation paid to landowners will not be recovered by the state government.
Following the demise of Ratan Tata in October, Mamata, who started blaming the CPI(M) for the industrial debacle of the State, was among the leaders to laud his contribution, according to The Hindu.
“The former Chairman of Tata Group had been a foremost leader of Indian industries and a public-spirited philanthropist. His demise will be an irreparable loss for the Indian business world and society,” she had posted on social media.
Despite the Singur setback, the veteran industrialist continued to attend corporate events in the State, it reported. Tata believed in the potential of West Bengal, and several companies of the Tata Group continued to make investments in the real estate and hospitality sector in the State.
He had indicated in 2012, at an annual general meeting of Tata Global Beverages Limited that he had not given up on West Bengal. “There could be a Tata Motors factory in West Bengal in future. Who knows,” he had said.
The Tata companies that continue to operate in West Bengal include TCS, Tata Steel, Tata Hitachi, Tata Medical Centre and ICHL (Taj Hotels).
The latest meeting signals a willingness to revive broader industrial ties and possibly attract fresh investment, reimagining its relationship with Tata Group under the new leadership of Chandrasekaran.
Industry leaders have been quoted in media reports saying that this meeting has a larger meaning, it will pivot the state to a public-private partnerships and restore Bengal’s industrial image post-Singur.
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