Years after the Nano exit, Singur's farmers now seek industry and jobs, as the land remains caught between failed promises and political contest.
Key Points
- Singur's 997-acre land remains unused nearly two decades after Tata Motors' Nano project withdrawal following protests and political upheaval.
- Residents remain divided between “willing” and “unwilling” land losers, with many now expressing regret over lost industrial opportunities.
- Welfare schemes provide limited support, but locals increasingly prioritise stable employment over financial assistance or subsidies.
- Political parties promise industrial revival, but legal hurdles around land ownership complicate fresh acquisition and project execution.
- Singur continues to symbolise Bengal's industrialisation debate, with elections reviving unresolved tensions over jobs, land, and development.
The land seems undecided what it wants to be. There are patches of agriculture interrupted by stretches of concrete-hardened land.
Stray cattle wander where assembly lines were once meant to be. And remnants of a boundary wall stand as a stark reminder of what was once projected as a gateway to industrialisation in West Bengal.
The land in question -- around 997 acres -- is in Singur, 40 kilometres from Kolkata. Back in 2006, there were plans of turning it into the factory floor of Tata Motors' Nano project.
Two decades later, it remains suspended between possibility and reality: Not quite the farmland promised and certainly not the industry it was meant to host.
What remains is a landscape that tells the story of a pyrrhic victory -- one that reshaped Bengal's politics and helped Mamata Banerjee end the 34-year Left Front rule.
But 15 years later, a question lingers: What, ultimately, was won in Singur?
Shifting mood
Tanmoy Ghosh, 30, grew up with the memory of a movement that never quite left his doorstep.
His parents, along with his uncle and aunts, were among those who resisted the acquisition of land marked for Tata Motors' small car project.
About 22 cottahs of their land were to be taken, but the family refused to accept the compensation cheques.
On a sultry afternoon, Ghosh paints graffiti on a wall for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In his college days, he was with the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), but crossed over to the saffron party after 2016.
Today, there's little doubt in his mind: Had his family not sided with the protesters, things might have worked out differently.
Putting it plainly, he says: "If the factory had come up here, it would have created jobs and supported an entire ecosystem around it."
His sentiments are echoed by Shashti Charan Koley, who had also decided against giving up land.
"My two sons travel to Kolkata every day for work," he says.
"This time, I would readily give my land to any project that offers them jobs here."
There are two camps in Singur -- the "unwilling" and the "willing". The former are land losers -- about 20 per cent of the total -- who protested the land acquisition and refused compensation.
The latter gave up their plot for the project and accepted the compensation cheque from the Left Front government.
But the smaller group backed by Banerjee ultimately prevailed -- Tata Motors pulled out from Singur in 2008 after a prolonged agitation.
The government changed in 2011, and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by Banerjee, has been in power ever since.
Unsurprisingly, the "unwilling" here are more equal than others. Both Ghosh's family and Koley receive Rs 2,000 and 16 kg of free rice every month -- a dole Banerjee extended to the protesting land losers.
Jobs bridge fault lines
Shefali Ruidas, 61, and her family are outside the ambit of this support, having given up their land for the project in the hopes of a more secure future.
Her husband owned three cottahs of land. "We gave it up so our sons could get jobs," she says. That, however, has not come to pass.
She now lives with her elder son, who looks after a family of six and works seven days a week. A small shop in a narrow alley, run by Shefali and her daughter-in-law Madhumita, along with Banerjee's welfare schemes, provides additional support to the family.
Madhumita gets Rs 1,700 a month under the recently enhanced Lakshmir Bhandar, which provides a basic income for women aged between 25 and 60 years old.
Shefali receives Rs 1,000 a month under the senior citizen pension scheme.
Welfare support is widely seen as a cornerstone of Banerjee's political appeal. The BJP has sought to raise the stakes, promising a monthly financial assistance of Rs 3,000 for women as part of its poll plank.
But neither Shefali nor Madhumita appears swayed by it.
"Why Rs 3,000? Even Rs 5,000 or Rs 10,000 a month will not solve the problem. I just hope that one day my husband will find work closer to home. The land that has been returned to us is not cultivable -- it just lies idle. We need a factory here," says Madhumita.
Of elections and promises
The BJP manifesto, which promises an industrial park in Singur, has rekindled hope. Releasing the document, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said half the land would be reserved for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), with the rest earmarked for large industries to drive balanced growth and jobs.
These are false promises, says Becharam Manna, minister of state (independent charge), agriculture marketing, and TMC's Singur MLA.
"Where will they set up the project? The land (once allocated to Tata Motors) now belongs to individual owners, which means any such plan would require fresh acquisition."
On August 31, 2016, the Supreme Court ruled that the Left Front government's 2006 acquisition of land in Singur violated the procedure laid down by law.
In keeping with the court directive, the land was returned to its original owners and cheques distributed to the "unwilling" farmers.
But how much is cultivable? The answer swings wildly -- from 100 acres to 700 acres -- depending on whom you ask.
This semi-rural area in Hooghly district is currently awash with the colours of the TMC and the BJP -- their flags fluttering across its lanes.
But posters of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, pitching for industry, also punctuate the landscape.
Manna, a prominent face of the land agitation movement, however, is confident of a win. "People will give their verdict on these false promises."
In 2021, he was pitted against BJP's Rabindranath Bhattacharya -- who had once led the Singur movement for the Trinamool.
But Manna won by more than 25,000 votes. This time the BJP has fielded Arup Das, an orthopaedic surgeon.
The bigger question however goes beyond the candidates. The land has waited long enough; its people signal readiness for a factory. Is it time for Singur to move on from being just an election prop?
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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