Bye-Bye Frosty Ties? 2 Decades After Singur, Mamata Banerjee, Tata Chief Meet

Kolkata:

Mamata Banerjee fought the CPI(M) regime in West Bengal – in the Assembly, in the court of public opinion, and on the streets – for decades, but the pivotal moment in her struggle came when she led the protests against the alleged forcible acquisition of farmland for the Tata Motors plant in the state’s Singur. The 2006 protests, and similar ones in Nandigram the following year, are believed to have catapulted her to power in Bengal in 2011, ending 34 straight years of CPI(M) rule. 

Before that, in 2008, then Tata Group and Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata announced that the company was moving the plant, which would produce his dream affordable car, the Nano, to Gujarat. He also blamed the Trinamool Congress chief for the move, saying, “I think Ms Banerjee pulled the trigger.”

Ms Banerjee offered a terse reaction. “It is an unfortunate comment of an individual blaming me for the pullout decision at Singur,” she had said at the time.

Nearly two decades later, it appears the perceived animosity between her and the group is well and truly over. 

For the first time since she became chief minister in 2011, Ms Banerjee met Tata Sons and Tata Motors Chairman N Chandrasekaran in Kolkata on Wednesday. The conversation, according to the Trinamool Congress, centred on “deepening the Tata Group’s presence in the state”.

Posting photos of the meeting, the Trinamool Congress wrote on X, “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.”