PM Modi's Singur Rally Sets Stage for Fierce Bengal Election Battle
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming rally in Singur will significantly escalate the political confrontation between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress. This event occurs just weeks before the crucial West Bengal Assembly elections scheduled for March-April. The BJP strategically plans to highlight the Mamata Banerjee-led government's industrial performance, specifically invoking the abandoned Tata Nano project from 2008.
Development Agenda Takes Center Stage
During his recent rally in Malda, Prime Minister Modi emphasized development as his party's primary election platform. He declared that eastern India's political landscape has transformed in recent years. Modi pointed to BJP-NDA victories in Bihar, Odisha, and Assam as evidence of this change. "Now, it's West Bengal's turn to bless our vision for development," the Prime Minister told the gathered crowd.
Modi announced his Bengal visit through a social media post, revealing plans to inaugurate or lay foundation stones for development projects worth over Rs 3,250 crore. These initiatives include launching a Vande Bharat sleeper train connecting Howrah and Guwahati alongside several rail infrastructure improvements across the state.
BJP Criticizes Bengal's Industrial Performance
West Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya recently presented data comparing investment implementation across states. He revealed that Gujarat implemented 921 proposals worth Rs 3.24 lakh crore while Maharashtra executed 850 proposals valued at Rs 1.99 lakh crore. West Bengal managed only 116 implemented proposals worth Rs 15,184 crore, according to Bhattacharya's analysis of Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry figures.
Bhattacharya made an impassioned appeal for change. "West Bengal will not be left behind. West Bengal will not send its youth outside the state. West Bengal again will be the state of industrialisation and employment," he asserted in a social media statement.
Singur's Political Legacy
The Singur location holds deep political significance. In 2006, the CPI(M)-led Left Front government announced Tata Motors would establish a Nano car manufacturing plant there, allocating nearly 1,000 acres for the project. Land acquisition sparked immediate protests from local residents and smaller political groups.
Mamata Banerjee launched her anti-land acquisition movement in 2007, arguing to protect fertile farmland. Her 26-day hunger strike garnered widespread support from activists, intellectuals, and various societal segments. Despite the Calcutta High Court upholding the land acquisition's legality in early 2008, Tata Motors eventually withdrew from Singur that same year.
The company relocated its Nano plant to Sanand in Gujarat, where Narendra Modi's BJP government was then in power. This sequence of events propelled Mamata Banerjee to electoral victory in the 2011 Assembly elections while creating a lasting political symbol.
Opposition Parties Exchange Accusations
A senior BJP leader connected the historical dots. "When Tata left, Modi was the man who gave them land at Sanand. We want to send a message to the people of Bengal that the BJP is the party that can bring industrialisation through a double-engine government," the leader explained.
The BJP recently released a document titled "West Bengal Industrial Graveyard" alleging the state's debt has ballooned to Rs 7.71 lakh crore. They claim per capita debt increased from Rs 22,570 to Rs 76,766 over fourteen years under TMC governance.
CPI(M) national secretary Sujan Chakraborty criticized both major parties. "If Mamata Banerjee must take responsibility for the failure in Singur, then the BJP can't erase its responsibility as it was then a close friend of Mamata Banerjee," Chakraborty stated. He reminded that former BJP president Rajnath Singh visited Kolkata during Mamata's hunger strike, suggesting political collaboration at that time.
As Prime Minister Modi prepares to address supporters in Singur, this historic location becomes the latest battleground in West Bengal's intense political warfare. Both BJP and TMC will leverage the Nano project's legacy to advance their contrasting narratives about development and governance.
