PM to address Singur rally today: Why Modi’s big pre-poll message to Bengal will come from place linked to Mamata’s rise to power

Addressing the Malda rally, the PM said, “For many decades, eastern India’s politics were dominated by parties which practised regressive politics. In the last few years, things have changed. Bihar, Odisha and Assam have given BJP-NDA historic mandates which have transformed the development trajectory. Now, it’s West Bengal’s turn to bless our vision for development.”

A day earlier, in a post on X, while announcing his Bengal visit, Modi said “development works worth over Rs 3,250 crore would be inaugurated or their foundation stones would be laid”, including a Vande Bharat sleeper train between Howrah and Guwahati as part of several rail infrastructure-related projects in the state.

Just ahead of Modi’s Bengal visit, state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya criticised the number and value of investment proposals meant for West Bengal, citing data from the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry to show how much the state is lagging behind the likes of Maharashtra and Gujarat. “What is the more dangerous truth is the implementation of investment proposals. In Gujarat, 921 proposals were implemented worth Rs 3.24 lakh crore. Maharashtra implemented 850 proposals worth Rs 1.99 lakh crore. And West Bengal? Only 116 proposals were implemented worth only Rs 15,184 crore,” Bhattacharya said in a social media post Thursday.

Making a pitch for development under a BJP government, Samik added, “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. We want Bengal’s future to be brightened with industry, investment and employment.”

BJP sources said the BJP intends to boost its “industry friendly” image through the Modi rally at Singur, which was supposed to be an industrial hub in Bengal before TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s anti-land acquisition protests led to the withdrawal of Tata Motors and scrapping of the company’s plans to set up a Nano car manufacturing plant there in 2008. The Nano project plan was initiated by the then CPI(M)-led Left Front government in 2006, but Mamata’s campaign not only forced the Tata company to pull out but also catapulted her to power after the 2011 Assembly elections.

History of Singur row

In the 2006 Bengal Assembly elections, the incumbent Left Front came to power with a thumping majority for the seventh consecutive term. Shortly after the elections, with the CPI(M) having focused its campaign on the promise of industrialisation and employment generation, then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya announced that Tata Motors would set up a car manufacturing unit to produce its Nano model, for which close to 1,000 acres of land would be allocated.

In 2006, the land acquisition process started by the government sparked protests from locals in Singur, besides smaller political outfits like the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) and CPI(M-L). Despite the initial protests, the government was able to acquire the land in Singur and Tata was able to start the construction of its plant there.

But in 2007, Mamata began her anti-land acquisition movement against the Left government to “save fertile farmland”. When she was prevented from entering Singur, she returned to Kolkata and launched a hunger strike. Over the course of her 26-day fast, she drew broad support from different sections of society for her movement, including from activists and intellectuals.

In early 2008, Tata Motors unveiled Nano at the Auto Expo in New Delhi, and days later the Calcutta High Court upheld the land acquisition in Singur as legal. Not only did Mamata continue her Singur agitation, but another anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram over a proposed chemicals industry hub also gave her further momentum to challenge the Left government.

Efforts by then Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi to mediate between the government and Mamata eventually failed, and in 2008, Tata announced its withdrawal from Singur and eventually set up its Nano plant in Sanand in Gujarat, where the Narendra Modi-led BJP government was then in power.

A perennial poll issue

In every Bengal election since 2008, the Singur case has emerged as a key issue. While it has been an emblem of Mamata’s rise in state politics, it has also been “weaponised” by her opponents as a symbol of her government’s “failed” industrialisation efforts.

“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. We are waiting for Modi ji’s message from Singur,” a senior BJP leader said.

Already, the BJP has alleged that the Mamata government’s economic policies have made the state an “industrial graveyard”. In a document titled “West Bengal Industrial Graveyard” released in December 2025, the BJP claimed that the state’s debt has risen to Rs 7.71 lakh crore, with per capita debt increasing from Rs 22,570 to Rs 76,766 over 14 years.

The CPI(M), too, has used Singur to attack both the TMC and the BJP. Sujan Chakraborty, the CPI(M)’s national secretary, said, “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. During her fast, the then BJP national president Rajnath Singh rushed to Kolkata. Mamata Banerjee gifted to Narendra Modi the Tata factory. Now, the BJP is saying it will bring industry to Singur. They are lying.”