Singur back in focus ahead of PM Modi's visit; BJP, TMC on war of words over industry scenario in Bengal

Singur: Nearly two decades after Singur emerged as the epicentre of a political upheaval that reshaped West Bengal's power map, the area that once witnessed a bitter industry-versus-land battle is again at the centre of a high-stakes political narrative ahead of the 2026 assembly elections.

An anti-land acquisition movement against the erstwhile Left Front government by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, now the ruling party of West Bengal, drove Tata’s Nano car project away from here to Gujarat.

The sparring comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled rally on January 18 at Singur's Singher Bheri mouza, a portion of land once earmarked for the car factory.

Seeking to rekindle the issue as a missed economic opportunity, the Bengal BJP has promised to "bring Tata back to Singur" if it comes to power in the state.

The ruling TMC, which rode the anti-land acquisition movements in Singur in Hooghly district and Nandigram in Purba Medinipur to political prominence, has dismissed the pitch as politically driven nostalgia that ignores both history and judicial verdicts.

Union minister and BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar on Wednesday said Singur symbolised Bengal's "lost opportunity for industrialisation" and accused the TMC of driving investors away through sustained political agitation.

"Industrialisation left Bengal the day Tata was forced to leave. Prime Minister Modi is coming now, and in the future, Tata will also return. But for that, Bengal needs a change of government," Majumdar told reporters while touring the rally site and distributing invitations across villages, including TMC supporters.

Invoking the legacy of the late industrialist Ratan Tata, Majumdar termed the exit of the project a "stigma" on Singur and promised that the BJP would erase it by facilitating industrial investments if voted to power.

Singur occupies a singular place in Bengal's contemporary political history.

In May 2006, the Left Front government signed an agreement with the Tata Group to set up the Nano car factory, acquiring nearly 1,000 acres of multi-crop agricultural land across several mouzas. A prolonged agitation by unwilling farmers followed, led by then opposition leader Mamata Banerjee, who turned Singur into a symbol of resistance against what she described as "forcible land acquisition".

Marked by police action, arrests and Banerjee's 21-day hunger strike in Kolkata, the agitation snowballed into a wider political movement.

The unrest culminated in Tata Motors pulling out of Singur in 2008 and relocating the project to Sanand in Gujarat, a decision that dealt a blow to Bengal's industrial ambitions and irreversibly altered its political trajectory.

In 2011, riding on the twin movements of Singur and Nandigram, Banerjee ended 34 years of Left Front rule. Years later, the TMC government won the legal battle, with the Supreme Court ordering the return of land to unwilling farmers, a verdict the party continues to cite as moral and legal vindication.

The BJP, however, is attempting to turn the same history on its head. Party leaders argue that while Singur delivered political change, it also ushered in an era of industrial stagnation.

"Since Nano left Singur, Bengal hasn't seen a single major industrial project. Small and medium units came, but no big factory," Majumdar said.

The party has framed Modi's rally as the opening salvo of its 2026 campaign, projecting Singur as the starting point of what it claims will be the "end of TMC's rule". District BJP leaders said preparations were underway for a massive turnout.

The TMC has remained dismissive of the renewed focus on Singur. "They did not go to villages where people actually fought the land battle. These are old CPI(M) faces who have now joined the BJP," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

State minister Chandrima Bhattacharya accused the BJP of ignoring the Supreme Court verdict. "The highest court said land acquisition in Singur was wrong. Where were these leaders when farmers were beaten, and land was forcibly taken?" she asked.

Among residents, reactions remain mixed. While some see the Prime Minister's visit as an opportunity to press long-pending demands for jobs and industry, others remain sceptical, citing repeated political promises.

With another assembly election on the horizon, Singur has returned to the political crossroads, shaped as much by memory as by unmet aspiration, and a reminder that in Bengal, land, industry and power remain inseparably entwined.