New Delhi: A remark by Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee – who cemented her political fortune through a protracted agitation against the CPI(M) government’s acquisition of land for a Tata Motors factory in Singur – that it was not her but the CPI(M) which drove away the firm, has led to pointed retorts, including one from a former party MLA, who said it was well known that Banerjee’s protests led to their exit.On October 19 in Siliguri, Banerjee said she only returned the land that was forcibly acquired by the former Left Front government for the Tata Motors’ Nano factory.“There are people who are spreading canards that I had driven away the Tatas from West Bengal. I did not force them away, but it was the CPI(M) which drove them away,” she said at the government function. Banerjee also said that she had initially thought that she would not make any political statements at the programme.While pulling the project out of West Bengal in October 2008, Ratan Tata, the head of the Tata empire, had blamed the agitation for the group’s decision.The agitation, however, fuelled Banerjee’s rise to power in the state as she ousted the Left Front government of 34 years in 2011.“You forcibly took land from the people for the project, we returned that land to the people. We have done so many projects, but never taken any land forcibly from anybody. Why should we take land forcibly? There is no dearth of land here,” she added.A part of the 1,000 acres of farmland acquired for the project, which was taken back from the Tatas following a court order after Banerjee became the chief minister, was returned to its owners in 2016.ReactionsThe CPI(M) has called Banerjee a “pathological liar”, pointing out that her dharna on the national highway outside the factory forced the Tatas to shift the project from West Bengal.CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty wrote that this “level of dishonesty and lying was possible only for someone with a faked doctorate.” There has been controversy over Banerjee’s stated claim that she has a doctorate from East Georgia University, which did not exist.Chakraborty claimed that Banerjee’s new line was triggered by the fact that top TMC leaders are now being held by investigative agencies in connection with corruption cases.রোজই তো সঙ্গীরা ধরা পড়ছেআর জেলে যাচ্ছে।এবার হয়তো নিজেরই পালা।মাথাটা কি আর ঠিক থাকে?মাথাটাই কাজ করছে না যে!তাই এত দূর্গন্ধ ছড়াচ্ছে!!মুখ্যমন্ত্রী নাকি মিথ্যাশ্রী?গুলবাজ দি গ্রেট, ম্যাডাম।প্যাথলজিক্যাল লায়ার।।এত মিথ্যাচার এবং অসততা জালি ডক্টরেট' এর পক্ষেই সম্ভব।। pic.twitter.com/nCa61NKmhZ— Dr.Sujan Chakraborty (@Sujan_Speak) October 19, 2022CPI(M) has maintained that the factory could have created thousands of jobs. Banerjee’s comments also come amidst widespread protests across Bengal over school teacher appointments. A day after making the original claim, Banerjee claimed in Bengal there has been an increase in work and reduction in poverty.“In India, there’s a 40% decrease in employment and work organisations have also reduced in number; whereas in Bengal there has been a 40% increase in work organisations and poverty has also reduced,” Firstpost quoted her as having said.Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress leaders too have criticised Banerjee’s claim. Among them are Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee (of BJP), Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya and Lok Sabha MP Adhir Chowdhury (both of Congress).“She (Banerjee) has been making false statements for the last 11 years. She promised that she would return the Singur land to the farmers after reviving them in original fertile conditions. Yes, she has returned the land but farming is no longer possible there,” Chatterjee told Zee News.Congress’s Chowdhury told Indian Express that Banerjee not only showed the doors to Tata Motors in Bengal, “but later the Tata Motors factory was destroyed by her government with a dynamite blast.Farming resumes in demolished Nano plant site in Singur with CM Mamata Banerjee sprinkling mustard seeds on the land. (File Pic) pic.twitter.com/UkuWk4Clhg— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 20, 2016 A former TMC MLA, Rabindranath Bhattacharya, who was at the forefront of the anti-land acquisition movement in Singur, on Thursday said there was no point denying that it was the agitation by the TMC that had led to the exit. Bhattacharya switched over to the BJP ahead of the assembly polls last year after he was not given a ticket.“The Tatas left due to the Singur anti-land acquisition movement,” the 90-year-old politician said.He also said that neither his former party nor he, as a public representative, was in favour of any industrial set up through forcible land acquisition.Reacting to Bhattacharya’s comment, senior TMC leader and minister Firhad Hakim said the nonagenarian has forgotten many things.“We should not attach much importance to what he is saying now. We wish him a speedy recovery,” he said.
