CPI(M) drove away Tata from Singur, not me: Mamata Banerjee

Siliguri (WB): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday claimed that it was not her but the CPI(M) which drove away Tata Motors from Singur.

Addressing a 'Bijaya Samillani' or post-Durga Puja meeting in Siliguri, Banerjee said she only returned the land to the people that was forcibly acquired by the former Left Front government for the Tata Motors' Nano factory in Singur in Hooghly district.

"There are people who are spreading canards that I have 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, adding that she thought of not making any political statement at the programme.

"You (CPI(M)) 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.

Banerjee is often criticised by her opponents, especially the CPI(M), for the movement against the acquisition of land at Singur in the mid-2000s, which forced the Tata group to abandon its ambitious car manufacturing project, which could have created thousands of jobs, even after completing a significant part of it.

The movement fuelled Banerjee's rise to power in the state as she routed the Left Front government of 34 years in 2011.

The then CPI(M)-led Left Front government had acquired around 1,000 acres of farmland for the project, which was taken back from the Tatas following a court order after Banerjee became the chief minister. Her government partly returned the land to its owners.

"There is no discrimination in Bengal. We want each and every industrialist to invest here," she said, referring to the Tajpur port project of the Adani group and the Deucha Pachami coal mine project.

In an apparent reference to the ongoing agitation for school jobs in Kolkata, the chief minister said her government would continue providing jobs to the people though there were forces who create hindrances.

"I want massive employment opportunities to be generated here. There are forces that do not want people to get jobs. They are causing hindrances for them. We will not stop employing people. We will employ them regularly and not take away jobs," Banerjee said.