Hooghly: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address a public gathering at Singur in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, BJP workers and supporters have begun assembling at the venue in large numbers, displaying visible enthusiasm and anticipation.
From the early hours of Sunday morning, party workers and supporters started reaching Singur, creating a charged political atmosphere ahead of the Prime Minister’s rally.
Raising slogans such as ‘Narendra Modi Zindabad’, BJP leaders, workers and supporters from various parts of the region marched towards Singur, many of them carrying portraits of the Prime Minister.
The procession moved steadily as supporters chanted slogans in support of what they described as good governance while also raising voices against the alleged misrule of the Trinamool Congress in the state.
The area resonated with energetic chants of ‘Narendra Modi Zindabad’ and other slogans as supporters expressed confidence about the BJP’s prospects in West Bengal.
Speaking to IANS, one supporter said, “Today, PM Modi is coming to Singur, and we are very excited for his visit. The law and order situation in Bengal has deteriorated, crime against women has increased, and infiltrators have also become a big problem. We are confident that this time, the public will throw out the Trinamool Congress, and the BJP will form a government here.”
Another supporter also expressed happiness over the Prime Minister’s visit.
“PM Modi has done a lot for Bengal, and we are very happy that today, he is coming. All the development projects that Bengal has received because of him, for that we are grateful to him,” he told IANS.
Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to address a public rally at Singur, a location that holds strong political and emotional significance due to the exit of Tata Motors’ Nano small car project in 2008.
BJP leaders expect the Prime Minister to invoke memories of that episode during his address, especially in the run-up to the crucial Assembly elections in the state later this year.
“With all the work that the PM Modi-led Centre has done for our state, we are confident that in the upcoming Assembly elections, the BJP will form a government here. We hope that this project resumes and people get employment,” another BJP supporter told IANS, referring to the stalled industrial project at Singur.
Another attendee said that expectations were high from the Prime Minister’s visit.
“We are sure that PM Modi will make new announcements today for our state. Yesterday, we got the Vande Bharat Sleeper train, and we are very happy, as it will ease our travel. We hope that PM Modi continues to work for our development,” he said.
Recalling the Nano project controversy, another BJP supporter said, “A Tata project was stopped here by the Trinamool Congress. However, we hope that the BJP forms a government here and the project is resumed so that the people can get employment and our state gets developed.”
As excitement, emotion and political expectations ran high, the procession of BJP workers and supporters continued to move towards the Singur ground, where public interest surrounding the Prime Minister’s presence appeared to peak ahead of the rally.
The Nano project was withdrawn from Singur in the face of a prolonged and often violent movement led by the Trinamool Congress, which was then in the opposition, against land acquisition for the project.
The agitation was spearheaded by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who is now the Chief Minister of West Bengal.
After the then Tata Group chairman, late Ratan Tata, announced the pull-out of the Nano project from Singur at a press conference in Kolkata on October 3, 2008, the project was relocated to Sanand in Gujarat, when PM Modi was serving as the Chief Minister.
“I said that I will not pull out from Singur even if a gun is put to my head. But Miss Banerjee just pulled the trigger,” an emotional Ratan Tata had said on October 3, 2008, while announcing the decision to exit Singur.
Now, attention is focused on how Prime Minister Modi will recall those events during his speech later in the day while addressing the political rally in Singur ahead of the Assembly elections.
The West Bengal unit of the BJP had already launched an extensive campaign linking the Prime Minister’s Singur rally with the exit of the Nano project in 2008.
(IANS)
