Mamata pulled the trigger, says Ratan

Statesman News Service

KOLKATA, Oct. 3: Tata Sons chairman Mr Ratan Tata today lashed out at the Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee, holding her solely responsible for pulling out the company's small car project from Singur. ”Miss Banerjee has pulled the trigger and we had no other choice but to pull out of West Bengal,” a visibly anguished Mr Tata told reporters at a press conference this evening. Earlier, he met the chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and informed him of the decision. Levelling a personal attack on Miss Banerjee, he said Tata Motors would have to find out who had funded her agitation in Singur which continued for such a long period. “We will ponder to find out who has funded the agitation in Singur," Mr Tata said. Mr Tata told reporters that he had been watching the situation since August when he last met them in the city. “Believe me the situation had not improved and I do not see any change in the horizon,” he said adding “the agitation continued and things changed from bad to worse. The highway was blocked for several days, a portion of the boundary wall of the factory was pulled down, some employees of the contractors were beaten up, the employees were locked up inside the factory and under such situation no work can resume”. Mr Tata said Miss Banerjee had said several times that the Tatas are not wanted in the state. “She has repeated her statement several times that the Tatas are not wanted in the state.” Asked whether Tata Motors would reconsider its decision if Miss Banerjee decided to withdraw her agitation, Mr Tata said: “It is too late and we have no other choice but to shift the Nano project to some other state as talks are on with the chief ministers of three or four states.” Interestingly, Mr Tata did not utter a single word against the state government when asked whether he considered it to be a failure of the latter to combat the agitation led by the Opposition. Instead he said: “Had the state government tried to put an end to the agitation it would have been thought as an attack on the Opposition which is a minority”. Mr Tata asked a journalist who had asked in Hindi whether he had anticipated agitation in the state to repeat the question in English, and reserved his comment when it was translated for him. Mr Tata said he had to persuade the chief minister who requested him earnestly not to take the decision. “He looked visibly distressed but I had to convey this harsh decision to him as we have to meet the deadline. No factory can be run with police protection and work could be resumed only in a congenial environment.” He said it would be difficult for him to announce now when Nano would be launched and in which plant it would be manufactured and also its price. Announcements regarding the matter would be made soon. He said he would have to talk to the state government regarding the land that was given to them in Singur. Mr Tata pointed out that today's decision would not affect Tata Sons' future investment in the state. Projects would be diverted to this state as the people are intelligent and enterprising. “I have enormous faith in the chief minister and West Bengal is one of the most investment friendly states and our pulling out from the state would not affect its industrial growth,” he observed. (END)

Source : The Statesman

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Text of Tata’s Press statement
When I'd addressed you in August, I mentioned that we have faced continuous agitation in the last two years and if the situation continues, we would have no option other than to move. At that time I had hoped that there would be some kind of understanding on the part of the Opposition headed by Miss Mamata Banerjee and we would see some reduction in agitation and we could go ahead with the project. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, the agitation increased and it would move in front of the gate and the highway was barricaded for some period of time.And through the two years we (some of our people) have faced enormous destruction, assault and intimidation. By taking all things into account, mainly the well-being of our employees, the security of our contractors and, in fact, our vendors also, we have taken the very regretful decision to move the Nano project out of West Bengal. This is the decision that has been taken with a great deal of sadness because we came here two years ago, attracted by the investor-friendly policy of the government, led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, for which we still have a great deal of respect. And all through the two years that we worked, while we are very appreciative of the support the government gave us and the facilitation that they provided, unfortunately we also faced great agitation and great aggression on the part of the Opposition parties, which have, in fact, been the sole reason for us to take the decision.Having said this, I just want to say that this decision has been prompted because many of you may ask why we should not give this more time. We have taken this decision today, which is perhaps not the best day to make such an announcement on the eve of the Pujas, but we felt we needed to because we do not see any change on the horizon. We continue to be very supportive of the vision of the government. And why we move the Nano project out of West Bengal, because we have a timeline to meet, we have made promises to the public in terms of the project coming on line, we do not believe that we, in any way, have lost our enthusiasm for investment in West Bengal. And I assure you that Tatas, in course of time, will include West Bengal in location of projects in future.Mr Tata replied to questions from reporters after concluding his statement.