Nano, NRC, Farms and Agnipath
In March 2009, Tata Motors, the largest automobile manufacturing company in India, rolled out an inexpensive small car from its plant in Sanand town of Ahmedabad district of Gujarat. The car was metaphorically named Nano, which means dwarf in Greek and Little in Gujarati. The ambitious project of the Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, is remembered for multiple reasons. First, the plant to manufacture Nano was planned to be set up in Singur town of Hooghly district of West Bengal. The then Left Front government acquired the farm land for the project and handed it over to Tata Motors. The then leader of opposition in West Bengal, Mamta Banerjee organized a massive protest that turned violent against the project, alleging that the land of farmers had been acquired inappropriately. Many activists and celebrities supported Ms. Banerjee’s protests and Tata Motors was finally forced to withdraw the project from the state of West Bengal. The then Chief Minister of Gujarat, availed the opp...