Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman pulled up the Trinamool Congress government for the alleged lack of intent in attracting big-ticket investment to Bengal and industrialising the state for creating employment opportunities.
Referring to Tata Group’s announcement to set up a multi-billion dollar semiconductor chip manufacturing plant in Assam, Sitharaman argued that the project could have come up in Calcutta or somewhere in Bengal had the Mamata Banerjee government been proactive in courting the manufacturer.
She was speaking at an event organised by BJP sympathisers at the banquet hall of a five-star hotel in Alipore.
The BJP leader referred to the chip manufacturing project, without naming the investor Tata Group, to buttress her point of de-industrialisation of Bengal after the Independence and the alleged apathy of the Trinamool Congress to reverse the downward trend.
“You must be aware that India’s own big-ticket investment in chip manufacturing has gone to Assam crossing Bengal…. Is it difficult to imagine if there was a pro-active government here, that could have been set up in Calcutta or Durgapur?” Sitharaman asked.
She argued that the project could have also gone to places like Bangalore or Gurgaon which have an ecosystem that supports such frontier technology, which is required in a chip manufacturing plant. Was the ecosystem as matured in Guwahati as in those places, she asked.
The finance minister claimed that the proactive Assam government — run by the BJP — managed to swing the deal in the state’s favour and the state benefited, along with Gujarat where the other chip manufacturing plant is coming up.
However, industry observers noted that big deals were influenced by the Centre and hence, the ₹27,00 crore project had gone to Assam, a state ruled by the BJP.
Tata Group is setting up a semiconductor fab unit in BJP-ruled Gujarat and an assembly and testing of semiconductor chips in Assam.