From Singur to Delhi via Sanand: Did Nano reshape Modi's ideas on capitalism?

livemint.com:

₹1 lakh car dubbed “the people’s car". The price tag became a goal by accident when he happened to mention it during an interview with a journalist. Sure, the idea had a philanthropic ring to it, but it wasn’t a charity project, which the Tata group has several anyway. Tata Motors aimed to make money by launching a small car capable of unlocking the mass market of aspirational, not-so-rich Indians wanting safer and more comfortable lives.

For this, the rough-and-tough auto engineering company needed to reinvent its approach. The project, it was decided, would be set up in West Bengal. The then Left Front government in Bengal had announced plans to acquire 1,000 acres of fertile farmland in Singur for Tata Motors to build the car factory, as it would boost job creation and local economy.

Tata Motors commenced construction of the factory in 2007. But land ownership turned out to be too much of a thing of cultural pride in the area. Local farmers and political leaders opposed the land acquisition, arguing that the nearly 6,000 families that the factory was displacing were not fairly compensated, forcing the project to be shut down in 2008.

Chief among them was Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) Mamata Banerjee, who went on to become the chief minister, not as yet dislodged by a political rival. This Monday, Tata Motors informed the stock exchanges that it has won an arbitration award of ₹766 crore from the West Bengal Industrial Development Corp. Ltd (WBIDC), the state’s industrial development agency.