Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari calls TMC-era investments 'fraud', says land has been allotted to 33 entities

He said that several major industrial groups, including some that are interested in foreign direct investment, are exploring opportunities in Bengal, and that agreements involving IITs and the Adani Group are under consideration. Private investment in health care, education and skill development is being encouraged. The government has allotted land to 33 entities, he said, and eligible investors will get land after their proposals are examined.

The other side of the argument

The previous government held a summit each year. The eighth Bengal Global Business Summit, held in Kolkata in February 2025 under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, announced investment proposals of more than Rs 4.4 lakh crore. The dispute between the two governments is largely about the difference between proposals and money that is actually invested. A summit announcement is a statement of intent and a memorandum of understanding is a plan, and neither is the same as a factory that has been built and is employing people. Every state that holds summits faces the same criticism, and the share of proposed amounts that turn into real projects is usually well below the headline figure.

Adhikari's government has its own announcements to show. In September, he said that Mukesh Ambani and Anant Ambani had assured him of investments in four or five sectors in Bengal. The Trinamool has not been quoted in the report on Sunday's remarks, and its response to the charge is not available.

The chief minister also spoke about schools. He said the government will wait for the recommendations of a syllabus committee before it decides whether to restore the pass-fail system, and that the National Education Policy has already been implemented, so the education department will take the final decision. Personally, he said, he favours a ban on mobile phones in schools, the return of the pass-fail system and the teaching of Bengal's history and Indian history alongside modern languages.

These are the opinions of the chief minister and not decisions. The pass-fail question has been an issue in many states since the no-detention policy was changed, and it affects how teachers and parents see the first eight years of school.

Why the claim matters

Investors usually look for the same things in any state: land that is available without a legal tangle, power at predictable rates, a labour climate without disruption, and clearances that come within a stated time. A government that says it will be careful about whom it admits will be judged on how fast it can deliver these things to the investors that it does welcome.

On schools, the context is that the Centre changed the rules in December 2024 to allow states to hold back students in Classes 5 and 8 who fail the year-end examination, which is what makes a decision on pass-fail a state matter in Bengal now. A syllabus committee's report will therefore shape the first steps.

The test for the new government is its own record. A state that has lost industry over several decades needs actual factories, and it will be judged by how many of the 33 allotments turn into construction, jobs and production in the next two years. The helplines and single-window systems that are supposed to make investing easier are only as good as the speed of approvals.

For investors, the statement sends a mixed signal. It welcomes them, but it also says that proposals will be examined for whether they are genuine. For the opposition, the claim that the old summits were a fraud invites a response with numbers, such as how many of the 2025 proposals reached the ground, and how much land the earlier government allotted. Until both sides publish those figures, the argument will remain one of claims.