Bengal can either host the world’s costliest political blunder or the world’s cheapest car. Ratan Tata and his company have almost had enough of Bengal’s politics. It is now up to Bengal’s politicians to see whether they can keep the project in the state. The biggest loser if Nano is produced elsewhere will be Bengal. Tatas will lose some of the Rs 1,500 crore they have committed to the Singur project but they will survive and, as Ratan Tata said, Nano will be produced. India will lose some shine globally if the universally anticipated $ 2,500 car (one lakh rupee car in global-speak) suffers a postponement. But as long as the project is on, India’s business reputation won’t take a huge hit. But Bengal’s will. A state that still instils fear in the heart of the doughtiest capitalist, a state that can shut down at the drop of a union leader’s hat, needed a signature business project to showcase its willingness to transform. Singur has already shown the contours of that transformation. Non-farm jobs have been created where none had existed for decades. Local businesses have prospered as suppliers to the project. A market for rental housing and other services has grown. All these are textbook examples of entrepreneurship’s positive externalities. Plus, the state would be the manufacturing site of one of the globally most awaited industrial products, a host to a paradigm shift in Indian engineering, and the impact of that on Bengal’s industrial future would be incalculable. So, therefore, would be the impact of Nano driving out of Bengal.

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