
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has come under fire over the possible shutdown of FMCG major Britannia's historic biscuit factory in Kolkata. On Monday, Britannia said that all permanent workers at its Taratala factory in Kolkata had accepted the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS). The announcement triggered a buzz about a possible shutdown of the plant. The development did not go down well with a section of people, who have seen the exit of one company after the other during the Left and the TMC rule in Bengal.
The last notable exit of a company from Bengal was that of Tata Motors, whose Nano car factory was shut following a massive protest by then-opposition leader Mamata Banerjee. It is now under her watch as chief minister that another giant is likely to close its factory.
Kanchan Gupta, who served as an advisor at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in the Modi 2.0, on Monday listed a host of products that had come to be identified with Bengal such as Kanta scent, Jabakusum hair oil, Afghan Snow face cream, Tuhina body lotion, Darjeeling tea, Bengal Potteries dinner set, Philips radiogram, Boroline, Cuticura talcum, and Britannia Thin Arrowroot biscuits.
"Most of these products have disappeared; some have been rebranded; and some have survived with a bit of spit and polish. Britannia Thin Arrowroot was among the survivors till about a week ago," he said in a detailed post on X titled: 'From Tata Motors to Britannia: A bit of Bengaliness, if not Bengal, dies.
For seven decades, Gupta said, Britannia was a household name, a people's brand equally popular among all classes just as Boroline was, or any of the other products he had listed. "Bong life was unthinkable without thin arrowroot biscuits made by Britannia."
Beginning in the turbulent 1960s all boxwallah companies began making an exit from Bengal, independent India's most industrialised State with Indigenous enterprise working in harmony with foreign capital — at a time when Palam airport in Delhi was considered the boondocks, Calcutta Airport had daily BOAC flights ferrying businessmen, investors, and industrialists across seas and oceans.
The noted public affairs commentator said that beginning of the turbulent 1960s, all boxwallah companies began making an exit from Bengal - the most industrialised state in independent India. "By the violent 1970s and the Marxist decades that followed, what little remained of the famed Bengal industry and Bengali enterprise disappeared in bits and pieces while dollhouse townships like Dunlop and Bata Nagar became indistinguishable from the rest of decrepit and decaying Bengal."
Gupta said it was a strange feeling to learn that Britannia had shut its machines and switched off its lights at its sprawling factory in Kolkata. "I guess this was inevitable," he said, adding that the company has said that shutting of the factory "would not have any material impact on the business operations of the company". "It means Britannia will maintain its earnings minus its operations in Calcutta. What does that say of the West Bengal Government, the TMC, and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee?" he asked.
Sanjiva Jha, an entrepreneur, suggested Britannia was going the Bata way. He said it was disheartening to hear about the closure of the historic Britannia factory in Taratolla, Kolkata. "This iconic establishment in south Kolkata has been a landmark in the City of Joy for seven decades," he said in a tweet. "The gradual shutdown of industries in West Bengal is a concerning trend, leading to increased unemployment and economic stagnation."
Jha said that the focus and priority in Bengal should be on creating a conducive environment for industrial growth and job creation and ensuring a brighter future for its people, not political violence and never-ending parochialism.
On Monday, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya blamed the TMC and the Left regimes for the factory's demise in Bengal. He wrote, "Today's shutdown of Britannia Industries' factory starkly epitomises the descent of Bengal — a region once renowned for its cultural richness and intellectual prowess -- into profound disarray."
The TMC, however, said that the closure was due to internal management issues within Britannia. The ruling party's Kunal Ghosh said there were some issues of their management of the respective industrial organisation. "Those who are mixing it with the overall industrial situation of the state are doing the wrong thing. Several new biscuit factories have been set up in the state and many people have also got employment due to the biscuit production. If only one particular branch of an organisation faces trouble, then their management will look into it," Ghosh said.