During the years when Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was Chief Minister of West Bengal, one of the most influential figures in his government was Industry Minister Nirupam Sen. At the time, discussions around industrialisation dominated the political atmosphere. Nirupam Sen would often speak about how he and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee were trying to reshape Bengal's economic future through industry and investment. Yet, they also carried what he described as the "historical baggage" of the Communist movement, a political tradition that had long viewed aggressive industrialisation with suspicion.
Nirupam Sen once told me about his dreams for Bardhaman District, his home district. He wanted to build a Health City there and develop industrial zones that could transform the region economically. During that conversation, he mentioned the then District Magistrate of Bardhaman, Subrata Gupta, and said, "You should meet him. He is a brilliant officer. Then you will understand how serious we are about changing Bardhaman."
When I finally met Subrata Gupta, I was genuinely surprised. Officers with such an academic and technocratic background are rare in the bureaucracy. Subrata Gupta belonged to the 1990 batch of the West Bengal cadre. He was highly educated, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, and also held a PhD. He had served as District Magistrate in both Jalpaiguri and Bardhaman, and wherever he worked, he tried to combine administration with long-term development planning.
In Bardhaman, he focused heavily on industrial development. Later, he rose through the ranks to become Executive Director and eventually Managing Director of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC). Those were crucial years. Between 2007 and 2011, Bengal witnessed one of the most dramatic political and industrial confrontations in its modern history, the Singur movement over the Tata Nano project.
Subrata Gupta was deeply involved in the discussions surrounding the Tata project. He worked closely with Nirupam Sen and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and became one of the trusted administrators overseeing implementation. He admired Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's vision for industrialisation and believed Bengal needed large-scale investment to revive its economy.
Personally, Subrata Gupta earned a reputation for honesty, transparency, and professionalism. Yet history moved in a different direction. Mamata Banerjee's Singur movement gathered momentum, Tata eventually withdrew from Singur, and the Left Front suffered a historic defeat in 2011. The industrialisation model championed by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Nirupam Sen collapsed politically.
After Mamata Banerjee came to power, Subrata Gupta never truly found acceptance within the new regime. During his tenure at WBIDC, his office was located near Dalhousie. Another important industrial organisation functioned in the same building under Nandini Chakraborty, who was considered close to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Nirupam Sen. Shubhasis Sen, then Industry Secretary, was also part of that administrative circle.
However, equations changed after the political transition. Nandini Chakraborty gradually gained Mamata Banerjee's confidence and eventually became Chief Secretary. Subrata Gupta, despite being senior, never received that elevation. Many within the bureaucracy felt he had been sidelined.
Still, unlike several others, he never publicly criticised Mamata Banerjee. He did not protest, did not give aggressive statements, and did not create political controversy. Instead, when the opportunity came, he quietly moved to Delhi and later served in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
Subrata Gupta's career, however, extended far beyond Singur. After WBIDC, he became Managing Director of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL), where he played an important role in India's first underwater metro project between Howrah Maidan and Kolkata. Later, he also served as Additional Chief Secretary and handled departments such as Science & Technology, Food Processing, and North Bengal Development.
Even during Mamata Banerjee's tenure, he continued to work professionally. I remember accompanying Mamata Banerjee to Darjeeling as part of the press contingent. During that visit, Subrata Gupta was explaining in detail how North Bengal could benefit from food processing, scientific innovation, and technological intervention. He spoke calmly and efficiently, and Mamata listened carefully. Outwardly, the relationship remained cordial.
Yet somewhere, mutual distrust persisted.
Some IAS officers from the same generation reportedly warned Mamata Banerjee against trusting Subrata Gupta completely. They would tell her that he maintained connections in Raj Bhavan and Delhi and remained close to influential bureaucratic and political circles. Over time, this created a complicated atmosphere around him. On several occasions, Mamata Banerjee is believed to have misunderstood his intentions, which further widened the distance.
Despite all this, Subrata Gupta's administrative contributions remained significant. In North Bengal, he promoted low-cost farming innovation and introduced projects like the Bamboo Poly House model. He also pushed for technological integration in governance and encouraged the use of electronic and AI-supported administrative systems long before such ideas became fashionable in state administration.
However, Singur continued to define his public image. Because of his role during the Tata project years, Mamata Banerjee remained suspicious of him politically. Later, when he was appointed as an election observer during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, Mamata even accused him of deleting minority voters. Still, Gupta maintained silence and kept both his family life and personal affairs away from public attention.
Now, in a major political and administrative shift, Subrata Gupta has emerged as chief adviser to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Speaking about his new role, Gupta has said that he has "many plans" for Bengal, but he does not want to reveal everything immediately. According to him, industrial development is not something that happens overnight.
"You cannot announce an industry today and expect results tomorrow," he reportedly said. "Industrialisation requires planning, patience, and careful implementation. This is not an amateur exercise."
Work on that roadmap, according to sources, has already begun.
A major part of the economic planning is expected to involve Ashok Lahiri, now serving as vice-chairman of NITI Aayog under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Lahiri is expected to act as the nodal figure in Delhi for coordinating Bengal's industrial and economic revival with the Centre.
Several sectors have already been identified for priority development. Prime Minister Modi has repeatedly pointed out that although Bengalis are known for their love of fish, fish production in Bengal has declined. Plans are reportedly being discussed to revive the fisheries sector through financial and infrastructural support.
Coal, steel, and tea, traditionally Bengal's strongest industrial sectors, are also expected to receive renewed attention. Heavy industry, however, remains a long-term challenge. Officials close to the administration acknowledge that large-scale industrialisation cannot happen instantly.
Singur, significantly, may once again become central to Bengal's industrial debate. According to discussions within policy circles, a larger industrial plan is being considered for the region where the Tata project had once collapsed.
There are also discussions around creating new Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Rajarhat has been identified as one such possible location, though political hurdles had earlier prevented approvals. Compared to Gujarat, establishing SEZs in Bengal has always been more difficult because of the fragmented and fertile agricultural land created after land reforms. Still, planners believe land remains available if acquisition policies are redesigned carefully.
Land acquisition, therefore, remains one of the biggest unresolved issues. The new administration is reportedly studying ways to ease policy bottlenecks without triggering fresh political backlash.
North Bengal, too, is being considered for major urban expansion through satellite townships and infrastructure-led development. Plans are also underway to pitch Bengal aggressively to investors during a future industrial summit, which some within BJP circles hope could become Bengal's equivalent of Vibrant Gujarat. There is even speculation that Prime Minister Modi himself could attend such a summit.
But officials close to the new administration repeatedly stress that industrialisation will succeed only if law and order, infrastructure, and administrative stability are maintained properly.
And perhaps that is where Subrata Gupta's real importance lies, not merely as a bureaucrat from the Buddhadeb era nor as the "Singur man", but as someone now being repositioned as one of the architects of Bengal's next industrial experiment.
(Jayanta Ghosal is Contributing Editor, NDTV)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
