Latest revision as of 17:38, 7 May 2021

Some milestones during the reign of Mamata Bannerjee in West Bengal; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, May 20, 2016

[edit] Biographical highlights

[edit] Mid-1970s- mid 80s

Jayanta Ghosal, May 19, 2016: Scroll

‘The young student leader eclipsed the competition and captured the attention of the top state leaders. Priyaranjan Das Munshi and Subrata Mukherjee were a powerful pair at the time. Mukherjee was the home minister of the state. Mamata was introduced to Das Munshi, who declared in everyone’s presence, ‘Mamata gives powerful speeches. You must use her to address college students everywhere.’ Subrata Mukherjee asked her to visit him at home, too. One day Mamata was giving a speech against a Leftist strike at Jagu Babur Bajar near Bhowanipore. Hearing her from his car, Siddhartha Shankar Ray got off to congratulate her. Gradually, Subrata Mukherjee started taking Mamata to the districts.

The Left was very opposed to her, often aggressively so. On one occasion, CPM workers grabbed the mike from Mamata while she was giving a speech at Harinavi. As the violence in student politics began to escalate, Mamata had a head-on battle with the CPM over the issue of gate meetings at the college. CPM workers chased her with pistols, sten guns, bombs and knives through Bhowanipore in broad daylight.

In 1977 the Congress was ousted from power, and the first Left Front government took over. Losing the elections, Das Munshi quit the Congress to start his own party, named Congress (R). But Subrata Mukherjee did not leave. He was the general secretary of the party at the time. His mentor was Pranab Mukherjee, a confidant of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s in Delhi, and himself a cabinet minister. Mamata became even more active during this troubled period for the Congress, coming closer to Subrata Mukherjee.

As she herself says, ‘The CPM was a force to reckon with at the time. No one dared take a procession out. My assignment was to take out processions with young men and women from the locality. Bandhs would be called. And we used to take processions out under Subrata Da’s leadership. But his processions inevitably meant bombs and batons and clashes with the police.’ There was still political violence in West Bengal. Three young men died in police firing at Esplanade East on September 22, 1980. Mamata was present at the demonstration that day.

She began to be called wherever there were protests. Madhu Dandavate was the Union Railway Minister. There would be protests against him at Kalyani, so Mamata had to be present, even though it was the day of the preliminary exam of her law course. Mamata left immediately after taking her exam at Law College, where a car was waiting for her. That day, too, the police used batons and opened fire at Kalyani. In Jammu & Kashmir, three people had been killed in police firing by the Farooq Abdullah government. It was the winter of 1983. Abdullah was to take the 6 a.m. flight from Kolkata to Delhi, a difficult time to stage a protest at the airport. But Mamata was undaunted. She reached the airport with the group of protesters she had gathered the night before and they staged their protest early the next morning.

That year, the Congress Party held its annual session in Kolkata. Rajiv Gandhi was staying at Nizam Palace in the city. Subrata Mukherjee, who was given the responsibility of looking after him, passed this task on to Mamata. So Mamata stayed on duty at the Nizam Palace and caught Rajiv Gandhi’s attention for the first time. Nizam Palace was being renovated and there was a problem with getting hot water. Mamata made sure hot water was delivered in buckets to Rajiv in his first floor room.

Then came the historic moment in Mamata’s life – Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Elections once more. Despite the huge sympathy wave, no one was willing to be the Congress candidate against senior CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee in the party’s ‘Red Fort’ – Jadavpur. Even the central minister, Debi Prasad Chattopadhyay, did not agree despite repeated requests. In her autobiography, Mamata writes, ‘When no one agreed, Pranab Da told Subrata Da, no one’s willing, and Mamata is very young. Check the age certificate and ask her whether she’ll fight the elections. Subrata Da rang me and said, “Pranab Da is asking that you stand in the elections.” “I accept the challenge,” I said.’

Mamata won against all odds, becoming an MP for the first time. She never had to look back after that. No one had imagined that she would succeed in defeating formidable barrister Somnath Chatterjee in a CPM citadel-like Jadavpur. I had joined journalism the same year. Covering the elections in Jadavpur, I learnt what popularity means. It’s true that there was a huge sympathy wave after Indira Gandhi’s assassination, which would have given a boost to any Congress candidate. But with her victory in Jadavpur, Mamata had gained the reputation of a giant-killer.’

[edit] 1999/ Kandahar

Amid the prevailing tension in the wake of the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar in 1999, Mamata Banerjee, a Union Cabinet Minister then, had offered herself as a hostage in exchange for the passengers of the flight, former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said

"I want to tell you today that when the Indian Airlines plane was hijacked to Kandahar, there was a discussion happening in the Cabinet. Mamatji offered to go herself as a hostage on the condition that the Indians are released in exchange. She was ready to make that sacrifice," he said.

[edit] 2011-16

Shougat Dasgupta Asit Jolly MG Arun Damayanti Datta , Behind the headlines “India Today” 29/12/2016

India Today , December 29 , 2016

She brought the marxists to their knees in 2011 and in 2016, winning a second term with a two-third majority. It seems as if nothing could hold her back: an Opposition nipping at her heels, the muck from the financial scams, even a severe Election Commission that was always breathing down her neck. Mamata travelled extensively through the state to appeal to voters to vote for her and, by extension, the development of Bengal. She was ma, didi and pahradar (watchman) of Bengal, all rolled into one tangail-clad, rubber chappal-shod matir mei (daughter of the soil). Here are five other reasons why she made headlines this year:

• She returned the Singur land to the farmers, keeping an old promise she had made after courts nixed the Tata acquisition.

• She changed West Bengal's name-it's now Bengal in English, Bangla in Bengali. The Centre has to clear it.

• She distributed shoes, satchels and cycles to children, under the project Sabuj Sathi. Girl students also got gold-plated bangles under the Kanyashree scheme, a token of recognition for continuing in school instead of getting married.

• She's a champion of women's causes. Apart from introducing 730 days of childcare leave for the state's women staff, there's now a month of paternity leave for new fathers.

• She has been at the centre of Opposition protests against PM Narendra Modi's demonetisation drive. "Oust Modi, save the country," she says. Loudly. And often.

by Romita Datta

[edit] Attacks and injuries: 1990-2021

March 12, 2021: The Indian Express

KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee has earned for herself the image of the gutsy political leader, who has weathered physical attacks and injuries in her four-decade- long career to emerge stronger in her public life.

Her comebacks after such incidents saw her attacking her opposition with greater ferocity.

The TMC supremo's image as a fearless fighter, endowed with nerves of steel and political acumen who can become one with legions of her supporters, took shape after one such deadly attack when she was hit on the head by a CPI-M youth leader in 1990 and had to be confined to a hospital bed for an entire month.

Again in July 1993 Banerjee, then a Youth Congress member, was beaten up by the police when she lead a rally to Writers' Buildings, the erstwhile secretariat, demanding voter photo identity cards.

The rallyists had clashed with the police prompting the force to fire killing 14 Youth Congress activists.

Banerjee was beaten up and then too she was under treatment in the hospital for a few weeks.

The Bengal chief minister, who is presently facing one of the toughest political battles of her career, is in hospital yet again with her leg in a cast and complaints of chest pain after being injured in an alleged attack on Wednesday night at Nandigram hours after she filed her nomination for the seat.

Banerjee has said that she was attacked by four to five men on that day. The battle is crucial this time as BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition, has thrown down the gauntlet and aims to stop her from returning to power for the third straight time.

Nandigram is where she will take on her former protege and now BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.

The place had played a significant role in her career as the historic anti-farmland acquisition movement led by her party there in 2007 in the face of violence and police bullets saw her emerging as a giant slayer.

Riding the crest of the movement, she had led TMC to defeat the longest serving democratically elected communist regime of the world in 2011.

The CPI-M;led Left Front had to bite the dust that year in West Bengal after helming the the state for 34 long years.

A quick look at the 66-year-old leader's political journey in the mid-1970s shows how injuries and physical assaults have shaped her political career over the years.

Banerjee, then Youth Congress leader, first came into the limelight after defeating CPI(M) stalwart and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee from Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency in 1984 riding the sympathy wave following the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

She, however, lost the 1989 Parliamentary polls.

The attack on her on August 16, 1990 by DYFI leader Lalu Alam who hit her on the head with a stick had taken place at Hazra crossing in the city, the scene of many of her agitations, near her Kalighat residence.

The attack had fractured her skull.

The incident had made her a household name in the state and one of the tallest mass leaders of West Bengal Congress on the same pedestal as stalwarts like A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury, Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi and Somen Mitra.

Banerjee was in her 30s then.

Three years later in January 1993, Banerjee, then president of the state Youth Congress, had stormed into Writers' Buildings with a hearing-and speech-impaired girl heavily pregnant after being raped by a CPI-M man.

She had led a three-hour-long dharna in front of the chambers of the then chief minister Jyoti Basu alleging that the rapist had not been arrested because of his political affiliations.

Banerjee had sat with the victim on the floor virtually laying a seige on the chief minister's office demanding immediate arrest of the rapist and an audience from Basu.

After the police failed to persuade her, a huge contingent of the force had reached Writers' Buildings, dragged her by the hair, put her in a prison van and whisked her to the nearby Lalbazar central police lock up.

In 2000-01, just two years after she broke away from the Congress and formed Trinamool Congress, her vehicle was repeatedly attacked at Keshpur and Chamakaitala in West Midnapore district, where several TMC workers were killed during the bloody turf war between the party and CPI(M).

Crude bombs were hurled at her car in 2001 whe she visited Choto Angaria in West Midnapore where 11 workers of her party had been killed in political clashes.

In 2006 and 2007 Banerjee was attacked on several occasions by alleged CPI(M) goons who threw bombs and fired at her car to stop her entry into Nandigram - then a battlefield due to the anti-farm land acquisition movement.

In 2006 during her protest outside the office of the block development officer at Singur, she was dragged by the police and removed from the spot.

In 2010 during her tenure as Railway Minister, a car in Banerjee's convoy was hit by a truck.

The TMC supremo was returning from a rally at the then Maoist bastion of Lalgarh and had alleged that it was an attempt on her life.

Such incidents, however, did not occur since TMC came to power in 2011 and Banerjee became the chief minister until Wednesday's attack at Nandigram.

The attacks on her had been greeted with derision by her political opponents.

CPI-M had on several occasions alleged that Banerjee had herself scripted the "dramas" of being attacked to gain sympathy. The TMC has claimed that Wednesday's incident was a "well planned conspiracy" by BJP to "remove" her from the poll campaign.

"Mamata Banerjee is a fighter. The more you attack her she makes a comeback with more ferocity," TMC leader Sougata Roy said. Banerjee has described herself as a "street fighter" many times in the past.

"Many people don't want her to campaign for the elections. They want her to be removed from their path. The BJP should be ashamed that it has stooped so low that its supporters are attacking a woman," Roy said.

The BJP has denied the allegation and said Banerjee is only trying to get sympathy votes.

West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh on Thursday demanded a CBI probe into the attack on Banerjee at Nandigram saying that it needs to be seen whether the incident was a "well-scripted drama" to garner votes. "The people of the state have seen such a drama earlier too", he added.

The Congress too has been critical about the alleged attack on Banerjee at Nandigram.

Its state party president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had on Wednesday accused her of resorting to "hypocrisy and theatrics" to gain public sympathy ahead of the assembly polls.

Chowdhury, who is also the Congress' leader in Lok Sabha, said Banerjee is "feeling the heat" in Nandigram and is thus resorting to "stunts and drama".

[edit] Giant killer

[edit] 1984- 2021

May 4, 2021: The Times of India

Mamata Banerjee, a life in numbers (till 2021 May)
From: May 4, 2021: The Times of India

Mamata Banerjee: controversies, 2013-16
From: May 4, 2021: The Times of India

West Bengal’s first female chief minister, and indeed the only one in the country currently, has just pulled off a hat-trick. Despite losing the prestige battle against former-aide-turned-defector Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram, the 66-year-old Mamata Banerjee has led the Trinamool Congress to one of its biggest victories to date. With it, she is set to return as the chief minister of the state for the third time running.

That’s reason enough to celebrate her, but the widespread euphoria, a lot of it outside West Bengal, stems from the fact that she stopped the BJP juggernaut from rolling over Bengali culture. At a time when the BJP formula seems to be that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are invincible, Banerjee showed the country that things could be different. As Omar Abdullah, vice president of the Jammu Kashmir National Conference, said in his congratulatory message to Banerjee: “The BJP & a thoroughly partisan Election Commission threw everything including the kitchen sink at you & you prevailed.”

This is not Banerjee’s first against-the-odds fight in her political career spanning four decades. Since shooting to the political limelight in 1975 as a Youth Congress worker — when she made headlines for dancing on anti-Emergency leader Jayaprakash Narayan’s car as a mark of protest during his rally against Indira Gandhi in Calcutta — she has emerged a giant killer at least three times now.

[edit] 1984 - Defeated three-time MP Somnath Chatterjee to make her Lok Sabha debut

For the general elections of 1984, the Congress party had faced a hard time finding candidates to field against CPI(M)’s Somnath Chatterjee for the Jadavpur seat. Jadavpur, a Left stronghold, used to be called the 'Leningrad of Calcutta', and Chatterjee was the three-time incumbent that nobody from the Bengal Congress wanted to take on.

In her biography titled ‘Didi — The Untold Mamata Banerjee’, author Shutapa Paul wrote, “The Congress had already considered Jadavpur a foregone conclusion but wanted young blood in the fray.” The name finally proposed by West Bengal Congress leader and trade unionist Subrata Mukherjee was Banerjee’s.

As a 29-year-old, firebrand Banerjee played David to Chatterjee’s Goliath, and handed him a shocking defeat, securing over 50% of the votes. This, in fact, was the only election that Chatterjee ever lost in his four-decade-long political career.

With this win, Banerjee entered the Lok Sabha as one of the youngest parliamentarians in the history of Indian democracy. Soon after, she was appointed general secretary of the All India Youth Congress by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Although she lost the Jadavpur seat in 1989, Banerjee stood for election again in 1991, this time from Kolkata South constituency, and returned to the Lok Sabha with a bang. She was repeatedly re-elected from the seat all the way till 2009.

===2011 - Ended the Left Front regime===
 In 1997, Banerjee, after a disagreement with the Congress, formed the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). Some 14 years after forming the paty, Banerjee made history. In the 2011 Legislative Assembly elections, Banerjee orchestrated the move to bring the curtains down on the world’s longest-serving, democratically-elected communist government. The Trinamool Congress bagged some 60% of the seats.

Banerjee had been chipping away at the Left Front edifice since 2009, when her party won 19 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The following year, Trinamool Congress fought the crucial civic polls alone and trounced the CPI(M).

Finally, in May 2011, 56-year-old Banerjee successfully rode the anti-incumbency wave in partnership with the Congress and shot straight into Kolkata’s Writer’s Building, then home to the Chief Minister’s office, on the back of her slogan "Ma, Maati, Manush".

Flash forward 10 years, and Banerjee is preparing for her third term while the CPI(M) has all but disappeared. In the just-concluded assembly elections in West Bengal, the Left Front and the Congress party, which ruled the state for nearly six decades between them, failed to win even a single seat.

===2021 - Stopped the Modi-Shah juggernaut to emerge tallest Opposition leader===
 The exit polls grudgingly gave Banerjee and the Trinamool a slight edge in the latest assembly elections. The BJP was out in force — and the INC was proving to be a spent force. With little support, nobody really expected Banerjee to pull off her biggest win to date. The TMC has won 213 seats in the 294-seat assembly in the latest polls — compared to 211 seats in the 2016 assembly polls, and 184 seats when she brought down the CPI(M).

The BJP’s Amit Shah had grandly declared that his party would win at least 122 seats of the 180 contested in the first five phases of this extended election. Till rallies in the state were called off courtesy Covid-19, Modi addressed 15 rallies in 12 days and Shah addressed 62 rallies in 28 days. A battery of Union cabinet ministers, chief ministers from BJP-ruled states, including Yogi Adityanath, and central BJP leaders campaigned in the state for 117 days.

Meanwhile, Banerjee not only faced anti-incumbency and the formidable force of the BJP election juggernaut but also hordes of TMC leaders being weaned away by the saffron camp, all hinting at a fight for survival. She chose Nandigram over her home turf Bhabanipur this time around. Let’s not forget, it was the agitation in Nandigram and Singur against the Left government's land acquisition policies that made Banerjee chief minister in the first place.

As the battle-lines grew sharper, the TMC chief fought head on — campaigning in almost every seat, tom-tomming the “outsider” narrative for the Modi-Shah combine and playing polarising politics better than the BJP. The saffron party had pinned its hopes on polarisation of Hindu votes and hoped to consolidate the Scheduled Caste (SC) voters. The latter did not happen and the Muslims put their weight behind Banerjee, contributing to her landslide victory.

Today, Banerjee is clearly at the forefront of any anti-BJP mobilisation ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024. But before that, she has to get elected to the legislative assembly through a byelection within six months to retain her designation since she lost Nandigram.

Leaving no doubt that she will lead the charge against BJP at the Centre, Banerjee announced on Sunday that “the Bengal victory for TMC is the beginning of the downslide of the Modi-Shah-led saffron supremacy” in the country.