MAMATA BANERJEE: THE ROYAL BENGAL TIGRESS by Mihir Srivastava

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal (WB) for 14 years now, is perhaps the most powerful politician in the country outside of the Bharatiya

Janata Party (BJP).

Popularly known as Didi, she runs the state with an iron fist. This despite the meteoric rise of the BJP across the country in the last decade or so as a potent political force, many popular chief ministers like that of Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi or Navin Patnaik of Odisha are ousted; they seemed fairly invincible till they fell.

But, Didi is unfaltering and strong and in control. And has kept BJP at bay, though their vote share has been rising in the past decade. For instance, in 2019, Kolkata police had rounded up a team of eight CBI officials who were there to question the then city police commissioner Rajeev Kumar—who’s considered close to Didi. This has triggered an unprecedented confrontation between the union and the WB government.

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A single woman, Didi, withstood the electoral violence, not only stood her ground, emerged stronger from every crisis, and became a change agent, dislodging one the most entrenched regimes in a state since independence. In all these years, she has not changed much, clad in white cotton saree, white slippers, she walks briskly, talks even faster. A lone ranger, she writes poetry and paints—sold almost 300 works of paintings.

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A spinster, Didi had a humble upbringing, was political from student days, excelled in the street politics to storm the national politics, joined the Congress party, and was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time in 1984 when she was barely 29 years old, beating veteran CPI leader Somnath Chatterjee from the Jadavpur seat in South Kolkata. In 1997 formed her own party All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and, in 2011, she ended the 34-year-old uninterrupted Left rule in WB—a state known for electoral violence. She has since been at the helm of affairs in the state.

She is not a typical bhadralok—a Bengali term to for an anglophile gentleman seeped in nativity or in other words an elite, educated man from a cultured class in 19th-century colonial Bengal, essentially upper caste Hindus—Brahmin, Baidya or Kayastha—who dominated the intellectual discourse in the region.

Despite being a Brahmin, she is an anti-thesis of the ideals of bhadralok. She epitomises a common Bengali, though highly educated, she’s a graduate in history from Jogamaya Devi College; a post graduate in Islamic history from Calcutta University; has a degree in law from Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College, Kolkata. And had her share of struggle before she got into politics, did odd jobs before joining politics—include that of a stenographer, teacher in a primary school, and even a salesgirl. This was all part of the learning curve.

Blessed with an outgoing personality, Didi is clad in white cotton saree, white slippers, she walks briskly, talks even faster, though isn’t fluent in English or Hindi—she’s an effective communicator. In all these years, she has not changed much. A lone ranger, she writes poetry and paints—sold almost 300 works of paintings.

Mamata Banerjee is one of the three women cult leaders after Indira Gandhi—Didi, Amma, and Bahenji (Mamata, Jayalalitha of Tamil Nadu and Mayawati of UP). There are some stark similarities between them: spinster, one of the most powerful chief ministers of their state, face of their party, ruled with iron fist, and the bureaucracy operates in perpetual fear.

Didi is singularly responsible for the decline of the Left politics in the country; Kerala is the only place where they have a respectable presence. The radical Left movement emerged from Naxalbari—a small hamlet in the district of Siliguri, and in 1977 CPI led government came into power and remained so for the next 34 years. The Left’s progressive land reform got them the mass support; but the politics of coercion and violence is also said to be one of the reasons they could cement their hold—but now a thing of the past. Ironically, they are relegated to footnotes, are not even the main opposition party; BJP is Didi’s real opponent now.

A single woman, Didi, withstood the electoral violence, not only stood her ground, emerged stronger from every crisis, and became a change agent, dislodging one the most entrenched regimes in a state since independence. However, this has to be said, her coming to power didn't end the culture of political violence in the state; it has almost become a tradition in state politics.

However, what she achieved is incredible notwithstanding what she had to endure. There were instances when all this could have ended in a tragedy. For instance, in 1991, Didi fractured her head in an attack by a CPI-M goon Lalu Alam. Two years later, she was man-handled while being thrown out of the state secretariat—the Writers' Buildings—by the police. She was protesting in front of the incumbent chief minister, Jyoti Basu’s office.

There is a famous picture of her with the then President of the BJP, Rajnath Singh, with her. This was the year 2006, she had to be put on oxygen support after she developed respiratory problems on the 23rd day of her fast to protest. Singh was there to persuade Didi to end her fast. She was against the WB government move to ‘forcible’ acquisition of farm land at Singur for Tata Motor's Nano project. Tata shut shop and left the state ruled by the Left.

Didi is one of the most hated figures in Left politics, globally. For they don’t understand her, far from being able to contain or control her. A few years ago, Didi was in Oxford university to address the student—would have made bhadralok jealous. The SFI-UK held a demonstration in Kellogg College against her, what they dubbed as “corrupt, undemocratic rule.”

Nearly half of the AITC member of parliament are women, none of them are like her, they are closer to bhandralok, and, very vocal in the parliament, one of them known for her high decibel debates to embarrass the ruling party, while another b​handralok is a zester, imitates senior politicians and lampoons the ruling party, another is a yesteryears quiz master, now face of the party in Delhi.

Didi remains the supreme leader, and she time and again asserts her dominance, lest partymen take it easy. Though, grapevine talks aloud about the political ambitions of her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, a contender for the leadership. Speculations are laid to rest for some time when she asserts her control in her quintessential way.

Her biggest political challenge would come from the BJP in the next assembly elections. Didi is ready for it.