New Delhi: From examining how Mamata Banerjee stopped BJP’s juggernaut in the 2021 West Bengal polls to decoding her roadmap for 2024 general elections and understanding her relationship with Opposition parties, Jayanta Ghosal’s book ‘Mamata Beyond 2021’ provides a detailed account of Banerjee’s journey as the “daughter of Bengal”.
Published by HarperCollins India, the book will be released on SoftCover — ThePrint’s e-venue to launch select non-fiction books — on 31 March, at 1pm.
Hailing Banerjee, Ghosal said, “Mamata is probably the only leader at present who can beat the masters of alternative reality, Amit Shah and Narendra Modi, at their own game, something that the Congress has failed to do since 2014.”
“But the question is, can Mamata replicate this at the national level, as she did in West Bengal in 2021? This book tries to decode her roadmap,” he added.
Explaining the key factors that helped the Trinamool Congress win the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections, the book talks of a “massive gap in the BJP’s understanding of Bengali identity”, which Mamata was able to exploit. It also discusses an “overdose” of central intervention, ranging from paramilitary forces to intelligence agencies to target key TMC leaders.
Highlighting some key questions that the book tries to answer, Ghosal said, “Is Mamata now the No. 2 political brand in the country? What is her roadmap for 2024? This is what the book explores as it examines why the BJP lost the plot in West Bengal and what this means for the next general elections.”
“This book asks some of the most important questions that will affect all Indians in the next two years leading up to the elections. Most importantly, whether Mamata Banerjee will play a decisive role,” said the book’s translator Arunava Sinha.
“Mamata Banerjee is one politician that everybody is watching and curious about. From her sensational 2021 Bengal assembly win, to her plans for 2024, this book goes beyond the headlines to bring us the true story of what makes Mamata Banerjee, a fierce political opponent to the BJP in today’s India,” said Swati Chopra, executive editor, HarperCollins India.
Ghosal has been a political journalist for the past four decades and worked with Bengali newspapers Anandabazar Patrika and Bartaman, TV channels ABP News and India TV. He is now a consulting editor at the India Today Group. He has authored several other books in Bengali on the region and is also Banerjee’s biographer.
Sinha translates classic, modern and contemporary Bengali fiction and non-fiction from Bangladesh and India into English. More than 65 of his translations have been published so far in India, the UK and US. His recent translations include ‘The Sickle’ by Anita Agnihotri, ‘Khwabnama’ by Akhtaruzzaman Elias and ‘Imaan’ by Manoranjan Byapari.
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