Mamata Banerjee is the eighth Chief Minister of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal and the first woman to hold this office. She founded the Trinamool Congress in 1998 after splitting from the Indian National Congress and has represented the Bhabanipur constituency in the state assembly since 2011.
When Mamata Banerjee first joined the Congress (I) in the 1970s, she rose to be the General Secretary of the State Mahila Congress (I) from 1976 to 1980. She has previously served as an MP for Kolkata South in the Lok Sabha and was the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Youth Affairs and Sports, and Women and Child Development under the P.V. Narasimha Rao government.
One of the defining moments in Mamata Banerjee’s political career was her involvement in the Singur and Nandigram movements. These movements — centered around land acquisition issues, particularly the acquisition of agricultural land for industrial projects — saw her rise as a leader and advocate for the rights of farmers and local communities in Bengal’s Singur and Nandigram districts. She received widespread support, eventually leading to the downfall of the 34-year-old Left Front government in West Bengal and her ascent to power.
1. Lok Sabha election is due in May 2019. Smt Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal (WB) and head of Trinamool Congress (TMC), who has been a bitter critic of NDA and PM Shri Modi, has a single point agenda for next year’s Lok Sabha election: to defeat BJP. 2. As part of her efforts to defeat what often she calls ‘fundamentalist’ BJP, she is keen that regional parties like SP, BSP, AAP, RJD, NCP, TDP, TRS (and possibly BJD) come together and form a Third or Federal Front. I suppose the rally proposed to be held in January 2019 in Kolkata would be a major initiative to bring together all regional parties. 3. Interesting questions with regard to the Third/Federal fronts are these (a) Would parties like JD(S), AIADMK, and Communists be invited for participation in the January rally? (b) Would Smt Mamata Banerjee be ready to include Congress in the Third/Federal front? 4. Smt Mamata Banerjee recently declared her resolve to ensure that TMC wins all 42 Lok Sabha seats in WB. What would happen to Congress party in WB then? Political developments in next six months will be worth watching.