Mamata: from street fighter to mass leader

Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee, popularly known as 'Didi' to all her followers, has acquired the reputation of having relentlessly fought the Left Front regime in West Bengal for close to three decades, and the journey hasn't been easy.

Daughter of a freedom fighter, Mamata entered politics in the 1970s when she joined the student wing of the Congress party while studying in Kolkata.

But her big moment in politics came in 1984, when she defeated veteran CPI-M leader Somnath Chatterjee from the Jadavpore Lok Sabha seat. Later, her tremendous mass appeal saw her register six-straight victories from Kolkata South.

Mamata first entered the corridors of power in 1991 as a junior minister in the PV Narasimha Rao government.

After spending over 20 years in the Congress, she snapped ties with the party in 1998, accusing it of diluting its opposition to the CPI-M and formed her own party the Trinamool Congress.

Known for her flip-flops and mercurial nature, Mamata's single-minded determination to defeat the Marxists, first saw her ally with the BJP-led NDA in 1998, then with the Congress just ahead of the 2001 state elections and finally again with the NDA in 2004. However all these tie-ups were seen as opportunistic and did not pay off.

The electoral reverses continued and in 2005, Trinamool lost control of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and a year later faced a crushing defeat in the Assembly elections, with more than half of TMC sitting members losing.

But despite these major setbacks, Mamata refused to give up and her big opportunity came when Nandigram and Singur exploded on the national scene.

In December 2006, she went on a fast for 25 days in protest against land acquisition by the Tata Motors for its Nano car project at Singur and ultimately succeeded in driving the car project out of West Bengal.

Mamata's anti-industry stand grew stronger when in March 2007 protests against land acquisition for a proposed chemical hub in Nandigram turned violent. The agitation during which 14 villagers were killed in police firing won her the support of prominent Bengali intellectuals.

Her confidence got a further boost when she along with the Congress managed to significantly dent the Left's rural vote bank in the 2008 panchayat elections.

She then formally allied with Congress and did spectacularly well in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections going on to become the Railway Minister for the second time.

The last one year has seen Mamata consolidate her position.

Most by-election results have gone in her party's favour. The Left has accused her of supporting a violent tribal movement in Lalgarh and of being hand in glove with the Maoists.

But that hasn't deterred her. With just a year to go for the Bengal Assembly elections, 55-year-old Mamata Banerjee is growing from strength to strength and seems within striking distance of capturing Writers' Buildings.

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