Mamata Banerjee
Encyclopedia
Mamata Banerjee is the 11th and current chief minister
of the Indian state of West Bengal
. She is the first woman to hold the office. Banerjee founded All India Trinamool Congress
in 1997 and became chairperson, after separating from the Indian National Congress
. Currently she is also in charge of nine key departments of the government of West Bengal
, including Home, Health and Family Welfare, Land and Land Reforms, Information and Cultural Affairs, Minority Affairs and Madrassah Education, Agriculture, Power and Home (Personnel and Administrative Reforms) departments. She is popularly referred to as "Didi" (meaning elder sister) to all her followers.
Banerjee pulled off a landslide victory for the All India Trinamul Congress in West Bengal by defeating the world's longest-serving democratically-elected communist government, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
-led Left Front
government, bringing to an end 34 years of Left Front rule in the state. Banerjee previously served as a Minister of Railways twice, Minister of Coal
, and Minister of State
for Human Resource Development, Department of Youth Affairs and Sports and Women and Child Development in the cabinet of the Indian government
. She opposed forceful land acquisition for industrialisation by the then communist government in West Bengal for Special Economic Zones at the cost of agriculturalists and farmers.
, India. She grew up in a lower middle-class family and started her political career in Congress
. As a young woman in the 1970s, she quickly rose in the ranks to become the general secretary of the state Mohila Congress (1976–80). She was a college student in the mid-1970s when politics in Bengal began to accommodate the riffraff.
Banerjee graduated with an honours degree in History from the Jogamaya Devi College
, an undergraduate women's college in southern Kolkata
. Later she earned a master's degree in Islamic History from the University of Calcutta
. This was followed by a degree in education from the Shri Shikshayatan College
. She also earned a law degree from the Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College
, Kolkata.
Throughout her political life Banerjee has maintained an austere lifestyle, never spending much money on clothes, cosmetics or jewellery and always with a cotton bag slung on her shoulder. She has remained single throughout her life.
, Banerjee became one of India's youngest parliamentarians ever, beating veteran Communist politician Somnath Chatterjee
, from the Jadavpur parliamentary Constituency
in West Bengal. She also became the General-Secretary of the All India Youth Congress. Losing her seat in 1989 in an anti-Congress wave, she was back in 1991 general elections
, having settled into the Calcutta South constituency
. She retained the Kolkata South seat in the 1996
, 1998
, 1999
, 2004
and 2009 general elections
.
In the Rao
government formed in 1991, Mamata Banerjee was made the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development
, Youth Affairs and Sports
, and Women and Child Development. As the sports minister, she announced that she would resign, and protested in a rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata
, against Government's indifference towards her proposal to improve sports in the country. She was discharged of her portfolios in 1993. In April 1996, she alleged that Congress was behaving as a stooge of the CPI-M in West Bengal
. She claimed that she was the lone voice of reason and wanted a "clean Congress". At a private rally at Alipore
in Kolkata
, Mamata Banerjee wrapped a black shawl around her neck and threatened to make a noose with it. In July 1996, she squatted at the well of Lok Sabha
, the lower house of Indian parliament, to protest a hike in petroleum price, although she was a part of the government that instituted it. In that very time she grasped the collar of Amar Singh, MP of Samajwadi Party, in the well of the parliament. In February 1997, on the day of railway budget presentation in Lok Sabha
, Mamata Banerjee threw her shawl at the railway minister Ram Vilas Paswan
for ignoring West Bengal
and announced her resignation. The speaker, P. A. Sangma
, did not accept her resignation and asked her to apologise. Later she came back as Santosh Mohan Deb mediated.
and established the All India Trinamool Congress
. It quickly became the primary opposition to the long-standing Communist government in the state. On 11 December 1998, she controversially held a Samajwadi Party
MP, Daroga Prasad Saroj, by the collar and dragged him out of the well of the Lok Sabha to prevent him from protesting against the Women's Reservation bill.
In 1999, she joined the BJP
-led National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) government and was allocated the Railways Ministry.
. She introduced a new biweekly New Delhi-Sealdah
Rajdhani Express
train and four express trains connecting various parts of West Bengal
, namely the Howrah-Purulia
Rupasi Bangla Express, Sealdah
-New Jalpaiguri
Express, Shalimar
-Bankura
Arannyak Express and the Sealdah-Amritsar
Superfast Express (weekly). She also increased the frequency of the Pune
-Howrah Azad Hind Express and extension of at least three express train services. Work on the Digha-Howrah Express service was also hastened during her brief tenure.
She also focused on developing tourism, enabling the Darjeeling-Himalayan
section with two additional locomotives and proposing the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited. She also commented that India should play a pivotal role in the Trans-Asian Railway
and that rail links between Bangladesh
and Nepal
would be reintroduced. In all, she introduced 19 new trains for the 2000–2001 fiscal year.
's 2001 elections, amidst speculation that the move could unseat the Communist government. She returned to the cabinet in January 2004, holding the Ministry of Coal
and Mines
portfolios until the 2004 elections, in which she was the only Trinamool Congress member to win a Parliament seat from West Bengal.
On 20 October 2005, she protested against forceful land acquisition and the atrocities on local farmers in the name of industrial development policy of the Buddhadev Bhattacharya government in West Bengal. Benny Santoso, CEO of the Indonesia-based Salim Group had pledged a large investment to West Bengal, and the West Bengal government had given him farmland in Howrah, sparking protest. In soaking rain, Banerjee and other Trinamool Congress members stood in front of the Taj Hotel where Santoso had arrived, shut out by the police. Later, she and her supporters followed Santoso's convoy. A planned "black flag" protest was avoided, when the government had Santoso arrive three hours ahead of schedule.
Mamata Banerjee suffered further setbacks in 2005, when her party lost control of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the sitting mayor defected from her party. In 2006, the Trinamool Congress was defeated in West Bengal's Assembly Elections, losing more than half of its sitting members.
On 4 August 2006, Banerjee hurled her resignation papers at the deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal in Lok Sabha
. The provocation was the speaker (Somnath Catterjee)'s rejection of her adjournment motion on illegal infiltration by Bangladeshis in West Bengal. The motion was turned down by the speaker on the ground that it was not in the proper format.
In November 2006, Banerjee was forcibly stopped on her way to Singur
for a rally against a proposed Tata Motors car project. Mamata reached the West Bengal assembly and protested at the venue. She addressed a press conference at the assembly and announced a 12-hour shutdown by her party on Friday. The Trinamul Congress MLAs protested by damaging furniture and microphones in the West Bengal Assembly. A major strike was called on 14 December 2006.
Now in the 2009 parliament election where TMC was in alliance with UPA and people of West Bengal acted against the Left front and elected Congress
-TMC
alliance cccin 26 seats, which made Mamata Banerjee again the Indian Railway Minister for next five years.
In the 2010 Municipal Elections in West Bengal, TMC won Kolkata Municipal Corporation in a margin of 62 seats. TMC also won Bidhan Nagar Corporation in 16-9 seats margin.
In 2011, Banerjee won a sweeping majority and assumed the position of chief minister of the state of West Bengal. Her party ended the 34-year rule.
, West Bengal where, on the orders of the Left Front government, more than 4,000 heavily-armed police stormed the rural area in the district of Purba Medinipur with the aim of stamping out protests against the West Bengal government’s plans to expropriate 10000 acres (40.5 km²) of land for a Special Economic Zone
(SEZ) to be developed by the Indonesian-based Salim Group
. The police shot dead at least 14 villagers and wounded 70 more.
The SEZ controversy started when the government of West Bengal decided that the Salim Group
of Indonesia would set up a chemical hub
under the SEZ policy at Nandigram
. The villagers took over the administration of the area, and all the roads to the villages were cut off. A front-page story in the Kolkata
newspaper, The Telegraph
, on 4 January 2007 was headlined, "False alarm sparks clash". According to the newspaper that village council meeting at which the alleged land seizure was to be announced was actually a meeting to declare Nandigram a "clean village", that is, a village in which all the households had access to toilet facilities. The administration was directed to break the Maoist-backed Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee
's (BUPC) resistance at Nandigram and a massive operation with at least 3,000 policemen along with armed cadre of the Marxist ruling party was launched on 14 March 2007. However, prior information of the impending action had leaked out to the BUPC who amassed a crowd of roughly 2,000 villagers at the entry points into Nandigram with women and children forming the front ranks. In the resulting mayhem, at least 14 people were killed. Many people of the lower classes were made homeless due to this political carnage. A large number of intellectuals protested on the streets and this incident gave birth of a new hope for movement to ouster the left from government headed by the CPI(M). Mamata Banerjee wrote letters to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil
to stop the violence promoted by CPI(M) in Nandigram
. Agitation in Nandigram subsided, after the state government shelved the proposed chemical hub project.
, was considered the best show of opposition.
To relieve women passengers during rush hour, Mamata introduced a Special Ladies Train on 19 July between Bandel and Howrah. Later, she introduced more Special Ladies Trains , e.g. Kalyani-Sealdah and Panvel-Mumbai CST.
Mamata Banerjee flagged off the Duronto Express
– a nonstop train, fastest train of India between Sealdah and New Delhi on 18 September 2009. The super fast Duronto Express train between Chennai and New Delhi was introduced on 21 September. Banerjee also took steps to spread railway in terror-hit regions of Kashmir. Anantnag-Qadigund Railway line was inaugurated in October.
On 7 February 2010, Banerjee will start as many as nineteen new train services. Due to repeated sexual harassment and/or sexual assault of India's women commuters, eight trains will be designated as women-only.
farmers. "The cabinet has decided to return 400 acres to unwilling farmers in Singur," the chief minister said. "I have instructed the department to prepare the papers for this. If Tatababu
wants, he can set up his factory on the remaining 600 acres, otherwise we will see how to go about it," she added.
She has also been credited to solving the longstanding "Gorkhaland Problem" by setting up the Gorkhaland Autonomous Council.
, thus fulfilling another of her campaign promises.
She has started various reforms in education and health sectors. Some of the reforms in the education sectors include release of the monthly pay of the teachers on the first of every month and quicker pensions for retiring teachers..In health sector "A three-phase developmental system will be taken up to improve the heath infrastructure and service,” Mamata Banerjee said."
Other
|-
Chief Minister
A Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British Overseas Territory that has attained self-government...
of the Indian state of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
. She is the first woman to hold the office. Banerjee founded All India Trinamool Congress
All India Trinamool Congress
The All India Trinamool Congress is a state political party in West Bengal. Founded in 1 January 1998, the party is led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Trinamool Congress is currently the second largest member of the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition...
in 1997 and became chairperson, after separating from the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
. Currently she is also in charge of nine key departments of the government of West Bengal
Government of West Bengal
The Government of West Bengal also known as the State Government of West Bengal, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of West Bengal and its 19 districts...
, including Home, Health and Family Welfare, Land and Land Reforms, Information and Cultural Affairs, Minority Affairs and Madrassah Education, Agriculture, Power and Home (Personnel and Administrative Reforms) departments. She is popularly referred to as "Didi" (meaning elder sister) to all her followers.
Banerjee pulled off a landslide victory for the All India Trinamul Congress in West Bengal by defeating the world's longest-serving democratically-elected communist government, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2011, CPI is leading the state government in Tripura. It leads the Left Front coalition of leftist parties in various states and the national parliament of...
-led Left Front
Left Front
The Left Front is an alliance of Indian leftist parties. After a 34-year reign in West Bengal, the Left Front was swept from power in the 2011 election...
government, bringing to an end 34 years of Left Front rule in the state. Banerjee previously served as a Minister of Railways twice, Minister of Coal
Ministry of Coal
The Ministry of Coal is an Indian government ministry. The portfolio is currently held by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, assisted by the Minister of State for Coal, Sriprakash Jaiswal....
, and Minister of State
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...
for Human Resource Development, Department of Youth Affairs and Sports and Women and Child Development in the cabinet of the Indian government
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
. She opposed forceful land acquisition for industrialisation by the then communist government in West Bengal for Special Economic Zones at the cost of agriculturalists and farmers.
Early life and career
Mamata Banerjee was born to Gayetri and Promileswar Banerjee on 5 January 1955, in Kolkata, West BengalWest Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, India. She grew up in a lower middle-class family and started her political career in Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
. As a young woman in the 1970s, she quickly rose in the ranks to become the general secretary of the state Mohila Congress (1976–80). She was a college student in the mid-1970s when politics in Bengal began to accommodate the riffraff.
Banerjee graduated with an honours degree in History from the Jogamaya Devi College
Jogamaya Devi College
Jogamaya Devi College is a women's college in Kolkata, India. The college offers undergraduate degrees and is affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It was established in 1932.-Notable alumnae:*Maitreyi Devi*Bijoya Ray*Uma Dasgupta*Amala Shankar...
, an undergraduate women's college in southern Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
. Later she earned a master's degree in Islamic History from the University of Calcutta
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
. This was followed by a degree in education from the Shri Shikshayatan College
Shri Shikshayatan College
Shri Shikshayatan College its an undergraduate women's liberal arts college in Kolkata, India. It is affiliated with the University of Calcutta.-Notable alumnae:*Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal* Usha Ganguly, theatre director...
. She also earned a law degree from the Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College
Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College
The Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College abbreviated to JCCLC is a Government Sponsored Law College in south Kolkata offering degree courses in law. It is affiliated with the University of Calcutta.- Foundation :...
, Kolkata.
Throughout her political life Banerjee has maintained an austere lifestyle, never spending much money on clothes, cosmetics or jewellery and always with a cotton bag slung on her shoulder. She has remained single throughout her life.
Early political career
In the West Bengal Assembly elections of 2011, Trinamool Congress and congress parties combined, a move spearheaded by Mamata Banerjee, successfully won with over 77% of the total seats. This is considered a historic victory over the Left Front rule.Indian National Congress
Banerjee started her political career in congress, and as a young woman in the 1970s, she quickly rose in the ranks of the local Congress group, and remained the General Secretary of Mahila Congress (I), West Bengal, from 1976 to 1980. In the 1984 general electionIndian general election, 1984
General elections were held in India in 1984 soon after the assassination of previous Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, though the vote in Assam and Punjab was delayed until 1985 due to ongoing fighting....
, Banerjee became one of India's youngest parliamentarians ever, beating veteran Communist politician Somnath Chatterjee
Somnath Chatterjee
Somnath Chatterjee is an Indian politician who had been associated with the Communist Party of India for most of his life, though he is currently an independent...
, from the Jadavpur parliamentary Constituency
Jadavpur (Lok Sabha constituency)
Jadavpur is one of the 543 parliamentary constituencies in India. The constituency centres on Jadavpur in West Bengal.-Assembly segments:...
in West Bengal. She also became the General-Secretary of the All India Youth Congress. Losing her seat in 1989 in an anti-Congress wave, she was back in 1991 general elections
Indian general election, 1991
General elections were held in India in 1991 to elect the members of the 10th Lok Sabha. The result of the election was that no party could get a majority, so a minority government was formed, resulting in a stable government for the next 5 years, under the new Prime Minister P.V...
, having settled into the Calcutta South constituency
Calcutta South (Lok Sabha constituency)
Kolkata Dakshin Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies in India...
. She retained the Kolkata South seat in the 1996
Indian general election, 1996
General elections were held in India in 1996 to elect the members of the 11th Lok Sabha. The result of the election was a hung parliament, which would see three Prime Ministers in two years and force the country back to the polls in 1998. The United Front, was created and got support from 332...
, 1998
Indian general election, 1998
General elections were held in India in 1998, after the government elected in 1996 collapsed and the 12th Lok Sabha was convened. New elections were called when Indian National Congress left the United Front government led by I.K...
, 1999
Indian general election, 1999
General Elections were held in India from September 5 to October 3, 1999, a few months after the Kargil War. The 13th Lok Sabha election is of historical importance as it was the first time a united front of parties managed to attain a majority and form a government that lasted a full term of five...
, 2004
Indian general election, 2004
Legislative elections were held in India in four phases between April 20 and May 10, 2004. Over 670 million people were eligible to vote, electing 543 members of the 14th Lok Sabha...
and 2009 general elections
Indian general election, 2009
India held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009. With an electorate of 714 million , it was the largest democratic election in the world to date.By constitutional requirement, elections to the Lok Sabha must be...
.
In the Rao
P. V. Narasimha Rao
Pamulaparti Venkata "Narasimha Rao" was the ninth Prime Minister of India . He led an important administration, overseeing a major economic transformation and several home incidents affecting national security of India. Rao accelerated the dismantling of the Licence Raj. He is often referred to as...
government formed in 1991, Mamata Banerjee was made the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development
Ministry of Human Resource Development (India)
The Ministry of Human Resource Development is an Indian government ministry, responsible for the development of human resources...
, Youth Affairs and Sports
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, a branch of the Government of India, which administers Department of youth affairs and Department of Sports in India. The ministry also overlooks the organisation of Commonwealth 2010 games. As of September 2009, head of the ministry is the Minister of...
, and Women and Child Development. As the sports minister, she announced that she would resign, and protested in a rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, against Government's indifference towards her proposal to improve sports in the country. She was discharged of her portfolios in 1993. In April 1996, she alleged that Congress was behaving as a stooge of the CPI-M in West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
. She claimed that she was the lone voice of reason and wanted a "clean Congress". At a private rally at Alipore
Alipore
Alipore is headquarters of South 24 Parganas district and a neighbourhood in South Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal.Alipore, Kolkata, not to be confused with Alipore, Gujarat, is one of the poshest and costliest localities in Kolkata, along with the area Ballygunge...
in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, Mamata Banerjee wrapped a black shawl around her neck and threatened to make a noose with it. In July 1996, she squatted at the well of Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
, the lower house of Indian parliament, to protest a hike in petroleum price, although she was a part of the government that instituted it. In that very time she grasped the collar of Amar Singh, MP of Samajwadi Party, in the well of the parliament. In February 1997, on the day of railway budget presentation in Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
, Mamata Banerjee threw her shawl at the railway minister Ram Vilas Paswan
Ram Vilas Paswan
Ram Vilas Paswan is the president of the Lok Janshakti Party and a Rajya Sabha MP.-Early life and education:Paswan was born to a Dusadh family...
for ignoring West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
and announced her resignation. The speaker, P. A. Sangma
P. A. Sangma
Purno Agitok Sangma is an Indian politician. He is a former Speaker of Lok Sabha and Chief Minister of Meghalaya. He was a co-founder of the Nationalist Congress Party and remained a member of the Lok Sabha for eight terms, i.e. 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th Lok Sabha...
, did not accept her resignation and asked her to apologise. Later she came back as Santosh Mohan Deb mediated.
Trinamool Congress
In 1997, Mamata Banerjee came out of the Congress Party in West BengalWest Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
and established the All India Trinamool Congress
All India Trinamool Congress
The All India Trinamool Congress is a state political party in West Bengal. Founded in 1 January 1998, the party is led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Trinamool Congress is currently the second largest member of the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition...
. It quickly became the primary opposition to the long-standing Communist government in the state. On 11 December 1998, she controversially held a Samajwadi Party
Samajwadi Party
Samajwadi Party is a political party in India. It is based in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It describes itself as a democratic socialist party...
MP, Daroga Prasad Saroj, by the collar and dragged him out of the well of the Lok Sabha to prevent him from protesting against the Women's Reservation bill.
In 1999, she joined the BJP
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
-led National Democratic Alliance
National Democratic Alliance (India)
The National Democratic Alliance is a centre-right coalition of political parties in India. At the time of its formation in 1998, it was led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and had thirteen constituent parties. Its convenor is Sharad Yadav, and its honorary chairman is former prime minister Atal...
(NDA) government and was allocated the Railways Ministry.
Railway Minister
In 2000, Mamata Banerjee presented her first Railway Budget. In it she fulfilled many of her promises to her home state West BengalWest Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
. She introduced a new biweekly New Delhi-Sealdah
Sealdah
Sealdah is one of the major train stations serving Kolkata in India, the others being Howrah Station, Shalimar Station and Kolkata Railway Station. Sealdah is one of the busiest rail stations in India and an important suburban rail terminal...
Rajdhani Express
Rajdhani Express
Rajdhani Express is a passenger train service in India connecting New Delhi with other important destinations, especially state capitals. Rajdhani means "The Capital" in Hindi.- History :...
train and four express trains connecting various parts of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, namely the Howrah-Purulia
Purulia
Purulia , also spelled Puruliya, also known as "Manbhum City", is a city located in West Bengal state, India, and was constituted in 1876. It is the location of the district headquarters of Purulia district. Purulia is located on the north of the Kasai river and is a major road and railway...
Rupasi Bangla Express, Sealdah
Sealdah
Sealdah is one of the major train stations serving Kolkata in India, the others being Howrah Station, Shalimar Station and Kolkata Railway Station. Sealdah is one of the busiest rail stations in India and an important suburban rail terminal...
-New Jalpaiguri
New Jalpaiguri
New Jalpaiguri is a major railway station of the city of Siliguri in the Indian state of West Bengal. The station is popularly known by its acronym NJP...
Express, Shalimar
Shalimar
Shalimar is a Kashmiri term that may refer to:In Pakistan and India*Shalimar means abode of love.*Shalimar Gardens, also called Shalimar Bagh, several royal gardens of the Mughal Empire...
-Bankura
Bankura
Bankura is a city and a municipality in Bankura District in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bankura District.-Etymology:...
Arannyak Express and the Sealdah-Amritsar
Amritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
Superfast Express (weekly). She also increased the frequency of the Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
-Howrah Azad Hind Express and extension of at least three express train services. Work on the Digha-Howrah Express service was also hastened during her brief tenure.
She also focused on developing tourism, enabling the Darjeeling-Himalayan
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
section with two additional locomotives and proposing the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited. She also commented that India should play a pivotal role in the Trans-Asian Railway
Trans-Asian Railway
The Trans-Asian Railway is a project to create an integrated freight railway network across Europe and Asia. The TAR is a project of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific .- Overview :...
and that rail links between Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
would be reintroduced. In all, she introduced 19 new trains for the 2000–2001 fiscal year.
Split with NDA
In early 2001, after making allegations against the BJP, Banerjee walked out of the NDA cabinet and allied with the Congress Party for West BengalWest Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
's 2001 elections, amidst speculation that the move could unseat the Communist government. She returned to the cabinet in January 2004, holding the Ministry of Coal
Ministry of Coal
The Ministry of Coal is an Indian government ministry. The portfolio is currently held by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, assisted by the Minister of State for Coal, Sriprakash Jaiswal....
and Mines
Ministry of Mines (India)
The Ministry of Mines, a branch of the Government of India, is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to mines in India. As of May 2008, head of the ministry is the Cabinet Minister B.K...
portfolios until the 2004 elections, in which she was the only Trinamool Congress member to win a Parliament seat from West Bengal.
On 20 October 2005, she protested against forceful land acquisition and the atrocities on local farmers in the name of industrial development policy of the Buddhadev Bhattacharya government in West Bengal. Benny Santoso, CEO of the Indonesia-based Salim Group had pledged a large investment to West Bengal, and the West Bengal government had given him farmland in Howrah, sparking protest. In soaking rain, Banerjee and other Trinamool Congress members stood in front of the Taj Hotel where Santoso had arrived, shut out by the police. Later, she and her supporters followed Santoso's convoy. A planned "black flag" protest was avoided, when the government had Santoso arrive three hours ahead of schedule.
Mamata Banerjee suffered further setbacks in 2005, when her party lost control of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the sitting mayor defected from her party. In 2006, the Trinamool Congress was defeated in West Bengal's Assembly Elections, losing more than half of its sitting members.
On 4 August 2006, Banerjee hurled her resignation papers at the deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal in Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
. The provocation was the speaker (Somnath Catterjee)'s rejection of her adjournment motion on illegal infiltration by Bangladeshis in West Bengal. The motion was turned down by the speaker on the ground that it was not in the proper format.
In November 2006, Banerjee was forcibly stopped on her way to Singur
Singur
Singur is a census town in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Singur railway station is 34 km from Howrah Station on the Howrah-Tarakeswar line. It is 2 km ahead of Kamarkundu junction, the crossing point of Howrah-Bardhaman chord and Howrah-Tarakeshwar lines. It is on...
for a rally against a proposed Tata Motors car project. Mamata reached the West Bengal assembly and protested at the venue. She addressed a press conference at the assembly and announced a 12-hour shutdown by her party on Friday. The Trinamul Congress MLAs protested by damaging furniture and microphones in the West Bengal Assembly. A major strike was called on 14 December 2006.
Now in the 2009 parliament election where TMC was in alliance with UPA and people of West Bengal acted against the Left front and elected Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
-TMC
All India Trinamool Congress
The All India Trinamool Congress is a state political party in West Bengal. Founded in 1 January 1998, the party is led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Trinamool Congress is currently the second largest member of the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition...
alliance cccin 26 seats, which made Mamata Banerjee again the Indian Railway Minister for next five years.
In the 2010 Municipal Elections in West Bengal, TMC won Kolkata Municipal Corporation in a margin of 62 seats. TMC also won Bidhan Nagar Corporation in 16-9 seats margin.
In 2011, Banerjee won a sweeping majority and assumed the position of chief minister of the state of West Bengal. Her party ended the 34-year rule.
Nandigram protests
The Nandigram violence was an incident in NandigramNandigram
Nandigram is a rural area with two commuunity development blocks in Haldia subdivision of Purba Medinipur district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located about 70 km south-west of Kolkata, on the south bank of the Haldi River, opposite the industrial city of Haldia...
, West Bengal where, on the orders of the Left Front government, more than 4,000 heavily-armed police stormed the rural area in the district of Purba Medinipur with the aim of stamping out protests against the West Bengal government’s plans to expropriate 10000 acres (40.5 km²) of land for a Special Economic Zone
Special Economic Zone
A Special Economic Zone is a geographical region that has economic and other laws that are more free-market-oriented than a country's typical or national laws...
(SEZ) to be developed by the Indonesian-based Salim Group
Salim Group
The Salim Group is Indonesia's biggest conglomerate with assets including Indofood Sukses Makmur, the world's largest instant noodle producer, and Bogasari, a large flour-milling operation...
. The police shot dead at least 14 villagers and wounded 70 more.
The SEZ controversy started when the government of West Bengal decided that the Salim Group
Salim Group
The Salim Group is Indonesia's biggest conglomerate with assets including Indofood Sukses Makmur, the world's largest instant noodle producer, and Bogasari, a large flour-milling operation...
of Indonesia would set up a chemical hub
Chemical industry
The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into more than 70,000 different products.-Products:...
under the SEZ policy at Nandigram
Nandigram
Nandigram is a rural area with two commuunity development blocks in Haldia subdivision of Purba Medinipur district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located about 70 km south-west of Kolkata, on the south bank of the Haldi River, opposite the industrial city of Haldia...
. The villagers took over the administration of the area, and all the roads to the villages were cut off. A front-page story in the Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
newspaper, The Telegraph
The Telegraph (Kolkata)
The Telegraph is an Indian daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Kolkata since 1982. It is published by the ABP Group and the newspaper vies with the Times of India for the position of having the widest widest circulation of any newspaper in Eastern India.According to the Audit...
, on 4 January 2007 was headlined, "False alarm sparks clash". According to the newspaper that village council meeting at which the alleged land seizure was to be announced was actually a meeting to declare Nandigram a "clean village", that is, a village in which all the households had access to toilet facilities. The administration was directed to break the Maoist-backed Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee
Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee
Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee is an organisation in West Bengal, India, formed to oppose the set-up of a Special Economic Zone in the rural area of Nandigram. It formed an important role in resisting land-acquisitions in the following Nandigram violence...
's (BUPC) resistance at Nandigram and a massive operation with at least 3,000 policemen along with armed cadre of the Marxist ruling party was launched on 14 March 2007. However, prior information of the impending action had leaked out to the BUPC who amassed a crowd of roughly 2,000 villagers at the entry points into Nandigram with women and children forming the front ranks. In the resulting mayhem, at least 14 people were killed. Many people of the lower classes were made homeless due to this political carnage. A large number of intellectuals protested on the streets and this incident gave birth of a new hope for movement to ouster the left from government headed by the CPI(M). Mamata Banerjee wrote letters to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. A Sikh, he is the first non-Hindu to occupy the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime Minister belonging to the Indian...
and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil
Shivraj Patil
Shivraj Vishwanath Patil is an Indian politician and current state Punjab governor and the Administrator of Union Territory of Chandigarh. Previously he had been the Speaker of the 11th Lok Sabha and served the Manmohan Singh cabinet as the Union Minister of Home Affairs...
to stop the violence promoted by CPI(M) in Nandigram
Nandigram
Nandigram is a rural area with two commuunity development blocks in Haldia subdivision of Purba Medinipur district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located about 70 km south-west of Kolkata, on the south bank of the Haldi River, opposite the industrial city of Haldia...
. Agitation in Nandigram subsided, after the state government shelved the proposed chemical hub project.
2009 Indian election
Trinamool Congress performed well in the 2009 parliamentary election, bagging 19 MP seats, among them 5 women (including Banerjee), reiterating its faith in the Women's Reservation Bill. Its allies in congress and SUCI also got six and one MP seats respectively marking the best performance by any opposition party in West Bengal since the start of the left regime. Until then, the Congress victory of 16 seats in 1984, by the sympathy vote after the death of Indira GandhiIndira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
, was considered the best show of opposition.
Railway Minister, second tenure
In 2009, Mamata Banerjee became railway minister for the second time and announced a number of new initiatives in the railway budget. Some argued that these reflected her bias towards her home state, West Bengal, although she had lead initiatives to benefit the entire country. She decided to develop about 50 railway stations to be world-class stations with international-level facilities. These will be developed through innovative financing and public-private partnerships. Banerjee also declared the Railway Ministry's intention to develop another 375 stations as Adarsh (Ideal) Stations. Furthermore, she announced construction of multi-functional complexes in station premises for providing rail users facilities, they included shopping-malls, food stalls and restaurants, book stalls, PCO/STD/ISD/Fax booths, medicine and variety stores, budget hotels, underground parking, and the like. The railway minister announced that these complexes will also be developed by public-private partnerships. Banerjee also set up scholarships for the higher education of the female children of group D staff, to promote their economic independence. She proposed to open seven nursing colleges on railway land. Banerjee also introduced new train services like “Duronto” and “Yuva” in the budget, the former the fastest train service in India.To relieve women passengers during rush hour, Mamata introduced a Special Ladies Train on 19 July between Bandel and Howrah. Later, she introduced more Special Ladies Trains , e.g. Kalyani-Sealdah and Panvel-Mumbai CST.
Mamata Banerjee flagged off the Duronto Express
Duronto Express
Duronto Express is a category of long distance trains on Indian Railways. The special feature of these trains is that they run non-stop from source to destination, barring technical halts. All Duronto Express trains can be easily recognized by the characteristic yellow-green livery of their...
– a nonstop train, fastest train of India between Sealdah and New Delhi on 18 September 2009. The super fast Duronto Express train between Chennai and New Delhi was introduced on 21 September. Banerjee also took steps to spread railway in terror-hit regions of Kashmir. Anantnag-Qadigund Railway line was inaugurated in October.
On 7 February 2010, Banerjee will start as many as nineteen new train services. Due to repeated sexual harassment and/or sexual assault of India's women commuters, eight trains will be designated as women-only.
2011 Assembly election
Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress along with SUCI and Indian National Congress Alliance won the state assembly election against the Left ruling party by securing 227 seats. Trinamool Congress alone won 184 seats with the INC winning 42 seats where the other ally SUCI secured one seat. Throughout the 34-year-regime, the Left Front had never won fewer than two-thirds of the 294 seats, but this time it could only manage 62 seats.Chief Minister
Banerjee was sworn in as Chief Minister of West Bengal on 20 May 2011. As the first woman Chief Minister of West Bengal, one of her first decisions was to return 400 acres of land to SingurSingur
Singur is a census town in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Singur railway station is 34 km from Howrah Station on the Howrah-Tarakeswar line. It is 2 km ahead of Kamarkundu junction, the crossing point of Howrah-Bardhaman chord and Howrah-Tarakeshwar lines. It is on...
farmers. "The cabinet has decided to return 400 acres to unwilling farmers in Singur," the chief minister said. "I have instructed the department to prepare the papers for this. If Tatababu
Ratan Tata
Ratan Naval Tata is the present chairman of Tata Sons and therefore, Tata Group. Also, he is one among the few in the world...
wants, he can set up his factory on the remaining 600 acres, otherwise we will see how to go about it," she added.
She has also been credited to solving the longstanding "Gorkhaland Problem" by setting up the Gorkhaland Autonomous Council.
, thus fulfilling another of her campaign promises.
She has started various reforms in education and health sectors. Some of the reforms in the education sectors include release of the monthly pay of the teachers on the first of every month and quicker pensions for retiring teachers..In health sector "A three-phase developmental system will be taken up to improve the heath infrastructure and service,” Mamata Banerjee said."
External links
Official- Mamata Banerjee official All India Trinamool Congress Party profile
- Parliamentary profile at India.gov.in
Other
- Profile at BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
- Mamata Banerjee collected news and commentary at The Times of IndiaThe Times of IndiaThe Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...
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