First front? Mamata begins 2nd term, flaunts her 'friends' at swearing-in

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress supremo Minister Mamata Banerjee ditched the traditional Raj Bhavan and chose her favourite Red Road to start her second innings from Friday as the chief minister of West Bengal.

It was from Red Road in the August of 1997 that Banerjee had announced her party, angry with the then Congress leadership -- headed by Sonia Gandhi – which had gathered a few kilometres away at Netaji Indoor Stadium to attend the party plenary.

The buzz in the front row were friends Banerjee said she "could work with" – Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his ally Laloo Prasad Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah among others.

Read: BJP aims to emerge as principal opposition party in Bengal: Arun Jaitley

At her ‘aam admi’ swearing-in, the message was clear – Mamata has thrown her hat in the ring to create a non-BJP, non-Congress ‘first front’ to grab centrestage in the country. 

The slogan chanted by party workers was crystal: "Krishna Krishna, Harey Harey; Mamata Banerjee gharey gharey" (Krishna Krishna, Harey Harey; Mamata Banerjee in every home).

This echoed a slogan by BJP when Narendra Modi was running for the Prime Minister's office: "Har Har Modi; Gha Ghar Modi" ( Har Har Modi; Modi in every home).

Also in attendance were Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay, Banerjee's personal friend, and Bangladesh’s industry minister Amir Hossain Amu. It is learnt Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sent Banerjee a 20-kg hilsa fish as a gift to spice up the occasion.

Wiped out in the state, the Left Front and its unfortunate choice of partner Congress, boycotted the swearing-in. The state BJP wasn't not spotted either. Union ministers Arun Jaitley, Ashok Gajapathi and Babul Supriyo, however, attended the ceremony.

The stage was huge, overlooking a landscaped garden and a fountain right in front. She was cheered on by over 30,000 people who gathered to see her take oath. Red Road was closed since May 23 to help in creating the stage for the coronation.

Banerjee on Thursday had announced that everybody was welcome to witness the event. She had said, “This is a people’s event and an invitation card is not needed. Seat will be offered on first-come-first-serve basis.”

The stage was swathed in Banerjee's favourite colours – blue and white. There were also 34 giants air-conditioners to beat the heat as well as pedestal fans for the people.

Lining the impressive road was a first in Bengal -- cutouts of Mamata Banerjee, much in Southern style, beaming at the people below. Detractors have always called the Trinamool Congress less of a party and more of a Mamata fan club. 

After leaving her Kalighat residence in south Kolkata, Banerjee, wearing her trademark white sari, walked some distance greeting people before boarding the car.

The 42-member TMC ministry has 29 Cabinet ministers, including the chief minister, five ministers of state with independent charge and eight ministers of state.

Mamata Banerjee came back to power with a huge margin these elections, belying expectations of the Left-Congress jot that thought it could stand up to her. They were decimated and, ironically, the Left Front, came a miserable third in the race – even after the Congress.

"No third front, second front. If at all this is a first front," party leader Derek O'Brien has said of Banerjee's swearing-in show.

While party members revelled in a possible change of address for Mamata Banerjee in 2019 (New Delhi), it remains to be seen what Banerjee does at home first. Her last rule was dogged by corruption charges -- a favourite of hers, Madan Mitra, is in jail -- there has been unprecedented violence too in the run-up to the polls and even after it, and, more significantly, any sort of economic revival is yet to take off in Bengal.

The 61-year-old leader, fondly called 'didi' by her supporters, proved that she was not just a tough street fighter but a master strategist, as she successfully overcame the challenge posed by the Opposition despite a shrill campaign against her.

She coined the slogan, "Ma, Mati o Manush" (Mother, Land and People), before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and played on the anti-incumbency factor after more than three decades of Left rule and the creeping disillusionment among several sections, like Muslims, to root out the Left in partnership with the Congress in 2011.

Known for her humble lifestyle, Banerjee successfully sold a vision of development, cashing in on the deep resentment among the middle classes and unemployed youths, promising jobs and development.

But West Bengal faces a huge debt burden and Banerjee an uphill task to steer the state's economy on the growth path and create an atmosphere to attract investments and spur industrial growth.

Her nondescript residence -- a single-storey house in a dingy lane close to the Kalighat temple -- and equally simple attire comprising cotton saris, 'jhola' bags and cheap hawai chappals, has endeared her to the masses.

A seven-time MP, Banerjee who took over as the chief minister in 2011 winning the by-poll from Bhabanipur, steered Trinamool Congress through victory in subsequent elections to panchayat, civic bodies and 2014 Lok Sabha.

She launched various development initiatives in the state but also faced criticism over Saradha chit fund and Narada scams.

Among various development schemes undertaken by her as the chief minister were 'Kanyashree' schemes for girls and 'Sabuj Sathi' under which cycles were distributed among the students, besides Rs 2 per kg rice for the 8 crore people in the state.

However, allegations of corruption dented the image of her party and the opposition made it a prime issue.

Born in a middle class family and daughter of a freedom fighter, Banerjee was a student of law and education. In her initial years in public life, she was mentored by veteran Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee -- now ironically a senior minister in her state cabinet.

It has not been an easy journey for Banerjee who turned her call for 'Parivartan' (change) in 2011 into a reality with Congress, her ally then, throwing its full weight behind her.

Banerjee, baptised into politics as a leader of Congress’ students wing Chhatra Parishad in the 1970s, shot into limelight by pulling off a stunning victory over CPI(M) heavyweight and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections from Jadavpur to become among the youngest MPs of the country.

She soon became a rallying point for the anti-Left Front forces which saw in her an uncompromising, incorruptible and credible fighter in comparison to other leaders of state Congress of nineties.

After parting ways, Banerjee had often dubbed Congress as the 'B' team of the CPI(M).

Perfecting the art of the impossible, she first hogged the limelight by blocking Jayaprakash Narayan's convoy by throwing herself on the ground when he came to Kolkata to organise people against Indira Gandhi before the Emergency.

Defeated in 1989, she was back in Lok Sabha in 1991 from Kolkata South and retained the seat in 1996, 1998,1999, 2004 and 2009.

Banerjee's first tryst with the corridors of power came in 1991 when she became Union minister of state for human resources development, youth affairs and sports and women and child development in the P V Narasimha Rao government.

Later on after forming TMC, Banerjee aligned with the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government and became Railway Minister in 1999 and later Union Minister for Coal and Mines.

Banerjee resigned as Railway Minister and left the NDA just ahead of the 2001 assembly polls in Bengal after the Tehelka scam and allied with Congress for the Assembly elections but could not dethrone the Marxist party.

In 2004 Lok Sabha election, Banerjee was the only one from TMC to win. In the 2006 Assembly polls in Bengal, her party managed to win just 30 seats in the 294-member Assembly.

But Banerjee sprung back after leading the protest against farmland acquisitions in Singur and Nandigram which finally catapulted her to the seat of power in the state.