For Mamata Banerjee, whose chequered political career spans more than three decades, this was the mother of all battles. The Congress and the Left shed their traditional enmity to form the unlikeliest of alliances; the BJP, led by the redoubtable Modi-Shah duo, clearly demonstrated there was no love lost between them and Mamata. The Election Commission -buoyed by its recent success in Bihar-spared no effort to ensure fair polls in what is now sure to be touted as the Bengal model.
To cap it all, the pliant state police -known otherwise for doing the master's bidding--rose to the occasion, and annoying TMC workers and, in some cases, incurring their leader's wrath.
Didi looked upset, jittery and nervous as it became obvious that she had her back to the wall. Five years ago, Bengal's “fire goddess“ rode to power leading a coalition of sundry parties, including the Congress and a section of the Left. This time, she stood isolated, deserted even by Kolkata's intellectuals who had supported her battle against the discredited Left more than five years ago.
The first blow came with the Narada expose that showed TMC bigwigs gleefully accepting bundles of notes. Coming in the wake of the chit-fund scams, it reinforced a growing perception that TMC's absolute power had corrupted it almost absolutely. Didi, respected for her personal honesty and plain lifestyle, looked shaken. Her opponents, backed by a powerful section of the state's media, campaigned relentlessly to make a Bofors out of Narada. But Didi is her combative best when pushed to a corner.She fought back by shouldering the entire burden of the campaign, tirelessly crisscrossing the state, holding more than 150 rallies and at least 50 padayatras.
To distance herself from the wrongdoings of her party colleagues, she tried to establish a direct covenant with voters. In rally after rally, she urged: “Matters little who's the TMC nominee here. Mamata is your candidate.“Her gamble paid off, and the victory was even beyond her imagination.
There has been a hint of McCarthyism in Didi's political strategising. In 1998, she broke away from the Congress, calling her parent party the B team of the communists. This year's hurriedly crafted Left-Congress alliance came as a bonanza, giving credence to her allegation of a secret understanding between the Marxist and Congress leaders. Didi used it to the hilt to stir up the conscience of anti-Left Congress voters. As the results demonstrate, it might not have fallen completely on deaf ears.
Didi's party and politics revolve round her persona.As she metamorphosed into an administrator from a popular street fighter, her style of governance too became manifestly personal. No one other than the CM wielded real power. For five years in Nabanna, the state administrative headquarters on the Ganga, the refrain was: “Didir sarkar-e post ektai, baki sobai lamppost'' (In Didi's government there is only one post, the rest are lampposts).
She crafted an administrative machinery and a delivery mechanism that rested solely on her personal initiatives, whims and fancies.She befriended the bureaucracy , took the administration to the grassroots, holding in four and a half years more than a 100 review meetings in the district headquarters. Attended compulsorily by top bureaucrats as well as local administrative and police functionaries, these went into the minutest details of progress made in development projects.
The rigorous stock-taking imparted a new urgency among bureaucrats, resulting in projects getting implemented smoothly and on time. Even as urban voters got disenchanted over her failure to revive industry and generate jobs, her populist projects targeting rural beneficiaries created a reservoir of goodwill that she encashed at the polls.
Even her detractors concede that in Didi's regime, Bengal's countryside has undergone a facelift with new roads, flyovers, schools, colleges, hospitals and fair price medicine shops.
Like PM Narendra Modi, Didi too is a divisive character, loved and hated in equal measure. Those who hate her, mostly urban and educated, suffer mainly from a class bias just as those who love her, mostly rural and poor, share an equal degree of empathy .
A consummate politician, Didi knows which side of the bread to butter in electoral politics.
The 61-year-old Bengal CM, a seven-time MP is a giant slayer, be it defeating Somnath Chatterjee in the 1984 LS polls or ending the Left's rule in the state after 34 years. The party she built up single-handedly looks unassailable in its 20th year.`Didi' is also a writer, painter and composer
To cap it all, the pliant state police -known otherwise for doing the master's bidding--rose to the occasion, and annoying TMC workers and, in some cases, incurring their leader's wrath.
Didi looked upset, jittery and nervous as it became obvious that she had her back to the wall. Five years ago, Bengal's “fire goddess“ rode to power leading a coalition of sundry parties, including the Congress and a section of the Left. This time, she stood isolated, deserted even by Kolkata's intellectuals who had supported her battle against the discredited Left more than five years ago.
The first blow came with the Narada expose that showed TMC bigwigs gleefully accepting bundles of notes. Coming in the wake of the chit-fund scams, it reinforced a growing perception that TMC's absolute power had corrupted it almost absolutely. Didi, respected for her personal honesty and plain lifestyle, looked shaken. Her opponents, backed by a powerful section of the state's media, campaigned relentlessly to make a Bofors out of Narada. But Didi is her combative best when pushed to a corner.She fought back by shouldering the entire burden of the campaign, tirelessly crisscrossing the state, holding more than 150 rallies and at least 50 padayatras.
To distance herself from the wrongdoings of her party colleagues, she tried to establish a direct covenant with voters. In rally after rally, she urged: “Matters little who's the TMC nominee here. Mamata is your candidate.“Her gamble paid off, and the victory was even beyond her imagination.
There has been a hint of McCarthyism in Didi's political strategising. In 1998, she broke away from the Congress, calling her parent party the B team of the communists. This year's hurriedly crafted Left-Congress alliance came as a bonanza, giving credence to her allegation of a secret understanding between the Marxist and Congress leaders. Didi used it to the hilt to stir up the conscience of anti-Left Congress voters. As the results demonstrate, it might not have fallen completely on deaf ears.
Didi's party and politics revolve round her persona.As she metamorphosed into an administrator from a popular street fighter, her style of governance too became manifestly personal. No one other than the CM wielded real power. For five years in Nabanna, the state administrative headquarters on the Ganga, the refrain was: “Didir sarkar-e post ektai, baki sobai lamppost'' (In Didi's government there is only one post, the rest are lampposts).
She crafted an administrative machinery and a delivery mechanism that rested solely on her personal initiatives, whims and fancies.She befriended the bureaucracy , took the administration to the grassroots, holding in four and a half years more than a 100 review meetings in the district headquarters. Attended compulsorily by top bureaucrats as well as local administrative and police functionaries, these went into the minutest details of progress made in development projects.
The rigorous stock-taking imparted a new urgency among bureaucrats, resulting in projects getting implemented smoothly and on time. Even as urban voters got disenchanted over her failure to revive industry and generate jobs, her populist projects targeting rural beneficiaries created a reservoir of goodwill that she encashed at the polls.
Even her detractors concede that in Didi's regime, Bengal's countryside has undergone a facelift with new roads, flyovers, schools, colleges, hospitals and fair price medicine shops.
Like PM Narendra Modi, Didi too is a divisive character, loved and hated in equal measure. Those who hate her, mostly urban and educated, suffer mainly from a class bias just as those who love her, mostly rural and poor, share an equal degree of empathy .
A consummate politician, Didi knows which side of the bread to butter in electoral politics.
The 61-year-old Bengal CM, a seven-time MP is a giant slayer, be it defeating Somnath Chatterjee in the 1984 LS polls or ending the Left's rule in the state after 34 years. The party she built up single-handedly looks unassailable in its 20th year.`Didi' is also a writer, painter and composer
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