Didi’s social welfare largesse, ‘lone warrior’ image among women and base among the poor and minorities saw the Trinamool Congress cut challenger BJP to size.
ISSUE DATE: May 3, 2021
UPDATED: April 23, 2021 20:41 IST
Feisty fighter: Mamata Banerjee on dharna in
Kolkata against the EC’s 24-hour campaign ban on her
The Gandhi statue on Mayo Road has been one of the preferred protest sites in Kolkata for political parties and civil society groups. On April 13, Mamata Banerjee chose the venue to mark her dissent against the Election Commission (EC). No war cries, no sloganeering, the West Bengal chief minister sat near the statue for several hours, apparently engrossed in painting. Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders camped some distance away in solidarity.
A day before, when the EC barred her from campaigning for 24 hours for allegedly making provocative remarks during electioneering, a furious Mamata had taken to Twitter to challenge the order as “undemocratic and unconstitutional”. But at the Gandhi statue, she was a picture of restraint. The EC had ticked Mamata off on two counts, for allegedly making a community-specific sp
ISSUE DATE: April 19, 2021
UPDATED: April 10, 2021 00:11 IST
Didi’s day out: Mamata Banerjee leads a Trinamool Congress march in Kolkata on ‘Nandigram Divas’, Mar. 14
As the first two phases of the West Bengal assembly poll, covering 60 seats in West Midnapore, East Midnapore, Bankura, Jhargram, Purulia and South 24 Parganas, got over on April 1, the BJP claimed victory in no less than 50 seats. Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee cautiously refrained from making any prediction, or even affecting optimism beyond the victory sign she flashed while campaigning in Nandigram, where she is pitted against Suvendu Adhikari, who defected to the BJP in the run-up to the election.
UPDATED: March 1, 2021 22:53 IST
Devoted to the cause: Amit Shah offers prayers at the Bharat Sevashram Sangha, February 18
Temple-and ashram-hopping are, of course, de rigueur for BJP leaders anywhere, but the fervour and commitment are hitting new levels in the Bengal poll campaign. And it s not just Ram and Hanuman (or Bajrangbali, the preferred appellation for the monkey god among the party s more hawkish supporters), temples of Kali and Durga are also now must-stops on the itinerary, especially for visiting BJP and Sangh VVIPs.
This trend of propitiating the mother goddess caught on with BJP leaders after Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee raised slogans of Jai Maa Kali and Jai Maa Durga as a counter to the north Indian Jai Shree Ram . Durga and Kali are household deities in Bengal and far more a feature of the everyday worship and vocabulary of the devout Bengali Hindu. This was also Mamata s strategy-to present the BJP as an aggressive outsider bent on re