MAMATA BANERJEE

Chief Minister of West Bengal

NAME – Mamata Banerjee

PROFESSION – Politician

BORN – 05 January 1955

PLACE OF BIRTH – Calcutta, West Bengal

FATHER’S NAME – Late Promileswar Banerjee

MOTHER’S NAME – Gayetri Banerjee

SPOUSE – NA

SIBLINGS – Amit Banerjee, Ajit Banerjee, Kali Banerjee, Baben Banerjee, Ganesh Banerjee and Samir Banerjee

CHILDREN – NA

EDUCATION –

• Graduation in History from Jogamaya Devi College.
• Master’s degree in Islamic history from the University of Calcutta.
• LL.B from Jogesh Chandra Choudhary College of Law, Calcutta University.

POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS/PARTY– ALL INDIA TRINAMOOL CONGRESS

REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT–

• In 2012, Time Magazine named her as one of the 100 Most Influential People in The World.
• In September 2012, Bloomberg Markets magazine listed her among the 50 Most Influential people in the world of finance.
• Baghini, a Bengali film, based on her life, was released on 24 May 2019.

AWARDS –

• She received her doctorate (Doctor of Letters) from Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Odhisa.
• She was honoured with a Doctorate of Litreature (D.Litt.) degree by Calcutta University.

BACKGROUND – Mamata Banerjee was born to Promileswar Banerjee and Gayatri Devi. Her father died when she was 17 years old, and her mother passed away at the age of 81 in 2011. She has six brothers and has no sisters. She never got married.

UPBRINGING & EDUCATION – When she was 17 years old, her father, Promileswar Banerjee, died due to lack of medical treatment. She completed her higher education from Deshbandhu Sishu Sikshalay, Kolkata. She completed her B.A. from Jogamaya Devi College. She also pursued law and received a degree from Jogesh Chandra Choudhury College of Law, Calcutta University in 1982. Later, she received her master degree in Islamic History from the University of Calcutta.

WALK OF LIFE – Banerjee started her political career at a very young age when she was only 15. While studying at the Jogamaya Devi College, she entered politics establishing Chhatra Parishad Unions, the student’s wing of the Indian National Congress.

CARRIER TIMELINE/POSITION HELD–

1. From 1976 to 1980, she became the general secretary of Mahila Congress (I), West Bengal.
2. In 1980, she also became the general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress.
3. In 1984, Lok Sabha election, she became the youngest parliamentarian ever defeating veteran leader, Somnath Chatterjee from Jadavpur Parliamentary Constituency in West Bengal.
4. In 1989, Lok Sabha Election, she lost her constituency.
5. In 1991, Parliamentary Election, she won from the Calcutta South constituency and retained her position until 2009.
6. In 1991, she became the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Youth Affairs and Sports, and Women and Child Development under the government of P.V. Narasimha Rao. At that time, she was the first female Cabinet for Human Resources Development Youth Affairs and Sports, and Women and Child Development.
7. In 1997, she departed the Indian National Congress and laid the foundation of her own party, ALL INDIA TRINAMOOL CONGRESS.
8. In 1999, she joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and was made the railway minister under the Vajpayee government.
9. In 2002, she represented her first railway budget; focusing and benefitting her own state more that is West Bengal.
10. On 09 January 2004 she took charge as Ministry of Coal and Mines. The government disallowed sell of National Aluminum Company. She held the Coal and Mines portfolios till 22 May 2004.
11. In 2004, during Indian general election her party aligned with the Bhartiya Janata Party, the alliance lost the election.
12. In 2009, Mamata Banerjee became the Railway Minister for the second tenure, her focus was again on West Bengal. Where she introduced Duroanto Express (non-stop train) and many more train.
13. In 2010, during Municipal Elections in West Bengal her party All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) won Kolkata Municipal Corporation by a margin of 62 seats.
14. In 2011, West Bengal Election, her party ended the rule of Communist Party of India (Marxist) which had been ruling in the state for 34 years.
15. Mamata Banerjee became the first female CHIEF MINISTER of West Bengal on 20 May 2011.
16. In September 2012, she withdrew her support for the Indian National Congress.
17. In 2016, she became the Chief Minister of the State, for the second time when her party received a landslide victory in the assembly elections.

CONTROVERSIES/CASES –

1. Until 1991 Mamata Banerjee claimed to have obtained a PhD degree from “East Georgia University” in United States. Later it was found that no such university existed.
2. Rose Valley Scam
3. Narada Scam
4. In December 1998, Banerjee held a Samajwadi Party MP, Dogra Prasad Saroj by his collar and dragged him out of the well of Lok Sabha as he was protesting against the Women’s Reservation Bill.
5. On 04 August 2006, she threw her resignation at the deputy minister Charanjit Singh Atwal as she was not given time to speak in the session over the Bangladeshis infiltration.
6. She was heavily denounced for her remarks on rapes. In October 2012, she said,” Earlier if men and women would hold hands, they would get caught by parents and reprimanded but now everything is so open. It’s like an open market with open option.”
7. In 2016, the State government under her imposed a ban on Durga Puja about 25 Muslim families objected against the practice. The state government said that the Durga Puja could hurt the emotions of Muslims as their festival Muharram was on the following day. However, the Calcutta High Court overturned the decision and tagged it as “a bid to appease minorities.”
8. Rainbow in Bengali is called “Ramdhonu” and it means Lord Ram’s bow. But in January 2017, the word Ramdhonu was replaced with “Rongdhonu” which means bow of colors. It caused a controversy among the hardliners of the Nation and some levelled it as an attempt of minority appeasement.
9. Mamata Banerjee and her government has been accused of “Muslim appeasement” several times by different groups of people including the opposition political parties.
10. Under her Chief Minister ship, her party’s MLAs have been indulged in various scams. She has also been criticized for it.
11. Mamata Banerjee denied permission for Anti-CAA rallies and suppressed campus democracy in West Bengal.

FACTS –

• She is often referred to as ‘Didi’ by their supporters and party workers.
• Banerjee is an amateur poet and painter. Her 300 paintings were sold for ₹9 crore.
• One of her paintings named “Flower Power” was auctioned at a gala event in New York City in October 2012 with a base price of $2500 and after 5 bids, it was sold for $3000.
• In February 2012, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation sent a letter to the West Bengal Government praising Mamata and her administration for achieving a whole year without any reported case of Polio in the State.