Mamata lauds party workers as Trinamool turns 20

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has sent her best wishes to all the grassroot-level workers on the party's foundation day.

"On January 1, 1998, @AITCofficial was formed. My best wishes to all grassroots workers of the party who work tirelessly for the people. Many thanks to every citizen for your blessings & support. Greetings to Maa, Mati, Manush," she said in a tweet on Monday.

Trinamool Congress celebrated its 20th anniversary in all the districts, up to the block level. The party flag was hoisted in different areas, with streets being lit up in several shades.

The party will face the Panchayat election this year, followed by Lok Sabha polls in 2019. In the core committee meetings held recently, Banerjee has repeatedly urged party leaders and workers to go to the people to build up communication.

The party workers have been asked to make people aware of the schemes that have been taken up to carry out all-round rural development. They have also been asked to highlight how the Centre has drastically reduced the monetary allotment for several schemes.

Banerjee has introduced the concept that 'development' and not 'deprivation' is the key word in winning elections. She has also asked her party workers and leaders to give up infighting and work together to serve "Ma, Mati, Manush."

Rural Bengal has experienced significant changes over the past six years with better road connectivity, power and drinking water facility.

Realising that the majority of West Bengal Pradesh Congress leaders, along with the Congress High Command, would never lodge any movement against the anti-people policies of CPI-M, Mamata Banerjee founded Trinamool Congress on January 1, 1998.

Before that on December 17, 1997, All India Trinamool Congress was registered with the Election Commission. Within one and a half months of formation of the party, Lok Sabha election was held, and Trinamool had bagged seven seats including three seats in Kolkata.

In 1999, Lok Sabha election was again held, and Trinamool bagged eight seats. In 2000, a by-election in Panskura was held after Gita Mukherjee's demise, and Trinamool Congress candidate Bikram Sarkar defeated Gurudas Dasgupta.

In the 2001 Assembly polls, Trinamool, along with Congress, bagged 60 seats. The party suffered a setback in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, with only Mamata Banerjee winning from the south Kolkata seat.

In 2006, Left Front came to power, and the agreement with Tata Motors to hand over 1,000-acre farmland in Singur opened a new chapter in Bengal politics. The unwilling farmers launched a movement which Mamata Banerjee led herself. She had also led the movement in Nandigram.

The decline of CPI-M began in the 2008 Panchayat election when Trinamool formed the Zilla Parishads in East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Left Front got only 15 seats. In 2010, Trinamool got control over Kolkata Municipal Corporation and finally came to power in the state in 2011.