Mamata pledges to take Bangla to greater heights

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while celebrating the 10th anniversary of 'Ma Mati Manus' government in Bengal, promised to take the state to even greater heights.

Mamata Banerjee took oath on May 20, 2011, a decade ago putting an end to 34 years of misrule of the Left Front. government.

To mark the occasion Banerjee tweeted: "On this day 10 years back, I took oath as CM for the first time to serve the people of #WestBengal as we embarked on a new path for the state's development. I'm grateful to Maa-Mati-Manush for always blessing me with their trust. I pledge to take #Bangla to even greater heights."

With a dream to oust the CPI(M), Banerjee floated her party Trinamool Congress (TMC) on January 1, 1998. She realised that Congress' agitation to oust the CPI(M) was nothing but lip-worship. TMC got itself registered with the Election Commission of India mid December 1999. On September 2, 2016, ECI recognised TMC as a national political party.

Banerjee came to power through a series of movements between 1998 and 2011. She led the movement against forcible eviction of farmers in Nandigram and Singur. In 2011 Assembly election, Trinamool partnered with Congress and the parties got 226 seats of which TMC's share was 184 seats. All the CPI(M) heavy weights including Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Nirupam Sen were defeated. Over the years, TMC has gained more political support from the people getting 211 seats in 2016 and 213 seats in 2021 Assembly elections. In 2021, Trinamool faced unprecedented challenge from BJP. The Prime Minister and Home Minister addressed more than 60 meetings. The IT cell of BJP was engaged to circulate lies and canard against TMC. Defeating all evils, TMC got 213 seats and Banerjee set up her government for the third consecutive time.

Banerjee has taken up schemes that have helped people coming from every walk of life. The interest of the farmers has been protected. The people belonging to the SC and ST categories have been looked after and the government worked hard to empower women. Self Help Groups have come up where 1 crore women are engaged. Political experts said the next five years would be very important for TMC as the financial activities in the state were bound to go up.