Mamata's role 'as woman in Bengal politics' has made history: Ajanta Biswas

Kolkata: An article 'woman power in Bengal politics' penned by Professor Ajanta Biswas of the History department of Rabindra Bharati university states that the success of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has not only given an impetus and strengthened the women's movement in Bengal but has also created history.

The article— in Trinamool's mouthpiece 'Jago Bangla'—is a first in a series on women political figures, and focusses on women power of Bengal from the pre-independent days till date. However, as reported, Biswas who is a CPM card holder was show-caused by the Left for writting for TMC's mouthpiece.

Biswas, a brilliant student of Presidency College, happens to be the daughter of Late Anil Biswas who was the state secretary of CPI(M). This is for the first time when a professor in History has evaluated the role of Mamata Banerjee from the historical perspective.

Biswas in her article has referred to the farmers' movement in Singur. Banerjee had organised the unwilling farmers who did want to give their agricultural land to set up an automobile factory in Singur. Though political debates had been held over the her movement it got support from the masses.

Biswas writes how Banerjee who was born in a middle class family in Kalighat and became the leader of the people by sheer dedication and commitment to the people. Her sincerity has been appreciated and she has been referred to as "Agni Kanya", "Amader meye" and "Didi." In 2021 the political slogan " Bangla nijer meyeke chae", (Bengal wants its own daughter", became a great success across the state.

Biswas remarked that by sheer hard work she has entered the list of 100 most prominent persons in the world prepared by Time magazine.

Banerjee's joining of politics as a student leader in the late 1970s opened a new chapter in the political history of Bengal when she joined Congress and became a youth congress leader.

In 1998 she came out of Congress and set up Trinamool Congress. Since then she is the undisputed political leader in Bengal and the first woman chief minister of the state.

After winning 2021 Assembly election, Banerjee thanked the women force who stood by her and casted their votes in her favour.

Biswas has written about the contributions of great women like Pritilata Waddedar and Kalpana Dutta who were associated with the Chittagong armoury raid of Masterda Surya Sen. While Waddedar committed suicide, Dutta was imprisoned. Later she married PC Joshi, first secretary of Communist Party of India.

She analysed the contributions of Ila Mitra, Renu Chakraborty, Fulrenu Guha, Purabi Mukherjee, Abha Maity and Krishna Basu.