Mamata’s new books up on popularity charts at Book Fair

West Bengal’s busy Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has penned 63 books in all since 1995, has presented 10 new books to the city’s bookworms at the ongoing Kolkata International Book Fair. Four of these books, says Dey’s Publishers, are already selling like hot cakes at the annual book meet. 

These books are Sahisnuta, Amaar Pahar, Amaar Jangal and Biswa Bangla, three of them of them drawing on the development of the state since 2011, when Mamata Banerjee wrested power from the CPIM and took over the reins of the West Bengal Government. 

“It seems the people want to know about her vision and her achievements as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. The book Sahisnuta is about her views on the huge intolerance debate raging in India,” Subhankar Dey of  Dey’s Publishing told Millennium Post.

Priced between Rs 100 and Rs 150, the twin books Amar Jangal and Amar Pahar talk about how Banerjee’s government ushered in peace in these disturbed areas, Jangalmahal and Darjeeling hills, where separatist forces had torn down the very fabric of civic life. 

Banerjee’s book Biswa Bangla on the other hand, talks about developments in the world of business and Banerjee’s visits to foreign countries like Bhutan, Singapore, London and Bangladesh. 

She narrates how she built a brand, bit by bit. 

“She had gone to a number of foreign countries looking for investment in the state. Readers want to know more about those business trips and their outcome,” said Dey.

Two new poetry books and a collection of names for newborns — Namanjali — are also on the shelves. 

The Chief Minister has to name many a newborn during her sojourn within and outside the state.  

“The poetry books are popular but not everybody picks up a book of poems. Her other book based on the experience of girls who received benefits from the Kanyashree scheme targeted at the girl child is also doing well,” said Sushangshu Dey, director of the Publishers and Bookseller’s Guild.