The Chief Minister of West Bengal heads the Council of Ministers in the state. He or she is elected for a term of five years.
Present Chief Minister of West Bengal
At present, Ms. Mamata Banerjee is the Chief Minister of West Bengal. She is the 11th Chief Minister of the state and also the first woman to hold the position. She belongs to All India Trinamool Congress Party.
Departments managed by Mamata Banerjee
Currently, Ms. Banerjee looks after the following eight departments of the Government of West Bengal:
- Health and Family Welfare Department
- Home Department
- Information and Cultural Affairs Department
- Land and Land Reforms Department
- Agriculture Department
- Minority Affairs and Madrassah Education Department
- Home (Personnel and Administrative Reforms) Department
- Power Department
Early life and student life of Mamata Banerjee
Mamata Banerjee was born on January 5, 1955 in Kolkata, West Bengal. Her father was Promileswar Banerjee and her mother is Gayatri Banerjee. Mamata belongs to a lower middle class background. She began her political career as a member of the Indian National Congress (INC). As a firebrand student leader, she soon drew attention to herself in the 1970s. From 1976 to 1980, she served as the General Secretary of the Pradesh Mahila Congress.
All through her political life, Ms. Mamata Banerjee has been famous for her simple way of living, never spending a lot of money on makeup, attire, or ornaments. She carries a cotton bag on her shoulder and has remained single.
By what popular name is Mamata Banerjee known?
Ms. Mamata Banerjee is famous for being a firebrand speaker and is commonly called as "Didi" which stands for elder sister to all her supporters.
What brought Mamata Banerjee to fame?
Banerjee succeeded to manage a massive win for the All India Trinamool Congress in the 2011 West Bengal Assembly elections. She overpowered the longest-running, democratically-chosen communist regime in the world. She played a key role in ousting the CPI(M)-led Left Front government. Prior to this ouster, Left Front had ruled the state uninterruptedly for 34 years.
Earlier, Mamata served as a Minister of Railways for two terms. She also became Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Department of Youth Affairs and Sports and Women and Child Development and Minister of Coal in the cabinet of the Union Government of India.
She was against the policy of forcible acquisition of agricultural land by the erstwhile Left Front government. She did not support Special Economic Zones at the expense of cultivators and people who are dependent on agriculture.
Mamata Banerjee is the founder of All India Trinamool Congress, a party which she formed in 1997. She became leader of Trinamool Congress following her split from the Indian National Congress.
Political career of Mamata Banerjee
- Indian National Congress
Mamata began her political life with the Indian National Congress Party. In the Parliamentary Elections held in 1984, Mamata became one of the youngest members of the Lok Sabha ever. She was fielded from the Jadavpur Parliamentary Constituency in West Bengal and she defeated Somnath Chatterjee, an experienced political leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The same year, she was nominated as the General Secretary of the All India Yuba Congress. In the 1989 General Elections, she lost her Jadavpur seat due to the anti-incumbency factor that the Indian National Congress was facing. In the 1991 Parliamentary Elections, she shifted to the South Calcutta Lok Sabha Constituency and this paid rich dividends to her. She emerged victorious with a thumping margin from that constituency. After that, there was no looking back. She has won the South Calcutta Lok Sabha Constituency seat in all the Parliamentary Elections held since 1991 (1996, 1998, 1999, 2004, and 2009).
In the Narsimha Rao cabinet in 1991, Mamata served as the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Youth Affairs and Sports, and Women and Child Development. However, she resigned from her post in 1993. In 1996, her differences with the Indian National Congress grew to a substantial level. She accused that the Indian National Congress was functioning hands in glove with the Marxist Communist Party of India. She demanded that she was the solitary voice of cause and looked for a "transparent" Congress. - Formation of Trinamool Congress
In 1997, Mamata decided to bid goodbye to the Indian National Congress and form her own party which she named All India Trinamool Congress. It soon turned into the main opposition party in West Bengal, posing a serious threat to the long-serving Left Front government. In 1999, she became a part of the BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) and was offered the post of the Railways Minister. - As Railway Minister (First Term)
Mamata Banerjee tabled her opening Railway Budget in 2000. In this budget, she accomplished most of the pledges that she made to West Bengal, her own state.
Mamata launched a new biweekly New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express train and four other express trains joining different areas of West Bengal, specifically the Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri Express, Howrah-Purulia Rupasi Bangla Express, Sealdah-Amritsar weekly Superfast Express and the Shalimar-Bankura Arannyak Express.
As Railway Minister, Mamata concentrated on growing travel and tourism sector, facilitating the Darjeeling-Himalayan division with two extra trains and recommending the IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) Limited. Furthermore, she stated that India has to play a crucial role in the Trans-Asian Railway and that rail connections between Nepal and Bangladesh would be reinstated. For the fiscal year 2000-2001, she launched 19 new trains altogether. - Differences with National Democratic Alliance
In early 2001, once she had differences with the NDA leadership, Mamata left the NDA cabinet and joined hands with the Indian National Congress for 2001 West Bengal Assembly Polls. There were conjectures that the step could oust the Left Front regime in West Bengal. In January 2004, she rejoined the cabinet and was offered the post of Coal and Mines Minister till the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. In the 2004 General Elections, NDA was removed from power by the Congress Party and Mamata was the only candidate from Trinamool Congress to get a Lok Sabha seat from her state.
- West Bengal Chief Minister
After the 2004 General Elections, she focused more on state politics. On October 20, 2005, she spoke against forcible land acquisition by the Left Front Government for the benefit of Special Economic Zones at the cost of poor farmers. At that time, the Chief Minister of West Bengal was Buddhadev Bhattacharya.
In 2005, Ms. Banerjee experienced more hindrances while TMC was defeated in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls and the sitting mayor quit her party. Subsequently, the Trinamool Congress received a severe jolt when they were overwhelmed by the Left Front in 2006 West Bengal Assembly Polls. They lost over 50% of their sitting MLAs in that election.
In the 2009 General Elections, Trinamool Congress allied with UPA (United Progressive Alliance) and citizens of West Bengal voted against the communist parties. The Congress-TMC alliance emerged victorious in 26 seats and Mamata Banerjee was once more made the Railway Minister for next five years. TMC bagged 19 seats and five of them were women. SUCI won one seat and the Indian National Congress won six seats.
In the West Bengal municipal polls held in 2010, the Trinamool Congress party emerged victorious and took control of Kolkata Municipal Corporation by winning 95 seats out of 141 seats. They also won the Bidhan Nagar Municipality Polls, winning 16 out of 25 seats.
In the 2011 WB Assembly polls, the Congress - Trinamool Congress alliance, led by Mamata Banerjee, emerged triumphant with more than 77% of the overall number of seats. This is regarded as a significant win over the communist party led government. The focus of the polls was that just four ministers out of 28 departing ministers of the previous government could keep their seats. Buddhadev Bhattacharya, the then Chief Minister, was also defeated in Jadavpur assembly seat by Manish Gupta, former Chief Secretary of the West Bengal Government. The alliance won 227 seats in all and the TMC singly won 184 seats, Congress 42 seats, and SUCI one seat. The Left Front won just 62 seats which was their poorest performance throughout a regime spanning three and a half decades. - Railway Minister - Second Term
From 2009 to 2011, Mamata served as the Union Railways Minister for the second term. On September 18, 2009, she introduced the Duronto Express, which is the speediest nonstop train in the country between New Delhi and Sealdah. On September 21, 2009, she launched another super fast Duronto Express between Chennai and New Delhi. Mamata Banerjee also took initiatives to extend train services in terror-struck areas in Jammu and Kashmir. As a result, the railway line between Anantnag and Qadigund was opened in October 2009. Extending the Metro Rail from Tollygunge to Garia is one of her significant achievements. She also introduced a number of ladies special trains.
Major Achievements of Mamata Banerjee as Chief Minister of West Bengal
Mamata took oath as Chief Minister of the state on May 20, 2011. She is the first lady CM of the state. After becoming Chief Minister, she decided to give back 400 acres of farming land to the peasants in Singur. She is also taking initiatives to solve the "Gorkhaland" issue by establishing the Gorkhaland Autonomous Council.
Mamata initiated different restructurings in health and education sectors. One of the significant feats in the education sector is the payment of monthly salary of the teachers on the first day of each month and faster pensions for retired educators. She is planning for a three-tier development scheme to better healthcare services and infrastructure.
Last Updated on 31 October 2011
