Mamata emerges West Bengal's 'person of the year'

Year gone by: CM managed to keep her word of returning land to farmers at Singur

With 2016 bidding adieu, a look back at the past 12 months clearly shows that for West Bengal the ‘Person of the Year’ was definitely Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Not only did she come out victorious for the second time in the face of tough opposition and a variety of roadblocks, the Trinamool Congress chairperson also managed to keep her word of returning land to farmers at Singur, which was caught in a legal tussle for years.

Vocal opponent

With the year nearing its end, Mamata came up with a new crusade after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1,000 currency notes.

She emerged as the most vocal opponent of Modi and demonetisation, not just in West Bengal but even made sufficient noise in Delhi and elsewhere, with support from other top leaders like AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, RJD’s Lalu Prasad Yadav, and even BJP ally Shiv Sena.

In a bid to make her commitment to the cause clear, Mamata even called up CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, to draw on his party’s support, despite the Left party having been her nemesis for decades.

In her trademark rhetoric, she pledged to never call up a CPM leader again after Yechury seemed cold to her overtures.

Mamata sharpened her attack on the prime minister every day since November 8, the day Modi declared demonetisation. She even bridged the gulf between herself and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

The year had started well for Mamata with political observers predicting her victory in the state Assembly elections, held in April-May. Things, however, took a turn when the CPM joined hands with the Congress in a bid to combat not just Mamata but also BJP, which has been making significant inroads since the landslide victory of Modi in 2014 general elections.

Things, however, started falling in place for the opposition in the state, who went on the offensive after an under-construction flyover in north Kolkata collapsed on March 31, killing 27 people.

Things turned further tense for Mamata after an online news organisation released videos of a sting operation, showing a number of top Trinamool leaders receiving bribes.

When all seemed to have soured and her chances of holding on to power turned almost into an afterthought, the election results in May surprised even Trinamool’s staunchest supporters.

If in 2011, Trinamool had come to power with 184 seats, five years later, Mamata had managed to touch 211, or two-thirds majority in the House. The Congress-Left combine won 76 seats and the BJP, just 2, virtually leaving her without any Opposition inside the Assembly.

Landmark victory

If the poll results put her firmly in place for another five years, a Supreme Court verdict in October gave Mamata a sweet deal, when the apex court found land acquisition at Singur during the Left regime in 2006 “illegal”.

Calling the ruling a ‘landmark victory’ for her party, Mamata returned land to farmers, well within the deadline of 12 weeks the apex court had set.

For Mamata, life had come full circle as Singur catapulted her to another level of popularity and paved her path to topple a 34-year-old regime.