Fifteen Years Later...

I recall that day fifteen years ago, when Trinamool came to power in the Assembly elections of 2011.

- DOLA MITRA

The grassroots party did sweep the polls as was predicted by astute political pundits. I was working for a national newsmagazine and had covered Singur and Nandigram, the two “issues” that propelled Didi, as Trinamool party founder Mamata Banerjee was by then being called affectionately by the masses of West Bengal, to the heights of popularity in the state. The then state government (the Communist Party of India, Marxist-led Left Front government) had allotted almost 1000 acres of fertile farmland in Singur (in the outskirts of Kolkata) for the construction of a car factory to Tata Motors (for its Nano factory) and Didi had jumped in to the ‘rescue’ of the farmers who were unwilling to part with their land. The agitation saw Mamata go on a hunger strike demanding that the acquired land be handed back to the owners and her party set up a makeshift stage in front of the disputed area, which became a hotbed of political discourse with journalists from across the globe, activists from around the country and the state’s civil society all gathering to lend her their support. Nandigram, where the then state government had planned a chemical hub too was a fertile farmland and Didi launched an aggressive agitation on behalf of the villagers of the area. Inthe tug of war between the state government and Trinamool, which was then in the Opposition, innocent villagers lost lives (in Nandigram the state police had opened fire on unarmed agitators, killing 14 young men and in Singur a young woman was raped and murdered allegedly by goons associated with the ruling party). The incidents sent shockwaves throughout the state and the electorate’s verdict was attributed to the anger of the people, who were already fed up with thirty four years of the Communist rule. It was the height of anti-incumbency.