What sets Mamata apart is her remarkable tenacity and diligence in making the most of any fight. In Jadavpur in 1984, with meagre resources at her disposal (the Congress was not ready to invest in a ‘lost’ seat), Mamata could not mobilise party workers behind her in long processions or even hire a vehicle to go wheeling around her constituency. She did her own wall writings and posters and campaigned door to door, going to homes in the poor settlements and bonding with the women over tea and puffed rice in the kitchen. Here was a 29-year-old woman in a white cotton saree, sporting a steel bangle, an HMT wrist watch and a jhola, raring to trek the political terrain in a pair of hawai chappals (flip-flops). Somnath’s shock defeat in that contest first earned Mamata the giant slayer tag.
This story is from the January 10, 2021 edition of India Today.
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This story is from the January 10, 2021 edition of India Today.
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