‘Time for second woman PM’: Manmohan Singh’s advisor backs Mamata Banerjee for top post, says Rahul-Kharge model failed to deliver

A 'fiery' Mamata Banerjee bolstered by nationwide political support through INDIA would have helped the parties battling the BJP to acquire coherence and popular appeal.

• Sanjaya Baru backs Mamata Banerjee as Opposition's PM face
• He says India needs a second woman prime minister now
• Baru notes Banerjee's leadership could boost INDIA bloc's appeal

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Sanjaya Baru, former Media Advisor and Chief Spokesperson to ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from 2004 to 2008, has endorsed Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee as the Opposition’s face as PM.

In an opinion piece published in The Telegraph, Baru said there is excessive male domination of national and regional politics at a time when women have come to play a larger role across all professions.

“It is time the country had a second woman prime minister, and no one fits the bill better than Ms Banerjee,” he wrote.

Baru said when the INDIA bloc was formed three years ago, he was of the view that Banerjee ought to have been made its chairperson. “Repeating the Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh model with Rahul Gandhi-Mallikarjun Kharge has not helped,” he said.

According to him, a “fiery” Banerjee bolstered by nationwide political support through INDIA would have helped the parties battling the BJP to acquire coherence and popular appeal.

“Even now, if INDIA facilitates Ms Banerjee’s electoral victory, it would be in a better position to take on the BJP. I have long argued that the Congress Party would have immensely benefited by inviting her to return to the fold and made her the party president,” he said.

Calling the BJP, a “male-dominated party”, Baru said an Opposition alliance led by a woman political leader, that too one who symbolises independent womanhood, can make a dent into the BJP’s more recently acquired women’s vote base.

However, Baru said Banerjee’s only deficit is that her governance record at the state level has not been very impressive. But then, he argued that there are few chief ministers who can legitimately claim a creditable record of governance. “Consider the case of Nitish Kumar who has repeatedly returned to office without much to show for it. Ms Banerjee has a reasonably good record of governance, especially Sthe turnaround in Calcutta’s urban development,” he said.

However, he said governments in states like erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are credited with good work, but politicians in these states have become “millionaires in office, pointing to high levels of corruption”.

He also said West Bengal has long nursed the grievance that despite its role and importance in the nation’s political awakening, no Bengali has been able to become the prime minister of India. “Several Bengalis have been national leaders across many professions: from Swami Vivekananda to Rabindranath Tagore, from Subhas Chandra Bose to Jyoti Basu, from Satyajit Ray to Amartya Sen and from JC Bose to P.C. Mahalanobis. Yet, few Bengali politicians have left their mark on national politics and governance,” he said.