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    Mamata Banerjee

    Mamata Banerjee is the ninth and current Chief Minister of West Bengal. The 66-year-old leader began her political career in the 1970s as part of the Congress but later left the party due to differences in political views with the then West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Somendra Nath Mitra. After splitting away from the Congress, she founded the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) and currently serves as the chairperson of the party. Popularly known as 'didi' in Bengal, she dismantled 34 years of communist rule in her home state of West Bengal after a landslide victory in the 2011 state assembly elections. Since then, she has been holding the CM post in the state for three consecutive terms. Before becoming the chief minister of the state, she held several important portfolios in the government of India. In 1991, she was appointed as the Union minister of state for human resources development, youth affairs and sports; and women and child development under the Congress government at the Centre. In 1999, she joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and was appointed minister for railways. In 2004, she got the coal and mines portfolio and in 2009, she became the railway minister for the second time. More

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    • Mission Bengal 2026: Will Mamata Banerjee's 'star power' triumph over BJP's 'ground power'?

      A preliminary reading of Trinamool Congress' (TMC) list of 291 candidates, released by party chief Mamata Banerjee, reinforces a trend, which the party has positively employed over the years.

    • Assembly elections 2026: Not BJP, these two leaders may be Congress's biggest 'rivals' in upcoming polls

      In Bengal and Assam, Congress isn't much in contention, although in the northeastern state of Assam the party is involved in a direct bipolar contest with BJP lead by all-powerful Himanta Biswa Sarma.

    • Mamata Banerjee intensifies attack on BJP, says 'attack my house... we know how to resist’

      Banerjee, a day after the Election Commission announced the poll dates for upcoming elections, addressed a rally in Kolkata, where she accused the saffron party of deliberately targeting the ruling party in Bengal.

    • Can Mamata Banerjee and Himanta Sarma protect their turf? Stage set for mega battle with announcement of poll dates

      The Trinamool and other parties have pointed to the voter list revision as part of the BJP's newfound poll-winning game plan, alleging it deletes voters from marginalised and oppressed communities, who support the opposition, under the guise of 'ghuspathiyas', or 'infiltrators'.

    • West Bengal Election Dates 2026: Voting on April 23, 29; results on May 4

      According to the Election Commission data, the voter count now stands at 6.44 crore. More than 60 lakh names have been placed “under adjudication”, while 1.9 lakh new voters have been added.

    • Centre vs Mamata Banerjee: BJP fact-checks TMC's 'President standing' photo attack on PM Modi

      The row erupted after President Murmu visited Bengal on Saturday for the ninth International Santal Conference in Darjeeling.

    • Mamata Banerjee denies insult to President Droupadi Murmu, PM Modi attacks TMC

      Maintaining that the state government wasn't even aware of the details of the President's programme and that it wasn't taken into confidence by the private organisers, Banerjee said that the responsibility of the alleged garbage, green room malfunction and lack of women's toilets should be shouldered by the event managers and the AAI on whose plot the function was held.

    • Union Home Secretary seeks report from Bengal chief secretary regarding lapses relating to President's Santhal event

      West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has countered, saying that she and her ministers were never supposed to be present as per the lineup approved by the President's Secretariat and that the event was arranged by a private organisation. The documents also have no mention of Bidhannagar being the initial location.

    • West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee counters President's remarks with pre-approved state visit plan

      The Bengal chief minister has hit back at President after the latter's remarks on the way she was treated during her visit to the state.

    • President playing politics prior to Bengal polls at BJP's behest: Mamata Banerjee on Murmu's remarks on tribals

      West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was reacting sharply to Murmu’s comments during her visit to north Bengal, Banerjee alleged that the BJP was using the President’s office to malign the state government.

    • OPINION | CPM’s risky Bengal gambit of mainstreaming fringe parties tapping into Muslim disillusionment  

      These parties have increased their tempo recently and TMC will be the loser if they succeed. Given the ideological influence Bangladesh’s Jamaat has on them, CPM risks a credibility crisis with this strategy 

    • Mamata Banerjee alleges EC-BJP nexus over deletions in Bengal's post SIR rolls

      The post-SIR rolls recorded 63.66 lakh deletions, 8.3 per cent of the electorate, reducing the voter base to a little over 7.04 crore.

    • 'Ramakrishna was Thakur, not swami': Mamata Banerjee slams PM Modi for 'improper prefix' to saint's name

      Ramakrishna Paramahansa was a 19th-century mystic and spiritual teacher, widely referred to as ‘thakur’ or ‘Sri Ramkrishna’ in West Bengal.

    • Mamata advances Banglar Yuva Sathi scheme launch; West Bengal youth to get Rs 1,500 monthly

      The scheme targets unemployed youth aged between 21 and 40 years who have passed the Madhyamik (Class 10 state board examination). Applicants must be residents of West Bengal.

    • FM Nirmala Sitharaman slams Bengal govt over law and order, says state run by 'bomb culture'

      FM did not hold back on matters of women's safety either, referencing the RG Kar rape case and other instances of sexual violence in Bengal

    • West Bengal elections: Congress snaps decade-old alliance with Left, to contest on all 294 seats alone

      The Congress is set to field its candidates on all 294 seats in the poll-bound state, making the Bengal Assembly elections a four-cornered contest.

    • OPINION | Mamata Banerjee, the first sitting CM to argue a case in SC, seizes the initiative from BJP

      After 15 years in power, and weighed down by the weight of anti-incumbency, Banerjee showed her political savvy by converting the SIR issue into one of Bengali self-respect. It forces BJP into a reactive position

    • Mamata's poetic protest: West Bengal CM pens 26 poems against SIR amid legal and political battle

      Mamata Banerjee has taken her opposition to the Election Commission’s SIR to a new level, penning a book of 26 poems that she says gives voice to the "harassment" and "fear" facing citizens.

    • 'Justice crying behind closed doors': Mamata Banerjee slams EC over SIR in Supreme Court

      The Supreme Court is hearing a batch of pleas against the SIR exercise in West Bengal. In her petition, Banerjee has sought the quashing of various directions and instructions issued by the ECI.

    • West Bengal SIR Supreme Court Hearing: Attempts to 'bulldoze' Bengal people, alleges Mamata Banerjee, SC asks EC to exercise caution

      According to media reports, Banerjee, who holds a law degree, may personally appear before the court to present her case.

    • 'TMC will back any motion by opposition to impeach CEC Gyanesh Kumar': Mamata Banerjee

      On Monday, the TMC chief and her delegation walked out of a meeting with Kumar and other election commissioners on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) issue, alleging humiliation by the poll panel chief.

    • Mamata Banerjee to appear before Supreme Court over Bengal SIR plea today, likely to argue the matter herself

      The matter will be heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi.

    • Mamata Banerjee may argue SIR case herself as Supreme Court takes up challenge to electoral roll revision

      Banerjee filed her petition on January 28, naming the Election Commission (EC) and the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer as respondents.

    • Mamata Banerjee likely to appear before Supreme Court over Bengal SIR plea

      The TMC supremo, who has been demanding a halt to the voters’ list cleanup exercise in West Bengal, is in Delhi along with SIR-affected families from her state. She reached Delhi on Sunday.

    • ‘They humiliated us’: Mamata Banerjee walks out of meet with poll body, EC sources reject charges

      Speaking to the media after walking out of the meeting, the TMC chief said that the delegation decided to boycott the meeting as, according to her, their grievances were not heard.

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