How Mamata's left her mark

kolkata: "mamata effectively combines the dictatorial tendencies of the personality cult with the democratic impulses of popular politics" is how trinamul chairperson mamata banerjee has been described in a recent book on india's politicians. written by journalist kalyani shankar, gods of power: personality cult & indian democracy was released on december 20 in delhi's india habitat centre by rajya sabha deputy chairperson najma heptullah.the launch ceremony brought together such political heavyweights like chandra shekhar, vp singh, pv narasinha rao and ik gujral. to capture the phenomenon of personality cult in indian politics, shankar has zeroed in on nine politicians who have transcended their respective organisations to make a mark on indian politics. the trinamul supremo is the only leader from west bengal who features in shankar's list. in her bid to explain the mamata magic, shankar has spoken to a number of mamata's colleagues -- seniors and contemporaries -- who were closely associated with her. some of the assessments are worth a hard look, especially with many erstwhile mamata colleagues eventually turning into her bete noire. sample this. "many people think it was subrata da (subrata mukherjee) who inducted me into politics, but this is not correct. at that time, the people who helped me most were partha roy choudhury, ranjit ghosh, ranada and dilip majumdar," mamata disclosed in the book, expressing her gratitude to her congress roots. so what made mamata banerjee attractive to the common man? she has no advantage of a surname like sonia gandhi or screen image of jayalalitha or mayawati's caste back-up. in trying to explain this, a number of leaders across party lines have given their insight. "mamata wants to be number one because she has a certain vision and if this is not fulfilled by other leaders, she naturally wants to fill the slot," was how ajit panja had described mamata. close to a year later, it was the same panja who described mamata banerjee as schizophrenic and declared revolt. for now, panja is obviously up against the autocrat in mamata.