Mamata at 15: From ‘Didi’ to ‘Aapa’ as Bengal Turns Away
Photo credit X @TrinankurWBTMCP
After 15 years in power, Mamata Banerjee’s transformation — and the transformation of West Bengal’s political soil — reveal a state choked by minority appeasement, syndicate rule, shrinking freedoms, and a simmering Hindu consolidation that now powers the BJP.
By NIRENDRA DEV
New Delhi, December 11, 2025 — One-and-a-half decades of Trinamool Congress rule has altered West Bengal’s political chemistry in ways few predicted in 2011. What began as a rebellion against 34 years of communist stagnation has, in 2025, hardened into an era many residents quietly describe as “suffocating.”
The Mamata Banerjee who stormed Writers’ Buildings as a crusader for the poor is not the Mamata who rules today. Her critics accuse her of a steep drift into blatant Muslim appeasement, turning “Didi” into “Aapa” — not without reason, they say. Governance, policing, women’s safety, and even national security concerns have often been sacrificed at the altar of electoral arithmetic.
A Politics of Populism, Not Progress
Economically, the consensus is bleak. Industrial stagnation worsened, and investors simply stopped looking toward Bengal. The Trinamool Congress, insiders admit, has become far more corrupt, centralised and intolerant than the CPI(M) in its dying phase.
Her intolerance of criticism is legendary. Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested merely for forwarding a cartoon of Mamata. In Kamduni, women demanding safety were dismissed as “Maoists.”
The 2024 rape of a young medico further exposed governance decay. Instead of introspection, Mamata blamed the victim’s late-night movement — a remark many say reflected a “dictatorial” mindset.
When Appeasement Backfires
The charge sheet is long: doles to imams, minority-centric welfare schemes, administrative decisions skewed in favour of Muslim groups, and even restrictions on Durga Puja processions — later struck down by the Calcutta High Court.
But the result has been a massive Hindu consolidation — ironically empowering the BJP far more than its own organisational strength ever could. The Left and Congress? Wiped out. Zero seats in the 2021 assembly polls — unimaginable a decade ago.
What Mamata Says — And What People Believe
Mamata insists: “Respecting Muslims doesn’t mean hating Hindus. India belongs to everybody.” But many in Bengal question whether her version of secularism has collapsed into selective patronage.
Syndicate Raj and the New Culture of Fear
Residents across districts describe the Trinamool ecosystem bluntly: “Anti-socials always infiltrate ruling parties. Under the CPI(M), they joined. Under Trinamool, they built the party.”
Syndicates, extortion networks, land mafias — all allegedly flourished with political protection. What the Left once did through cadre committees, the TMC has institutionalised with impunity. The ‘freedom’ Bengal thought it reclaimed in 2011 never arrived.
From Marxist Comrades to Mamata’s Court
The biggest transformation, however, is psychological.
Like the once-mighty Left, the TMC now treats the poor and Muslim communities as its “rightful” captive vote bank.
The Marxism of Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been replaced by the maxims of personality cults: What Mamata says is correct. What Abhishek Banerjee desires is policy.
What a few Muslim leaders demand becomes government doctrine.
Personal ego and self-interest, not ideology, now power the TMC machine.
BJP’s Opening
This political vacuum — economic frustration, cultural resentment, and anger over law-and-order decline — has created the perfect opening for the BJP.
Whether the saffron party can convert that into durable gains remains unclear, but the erosion of Mamata’s aura is undeniable.
After 15 years, both Didi has changed — and so have the Manush and the Maati of West Bengal.
(This is an opinion piece, and views expressed are those of the author only)
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