Mamata Banerjee: All Information, Achievements, Chief Minister, Early Life

Being the first one to do a task in any field makes the achievement even more special. The first lady Railway Minister of India, first lady Chief Minister of West Bengal, considered as one of the most honest politicians, Mamata Banerjee is truly a trendsetter in the Indian politics. Simple in outlook but persevere, remained single throughout her life, a self-taught painter and poet, often regarded as “Didi” by the media because of her social behavior towards the people and issues. West Bengal is seeing new landmarks and swiftly creating new under her leadership.

She founded the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 1997 and became its chairperson, after separation from the Congress. Her party defeated the 34-year old Communist Party of India, until then the world's longest-serving democratically-elected communist government. She started her political career in the Congress party as a young woman in the 1970s. In the 1984 election, she became one of India's youngest parliament members ever, beating veteran Communist politician Somnath Chatterjee, from the Jadavpur, West Bengal. She also served as the first woman Railway Minister of India, Minister of Coal, and Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Department of Youth Affairs and Sports and Women and Child Development in the cabinet.

She is known well for her efforts in the welfare of women and society, Women’s Reservation Bill being a wide known. She also played an active role n the rollback of the petrol price hikes and the suspension of FDI in Retail Sector. She graduated with an honours degree in History from the Jogamaya Devi College, Kolkata.  Later she completed her master's degree in Islamic History from the University of Calcutta. She also earned a law degree from the Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College, Kolkata.

She got worldwide recognition when Bill Gates, of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on 16 February 2012, sent a letter to the West Bengal government praising her administration for achieving a full year without any reported cases of polio, this was not only a milestone for West Bengal but India also. In 2012, Time magazine named her as "100 Most influential People in the World". In 2012 Bloomberg magazine listed her among the 50 most influential people in the world of finance. She was also voted as India's most honest politician in an internal poll by members of India Against Corruption in 2013.

She attributed the increasing incidence of rape in the country to "more free interaction between men and women". She said, “Earlier if men and women would hold hands, they would get caught by parents and reprimanded but now everything is so open. It’s like an open market with open options.” She was criticized in the national media for these statements. She also drew criticism due to her various actions. Ambikesh Mahapatra, a professor was assaulted, arrested and forced to spend a night in police custody for allegedly circulating 'defamatory' cartoons of Mamata Banerjee. The attackers were arrested on the next day and they were released on bail. Due to these incidents, some publications characterized Mamata Banerjee as "Dictatorial" and her rule as "Mamata's growing dictatorship".