The All India Trinamool Congress (abbreviated AITMC, TMC or Trinamool Congress) is a state political party in West Bengal. Founded in 1 January 1998, the party is led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Trinamool Congress is currently the second largest member of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition. It is currently the sixth largest party in Lok Sabha with 19 seats.

After remaining with the INC for over 2 decades, Mamata Banerjee formed her own party, the "Trinamool Congress", which was registered with the Election Commission of India during mid-December, 1997. The Election Commission alloted to the party an exclusive symbol of Jora Ghas Phul. She entered into an alliance with the BJP in 1999.

In the 1998 Lok Sabha polls, TMC won 7 seats. In the next Lok Sabha election that was held in 1999, Trinamool Congress won 8 seats with BJP, thus increasing its tally by one. In 2000, TMC won the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Elections. In the 2001 Vidhan Sabha elections, TMC won 60 seats with Congress(I). In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, TMC won 1 seat with Congress(I) . In the 2006 Vidhan Sabha elections, TMC won 30 seats with Congress(I). In the West Bengal state assembly election, 2011, TMC won a majority of 184 seats (out of 294). Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister. TMC also has 5 MLAs in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly,7 MLAs in the Manipur Assembly and 1 MLA and 1 MP in Assam.

Mamata Banerjee (Bengali: মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়, pronounced [mɔːmoːt̪ʰaː bɛːnaːrjiː]; born 5 January 1955) is the 11th and current Chief Minister of West Bengal. She is the first woman to hold the office. Banerjee founded All India Trinamool Congress in 1997 and became chairperson, after separating from the Indian National Congress. She is usually called "Didi" (meaning elder sister). She is often cited by the media and critics to be as "megalomaniac, eccentric and populist politician".

Banerjee pulled off a landslide victory for the All India Trinamul Congress (AITMC ) or (TMC) in West Bengal by defeating the world's longest-serving democratically-elected communist government, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front government, bringing to an end 34 years of Left Front rule in the state. Banerjee previously served as a Minister of Railways twice, 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 of the Indian government. She opposed forceful land acquisition for industrialisation by the then communist government in West Bengal for Special Economic Zones at the cost of agriculturalists and farmers.

Kisan Baburao Hazare  pronunciation (help·info) (Marathi: किसन बाबुराव हजारे, Kisan Bāburāv Hajārē ^?) (born 15 June 1937), popularly known as Anna Hazare  pronunciation (help·info) (Marathi: अण्णा हजारे, Aṇṇā Hajārē ^?) is an Indian social activist who led movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish official corruption. In addition to organizing and encouraging grassroots movements, Hazare frequently conducted hunger strikes to further his causes—a tactic reminiscent, to many, of the work of Mohandas K. Gandhi. Hazare also contributed to the development and structuring of Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Parner taluka of Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan—the third-highest civilian award—by the Government of India in 1992 for his efforts in establishing this village as a model for others.

Anna Hazare started an indefinite hunger strike on 5 April 2011 to exert pressure on the Indian government to enact a stringent anti-corruption law, The Lokpal Bill, 2011 as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill, for the institution of an ombudsman with the power to deal with corruption in public places. The fast led to nation-wide protests in support. The fast ended on 9 April 2011, a day after the government accepted Hazare's demands. The government issued a gazette notification on the formation of a joint committee, consisting of government and civil society representatives, to draft the legislation.

Farhan Akhtar (born 9 January 1974) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, playback singer, lyricist and television host based in Bollywood. Born in Mumbai to Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, he grew up under the influence of the film industry. After completing his schooling in Maneckji Cooper school, he studied a degree of commerce in HR College, Mumbai, before dropping out, and began his career in films by working as an assistant director in Lamhe and Himalayputra.

Akhtar, after establishing a production company named Excel Entertainment along with Ritesh Sidhwani, made his directorial debut with Dil Chahta Hai and received critical acclaim for portraying modern youth. The film also won a National award. Following it, he made Lakshya and had his Hollywood debut through the soundtrack of Bride and Prejudice, for which he wrote the lyrics. He had his first commercial success with Don: The Chase Begins Again, though failing to receive critical acclaim for it. He directed a documentary titled Positive to spread awareness on HIV-AIDS.

Dinesh Trivedi ; born 4 June 1950 is an Indian politician from the All India Trinamool Congress party, a current Member of Parliament in the lower house representing Barrackpore, West Bengal . He is also the Chairman of the Indo-European Union Parliamentary Forum (IEUPF).

Trivedi is the youngest child of the Gujarati couple, Hiralal and Urmila, who migrated to India from Karachi during India's partition, where all his other siblings were born. His parents lived in a number of places before coming to New Delhi, where he was born. His father then started working for the Hindustan Construction Company in Kolkata. Trivedi attended boarding schools in Himachal Pradesh, before graduating in commerce from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta. He then took a loan of Rs.20,000 and completed his MBA from The University of Texas at Austin. He also trained to be a pilot, a result of his childhood dream of flying for the Indian Air Force. He is a trained sitar player and enjoys classical music. He also applied to train as an actor at the Film Institute, Pune, but didn't follow it up as he then believed it not to be a serious job, as reported by Rediff.com. He was also drawn towards a picture of Swami Vivekananda in an advertisement by the Ramkrishna Mission, and decided to be a monk, but did not do so due to strong advice by his family and a Swami in Chicago. He dons rings with sapphire, emerald and coral on his right hand to ward off the ill-effects of the mangal griha (planet Mars).