Ambika Soni
Minister of Information and Broadcasting
In office May 2009-Incumbent
Preceded by	Priyaranjan Dasmunshi
Member of Rajya Sabha
Minister for Tourism and Culture
In office 2006–2009
Succeeded by	Kumari Selja
Personal details
Born	(1942-11-13) 13 November 1942 (age 69) Lahore, Undivided India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Children	one son, Anup
Residence	New Delhi
Website	Official website

Ambika Soni (born November 13, 1942) is an Indian politician belonging to Indian National Congress. She currently serves in the Union Cabinet as the minister in charge of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, after serving in Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Culture from 2006–2009.

She is a member of the Indian National Congress and is an elected Member of Parliament representing the state of Punjab in the Rajya Sabha.

Early life and education[link]

Born in Lahore in undivided Punjab to Nakul Sen, an I.C.S officer and Indu Nakul Sen in 1942. Ambika did her M.A. (Hons.) from Indraprastha College, Delhi University, followed by Diploma Superiore en Langue Francaise from Alliance Francaise, Bangkok and Post-Graduate Diploma in Spanish Art and Literature from University of Havana, Cuba.^[1]. She is a converted Christian.

Career[link]

Ambika made her political debut in 1975 when she was elected president of the Indian Youth Congress (1975–1977). Later, she was elected to the Rajya Sabha in March 1976 and in 1988, she became the president of All India Mahila Congress.^[2] According to the Hindu newspaper report, Congress party insiders believe that Ambika Soni is on the ascendant and currently among those individuals that Sonia Gandhi trusts the most.

Controversy[link]

In the row over the Sethusamudram, Ambika Soni's department filed an affidavit questioning the existence of Bhagwan Ram. Union Minister for Commerce Jairam Ramesh stated that if he were in Soni's spot, that he would resign.^[3] On September 18, 2007 Soni stated "I will not take even a minute to relinquish my post if my leaders (Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi) ask me to do so,"^[4]

At the International Colloquium on Freedom of Expression and Human Rights organized by the Press Council of India on April 28, 2011, she claimed that "Our media is probably the freest in the world,".^[5] The Press Freedom Index 2010 (by the Reporters Without Borders group) ranked India at 122^[6] and, the Freedom of the Press 2010 Global Rankings (by Freedom House) ranked India at 72.^[7] There are also serious concerns about regulators putting a tight leash on Internet Free Speech.^[8]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ambika Soni

• Smt. Ambika Soni – Profile Govt. of India Portal
• Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Official website

P Chidambaram
Minister of Home Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 November 2008
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Preceded by	Shivraj Patil
Minister of Finance
In office 22 May 2004 – 30 November 2008
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Preceded by	Jaswant Singh
Succeeded by	Manmohan Singh
In office 1 June 1996 – 21 April 1997
Prime Minister	H. D. Deve Gowda
Preceded by	Jaswant Singh
Succeeded by	Inder Kumar Gujral
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge)
In office 1995–1996
Prime Minister	P. V. Narasimha Rao
In office 1991–1992
Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
In office 26 December 1985 – 2 December 1989
Prime Minister	Rajiv Gandhi
Preceded by	K.P. Singh Deo
Succeeded by	Margaret Alva
Personal details
Born	(1945-09-16) 16 September 1945 (age 66) Kandanur, British Raj (now India)
Political party	Indian National Congress (Before 1996; 2004–present)
Other political affiliations	Tamil Maanila Congress (1996–2001) Congress Jananayaka Peravai (2001–2004)
Spouse(s)	Nalini Chidambaram
Children	Karti Palaniappan Chidambaram
Alma mater	University of Madras (B.Sc./LL.B.) Harvard Business School (M.B.A.)
Profession	Lawyer
Website	Official website

Chidambaram Palaniappan (born 16 September 1945) is an Indian politician with the Indian National Congress and the current Union Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of India. Previously he was the Finance Minister of India from May 2004 to November 2008. However, after the resignation of Shivraj Patil, Chidambaram was made the Home Affairs Minister.^[1]

Early life and education[link]

Chidambaram was born to Kandanur L. Ct. L. Palaniyappa Chettiar and Mrs. Lakshmi Achi in Kanadukathan in the Sivaganga District, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. He was born into the royal family of Chettinad.^[2] Chidambaram did his schooling from the Madras Christian College Hr.Sec.School, Chennai. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Statistics from The Presidency College, Chennai, he completed his Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the Madras Law College currently Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, Chennai, and his Masters in Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Harvard Business School class of 1968. He also holds a Masters from Loyola College, Chennai.^[3]

He enrolled as an Advocate in the Chennai High Court. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 1984. He has chambers in Delhi and Chennai and practices in the Supreme Court and in various High Courts in India.

Political career[link]

Chidambaram was first elected to the Lok Sabha (Lower House) of the Indian Parliament from the Shivaganga constituency of Tamil Nadu in general elections held in 1984. He was re-elected from the same constituency in the general elections of 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2004 and 2009. He was a union leader for MRF and worked his way up in the Congress party.

He was the Tamil Nadu Youth Congress president and then the general secretary of the (TNPCC) Tamil Nadu Pradesh Congress Committee unit.

He was inducted into the Union (Indian federal) Council of Ministers in the government headed by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on 21 September 1985 as a Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Commerce and then in the Ministry of Personnel. His main actions during his tenure in this period was to control the price of tea. He has been criticized by the Government of Sri Lanka for destroying the Sri Lankan tea trade by fixing the prices of the commodity in India using state power. He was elevated to the rank of Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in January 1986. In October of the same year, he was appointed to the Ministry of Home Affairs as Minister of State for Internal Security. He continued to hold both offices until general elections were called in 1989. The Indian National Congress government was defeated in the general elections of 1989.

In June 1991, Chidambaram was inducted as a Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce, a post he held till July, 1992. He was later re-appointed Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce in February 1995 and held the post until April 1996. He made some radical changes in India's export-import (EXIM) policy, while at the Ministry of Commerce.^{[citation needed]}

In 1996, Chidambaram quit the Congress party and joined a breakaway faction of the Tamil Nadu state unit of the Congress party called the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC). In the general elections held in 1996, TMC along with a few national and regional level opposition parties formed a coalition government. The coalition government came as a big break for Chidambaram, who was given the key cabinet portfolio of Finance; this put him in the limelight. The coalition government was a short-lived one (it fell in 1998), but he was reappointed to the same portfolio in the Government formed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2004.

In 1998, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took the reins of the Government for the first time and it was not until May 2004 that Chidambaram would be back in Government. Chidambaram became Minister of Finance again in the Congress party-Communist Party United Progressive Alliance government on 24 May 2004. During the intervening period Chidambaram made some experiments in his political career, leaving the Tamil Maanila Congress in 2001 and forming his own party, the Congress Jananayaka Peravai, largely focused on the regional politics of Tamil Nadu. The party failed to take off into mainstream Tamil Nadu or national politics. Just before the elections of 2004, he merged his party with the mainstream Congress party and when the Congress won the election, he was inducted into the Council of Ministers under the new Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as cabinet Minister of Finance.^{[citation needed]}

On November 30, 2008, he was appointed the Union Home Minister following the resignation of Shivraj Patil who had come under intense pressure to tender his resignation following a series of terror attacks in India, including the Mumbai attacks on November 26, 2008. The public response to this move was generally favourable given Chidambaram's reputation for competence and efficiency.

He has been credited with taking the bold decision of prioritizing elections above corporate demands to deploy security for T20-20 matches if IPL.^[4]

In 2009, Chidambaram was re-elected from Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency in the Congress victory and retained the Home ministry.

He was one of the representatives of the Central Government when a tri-party agreement was signed with the Gorkha Hill Council and the Government of West Bengal. The agreement was a result of Mamata Banerjee's effort to end a decade long unrest in the hills of Darjeeling.^[5]

Controversies and Allegations[link]

2G spectrum scam[link]

In September 2011, Subramanian Swamy moved to Supreme Court of India, after months of request to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to look into Chidambaram's role in the 2G spectrum scam.^[6][7][8] After having not had any favorable response from the Prime Minister he approached the Supreme Court and based on the fair credibility of preliminary evidence and documents, the court agreed to take up the petition.^[9] Andimuthu Raja, the prime accused in the 2G spectrum scam, also revealed on tapped phones that Chidambaram received a lot of money for 2G spectrum allocation.^[10]

In the same case an office memorandum from the office of the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was submitted to the Supreme Court which stated that Chidambaram collaborated in the under-pricing in the 2G spectrum scam during his tenure as Finance Minister. The memorandum said that if Chidambaram wanted, the 2G spectrum could have been auctioned.^[11][12] On 2 February 2012, Supreme court left it to the special CBI sessions court to decide on whether to make Chidambaram a co-accused in the case or order a CBI enquiry.^[13][6] On 4 February 2012, the special CBI court dismissed ^[14]The CBI court accepted Swamy's two allegations that Chidambaram and A Raja took decision jointly on fixing the price of the spectrum and offloading of shares. However, it dismissed the plea saying there were lack of evidences on Chidambaram’s criminal intention behind these two acts. Swamy appealed against this order directly in the Supreme court and as of 14 May 2012, the matter is pending there.^[15]

Aircel-Maxis deal controversy[link]

In a press statement on 26 April 2012, Swamy alleged that Advantage Strategic Consulting, a company owned by Chidambaram's son Kartik Chidambaram, received a 5% stake in mobile operator Aircel, as a condition for the 2006 FIPB approval of Malaysian company Maxis Communications's investment in Aircel.^[16] Chidambaram then had statutory authority over the FIPB in his role as the Finance Minister. Subsequently the issue was raised on multiple times in Parliament of India by the opposition which demanded his resignation.^[17] He and the government denied all the allegations.^[18]However, according to The Pioneer and India Today reports, documents show that approval to the FDI proposal was indeed delayed by about 7 months by P Chidambaram.^[19][20][21]

Black money[link]

Chidambaram has been accused of hoarding black money abroad^[22][23] and several petitioners have challenged Chidambaram in the open media and in several noted columns to file a defamation case against them if the allegations were untrue.^[24] Chidambaram has not responded to this.

Controversial companies representation[link]

He represented the bankrupt American energy giant Enron, as a senior lawyer in India, and is again set to revive its Dhabol power project.^[25][26]

Chidambaram also represented the controversial British mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources in the Mumbai High Court until 2003 when he became the Finance minister of India. He was also a member of the board of directors of that company.^[27]

Securities scam resignation[link]

He resigned on 10 July 1992 from the Minister position owning moral responsibility for investing in Fairgrowth, a company allegedly involved in securities scam.^[28]

Hindi language anti rhetoric controversy[link]

Chidambaram's speeches for assembly elections in Tamil Nadu have been laced with anti-Hindi rhetoric and had questioned the number of Hindi speaking ministers in the NDA government although he himself was the Finance Minister at that time and later on the Home Minister for the country.^[29]

Scheme for tax defaulters[link]

In 1997, he announced a controversial Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) which granted income-tax defaulters indefinite immunity from prosecution under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973, the Income Tax Act, 1961, the Wealth Tax Act, 1957, and the Companies Act, 1956 in exchange for self-valuation and disclosure of income and assets.^[24][30] The Comptroller and Auditor General of India condemned the scheme in his report as abusive and a fraud on the genuine taxpayers of the country.^[31]

Office of Profit inquiry[link]

In August 2006, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam gave permission to enquire into the allegations that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had been holding office of profit at the time of elections. It has been alleged that they both had been the board members of Rajiv Gandhi Trust Foundation. The Election Commission has been authorised to enquire into the allegations.^[32]

On 7 April 2009, P. Chidambaram was shoed by Jarnail Singh, a Sikh journalist during a press conference in Delhi. Singh, who works at the Hindi daily Dainik Jagaran was dissatisfied with Chidamabaram's answer to a question on the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) clean chit to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.^[33] Later, Jarnail Singh appeared on a few media channels and thanked Chidambaram for taking no action against him and said that he would apologize to Chidambaram if he got a chance to meet him personally.^[34] He also said that his method of protest was wrong, but the issue was right.^[35][36] He also declined to take money offered to him by the Shiromani Akali Dal, a Sikh political party.

Mr. Chidambaram has been in public conflict with other members of the UPA government on policy issues.^[37] There have been several instances where his public positions have exposed confusion in the policy agenda of the UPA government.^[38] In the past he has regularly announced plans to end Naxalism in the impending future. The most recent announcement was on Jul 30 2010.^[39] Another previous such declaration was on November 10, 2009.^[40]

Polls result vote fraud[link]

In 2009, Parliamentary elections, it was alleged in 'The Hindu' that Chidambaram has pressurised the Returning Officer of Sivaganga and doctored the poll results in his favour. AIADMK candidate Kannappan who lost in the poll demanded recounting of votes, which was declined.^[41]

Migrants in New Delhi blame[link]

In December 2010, it was reported^[42] that he blamed migrants for the rising rate of crime in New Delhi. He is alleged to have said that Delhi attracts a lot of migrants who live in unauthorized colonies and indulge in behavior that is unacceptable in any modern city. His quote was apparently a reaction to the Sultanpuri gang-rape incident^[43] where an 18 year old girl was the victim. This quote attracted a lot of criticism from opposition parties, with UP chief minister Mayawati alleging that, being the Home Minister, Chidambaram was biased against North Indians.^[44]

Lathi charge and arrest of Anna Hazare[link]

Chidambaram was criticized widely for ordering a police lathi charge at midnight on non-violent protesters at the Ramlila Maidan, Delhi. The protesters led by Baba Ramdev were protesting against widespread corruption in governance and demanding bringing back of black money to India stashed abroad in foreign banks.^[45]

It is also alleged that Chidambaram planned Anna Hazare's arrest to lodge him in Tihar Jail during the recent Anti- Corruption Campaign in India, which sparked off mass protests all over India.^[46]

Naxalite-Maoist insurgency[link]

Chidambaram's effectiveness as the Minister of Home Affairs has been questioned on various occasions. Upon taking office, he promised to tackle left-wing Naxalite-Maoist insurgency. However, there has been no progress in preventing Maoist attacks in India. Chidambaram has been accused of callously sacrificing ill-equipped and unprepared CRPF jawans repeatedly. On 6 April 2010 76 CRPF jawans were massacred in Dantewada.^[47] Besides condemning the attack, Chidambaram's ministry has made no progress in prosecuting the killers.

In 2010, there were several major attacks by Maoists including a 28 May 2010 train derailment that killed over 150 civilians, a 29 June attack that killed 26 policemen and dozens of other attacks that killed scores of security forces and civilians. Maoist attacks have continued in 2011, including the dismemberment of 10 police officials in Chhatisgarh state.

The RTI Act by advocate and activist Vivek Garg said that Chidambaram had been tasked to “supervise and deal with all financial matters” by a Group of Ministers in the run-up to the games.Documents accessed from PMO reveal that Chidambaram, the then FM, had been tasked with supervising all money matters pertaining to CWG which leads to a loss of 2342 crores.^[48]

2011 Mumbai bombings intelligence failure[link]

Chidambaram was criticized for his ministry's failure to prevent the 13 July 2011 Mumbai bombings, in spite of massive investments in security following the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Three years after the 2008 attacks, security preparations were found to be inadequate with communications breakdown and failures in modernising, procuring and installing security equipment.^[49] Chidambaram defended the agencies under his ministry against the charge of intelligence failure with the response:

Having no intelligence in this case, however, does not mean that there was a failure on part of the intelligence agencies.^[50]
There has been no intelligence failure. There was no intelligence warning about 13/7.^[51]

Family and personal life[link]

His grand uncles and grand father were the Co-founders of Indian Overseas Bank, Indian Bank, United India Insurance and Annamalai University.^{[52][53][54][55][56]}

He is married to Nalini Chidambaram who is a Senior Advocate and a tax lawyer practicing in the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court, primarily in litigation related to the Central Excise department of the Government of India. He has a son, Karti P. Chidambaram, who graduated with a BBA degree from the University of Texas, and a Bachelors in Law from Cambridge University. His son is also a politician in the Congress party.

Chidambaram is an atheist.^[57]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Palaniappan Chidambaram

• Personal Website of P.Chidambaram
• Profile at BBC News

Others[link]

• P Chidambaram in 2G scam
• Only dumping Chidambaram can save UPA
• Chidambaram favoured 'fraud' Vodafone-Hutchison deal

Salman Khurshidabad
Sh. Salman Khurshid
Ministry of Law and Justice
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 May 2011
Constituency	Farrukhabad
Personal details
Born	(1953-01-01) 1 January 1953 (age 59) Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse(s)	Louise Khurshid
Residence	Kaimganj, Pitaura
Alma mater	University of Delhi St Edmund Hall, Oxford
Profession	Advocate
Religion	Muslim

Salman Khurshid (born 1 January 1953) is an Indian politician belonging to the Indian National Congress, a lawyer, and a writer who has been elected from Farrukhabad Lok Sabha constituency in the General Election of 2009. He belongs to the Farrukhabad area. He is presently the Cabinet Minister of the Ministry of Law and Justice and Ministry of Minority Affairs. Prior to this he was elected to the 10th Lok Sabha (1991–1996) from the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha constituency. He became the Union Deputy Minister of Commerce in June 1991, and later became the Union Minister of State of External Affairs (Jan. 1993-June 1996).^[1] Before that he had started his political career in 1981 as an Officer on Special Duty in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) under the prime ministership of Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

Early life and education[link]

Born in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, he is the son of Khurshed Alam Khan, the former Union Minister of External affairs, Government of India, and maternal grandson of Dr. Zakir Hussain, the third President of India.

He studied in St. Xavier's High School, Patna, Bihar,^[2] B.A. (English and Jurisprudence), M.A., B.C.L. Educated at St. Stephen's College, Delhi and St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, Oxford, U.K.^[1] He also taught as Lecturer in Law at Trinity College, Oxford.

Political career[link]

He started his political career as an Officer on Special Duty in the Prime Minister's Office, during the Prime Ministership of Mrs. Indira Gandhi in the early 1980s. Later he became the Deputy Minister of Commerce in the Government of India, and then Minister of State for External Affairs in the Government of India from 1991-1996. During this period he was the Member of Parliament from the Farrukhabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh. In the General Election of 2009 he was once again elected as Member of Parliament from Farrukhabad, winning as a candidate of the Indian National Congress, with 1,69, 351 votes. He became the Union Minister of State (with Independent Charges) of Corporate Affairs and Minority Affairs in the Government of India. He took over as Minister on Friday, 29 May 2009. In the Cabinet reshuffle of 12 July, 2011, he was made Cabinet Minister for Law and Justice, and Minority Affairs in the Government of India.

He and his associates are committed to bringing waqf board reforms.^[3]

Party Political Offices[link]

He has been the President of the Uttar Pradesh Pradesh Congress Committee twice.

He was also the President of the Delhi Public School Society and Dr. Zakir Hussain Study Circle.

Political Views[link]

Salman Khurshid appeared for SIMI, a group banned in India and frequently charged by Indian authorities with terrorist activities, as its defence lawyer, appealing the 2002 ban; in June 2006 the Supreme Court of India rejected the appeal noting "the appeal against the ban should be first argued before the tribunal established for the purposes". Asked about his appearance, Khurshid said :"I would refuse a client only when I am personally satisfied that taking up the case would go against the ethics of the profession. A lawyer has to appear for an accused. It is my constitutional duty. A party and the government too cannot pre-judge an organisation."^[4]

In 2009 Incumbent President Sirajuddin Qureshi beat Salman Khurshid for the presidentship of India Islamic Cultural Centre.^[5] Campaign for the election was very intense with became high-profile with Salman's entry in the fray.^[6]

In 2010, he was instrumental in making the Govt of India introduce the Enemy Property Bill, which gives the pre-partition owners of immovable properties and assets, rights to the properties and assets as against the law from 1968 which handed over the properties to the Govt of India. Salman Khurshid, interestingly was the counsel for the Raja of Mahmudabad, MA Mohammad Khan, who crossed to Pakistan at the time of partition, in the apex court. He also led a delegation of Muslim MPs demanding a larger and wider scope for enemy property claims from across the border.^[7]

He started a new controversy in February 2012 when he claimed in Azamgarh that Sonia Gandhi cried after seeing pictures of Batla house encounter.

On February 13th 2012, The Hindu reported 'Union Law and Justice Minister and Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who challenged the Election Commission's authority to censure him for his remarks on a sub-quota for the minorities, has backtracked and regretted his statement. Mr. Khurshid had earlier asserted that he would stick to his stand even if the Commission “hangs me,” '.

Writings[link]

He has been deeply involved in writing and acting in plays since his student days in Delhi and Oxford. He is the author of the play Sons of Babur, published by Rupa & Co., which has been staged, with Tom Alter in the lead role, at the Red Fort in Delhi.

Allegations[link]

The NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) on January, 2012 filed an application before the Supreme Court alleging that the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) were going soft on Essar Group and its promoters by not charging them under Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) in connection with 2G scam Hearing. Advocate Prashant Bhushan alleged that not charging the accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act and ignoring the findings of the Investigating Officers is unwarranted. This move had been “facilitated” by the intervention of the CBI Director and Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid, who was trying to “influence” the probe against Essar. “The interference of an influential minister in the government, the Law Minister Mr Salman Khurshid, is evident. He is publicly giving clean chit to Essar/Loop,” Bhushan said.^[8].

Salman Khurshid's public utterances and official letters (dated 24 December 2010) that allegedly give a clean chit to the Essar and Reliance (Anil Ambani) Groups for cross-holdings in Loop Telecom and Swan Telecom respectively. Under telecom rules, an existing operator like Reliance Communications (RCom) cannot hold 10 percent or more in another telecom company in the same circle. RCom has, of course, contested this allegation. The affidavit filed by CPIL says that Khurshid’s opinion “was sent even after the Comptroller and Auditor General had (raised) serious doubts over Reliance’s effective control over Swan, the unequivocal complaint of Arun Agarwal (a lawyer who first showed how Swan could be a front for Reliance) and the order dated 16 December 2010 of the apex court directing a court-monitored investigation”.^[9]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Salman Khurshid

• Salman Khurshid, webpage at Lok Sabha website

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Mamata Banerjee মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়
Chief Minister of West Bengal
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 May 2011
Governor	M. K. Narayanan
Preceded by	Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
Constituency	Bhabanipur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)
Minister of Railways
In office 22 May 2009 – 19 May 2012
Preceded by	Lalu Prasad Yadav
Succeeded by	Manmohan Singh
Member of Parliament
In office 1991–2011
Preceded by	Biplab Dasgupta[1]
Succeeded by	Subrata Bakshi
Personal details
Born	(1955-01-05) 5 January 1955 (age 57) Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Indian National Congress (1970–1997) Trinamool Congress (1997–present)
Spouse(s)	Unmarried
Residence	Harish Chatterjee Street, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Alma mater	University of Calcutta
Profession	Politician Advocate
Religion	Hindu[citation needed]
Signature

Mamata Banerjee (Bengali: মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়, pronounced [mɔːmoːt̪ʰaː bɛːnaːrjiː]; born 5 January 1955)^[2] 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.^[3][4] 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".^[5][6][7]

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.^[8][9][10] 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.^[11] 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.^[12]

In 2012, the Time magazine named her one of the "100 Most influential People in the World".^[13]

Early life and career[link]

Banerjee was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal to Promileswar Banerjee and Gayetri Devi.^[14] She grew up in a lower middle class family, and her father died when she was young. Banerjee became involved with politics while still in school, joining the Congress (I) Party in West Bengal and serving in a variety of positions within the party and in other local political organizations. As a young woman in the 1970s, she quickly rose in the ranks^{[clarification needed]} to become the general secretary of the state Mohila Congress (1976–80).^[12] She was a college student in the mid-1970s when politics in Bengal began to accommodate the riffraff^{[clarification needed]}.

Banerjee graduated with an honours degree in History from the Jogamaya Devi College, an undergraduate women's college in southern Kolkata.^[15][16] Later she earned a master's degree in Islamic History from the University of Calcutta. This was followed by a degree in education from the Shri Shikshayatan College. She also earned a law degree from the Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College, Kolkata.^[17]

Throughout her political life Banerjee has maintained an austere lifestyle, always dressing in simple traditional Bengali cotton sarees called 'taat', while wearing none of cosmetics or jewellery and always has a cotton bag slung on her shoulder. She has remained single throughout her life.^[18][19]

Early political career[link]

Indian National Congress[link]

Banerjee started her political career in the Congress party, and as a young woman in the 1970s, she quickly rose in the ranks of the local Congress group, and remained the General Secretary of Mahila Congress (I), West Bengal, from 1976 to 1980.^[20] In the 1984 general election, Banerjee became one of India's youngest parliamentarians ever, beating veteran Communist politician Somnath Chatterjee, from the Jadavpur parliamentary Constituency in West Bengal. She also became the General-Secretary of the All India Youth Congress. Losing her seat in 1989 in an anti-Congress wave, she was back in 1991 general elections, having settled into the Calcutta South constituency. She retained the Kolkata South seat in the 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009 general elections.^[21]

In the Rao government formed in 1991, Mamata Banerjee was made the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Youth Affairs and Sports, and Women and Child Development. As the sports minister, she announced that she would resign, and protested in a rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, against Government's indifference towards her proposal to improve sports in the country.^[22] She was discharged of her portfolios in 1993. In April 1996, she alleged that Congress was behaving as a stooge of the CPI-M in West Bengal. She claimed that she was the lone voice of reason and wanted a "clean Congress". At a private rally at Alipore in Kolkata, Mamata Banerjee wrapped a black shawl around her neck and threatened to make a noose with it.^[23] In July 1996, she squatted at the well of Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian parliament, to protest a hike in petroleum price, although she was a part of the government that instituted it. In that very time she grasped the collar of Amar Singh, MP of Samajwadi Party, in the well of the parliament. In February 1997, on the day of railway budget presentation in Lok Sabha, Mamata Banerjee threw her shawl at the railway minister Ram Vilas Paswan for ignoring West Bengal and announced her resignation. The speaker, P. A. Sangma, did not accept her resignation and asked her to apologise. Later she came back when Santosh Mohan Deb mediated.

Trinamool Congress[link]

In 1997, Mamata Banerjee left the Congress Party in West Bengal and established the All India Trinamool Congress. It quickly became the primary opposition party to the long-standing Communist government in the state.^[why?] On 11 December 1998, she controversially held a Samajwadi Party MP, Daroga Prasad Saroj, by the collar and dragged him out of the well of the Lok Sabha to prevent him from protesting against the Women's Reservation bill.^[24]

In 1999, she joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and was allocated the Railways Ministry.^[21]

Railway Minister (first tenure)[link]

In 2000, Mamata Banerjee presented her first Railway Budget. In it she fulfilled many of her promises to her home state West Bengal.^[25] She introduced a new biweekly New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express train and four express trains connecting various parts of West Bengal, namely the Howrah-Purulia Rupasi Bangla Express, Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri Express, Shalimar-Bankura Arannyak Express and the Sealdah-Amritsar Superfast Express (weekly).^[25] She also increased the frequency of the Pune-Howrah Azad Hind Express and extension of at least three express train services. Work on the Digha-Howrah Express service was also hastened during her brief tenure.^[26]

She also focused on developing tourism, enabling the Darjeeling-Himalayan section with two additional locomotives and proposing the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited. She also commented that India should play a pivotal role in the Trans-Asian Railway and that rail links between Bangladesh and Nepal would be reintroduced. In all, she introduced 19 new trains for the 2000–2001 fiscal year.^[26]

In 2000, she and Ajit Kumar Panja resigned from the cabinet to protest the hike in petroleum prices,^[27] and then withdrew their resignations without any reason.^[28]

Split with NDA[link]

In early 2001, after the Tehelka expose,^[29] Banerjee walked out of the NDA cabinet and allied with the Congress Party for West Bengal's 2001 elections, amidst speculation that the move could unseat the Communist government.

Return to NDA[link]

She returned to the NDA government in January 2004, and holding the Coal and Mines portfolio till the Indian general election, 20 May 200404 elections, in which she was the only Trinamool Congress member to win a Parliament seat from West Bengal.^[21]

On 20 October 2005, she protested against the forceful land acquisition and the atrocities^{[clarification needed]} on local farmers in the name of industrial development policy of the Buddhadev Bhattacharya government in West Bengal. Benny Santoso, CEO of the Indonesia-based Salim Group had pledged a large investment to West Bengal, and the West Bengal government had given him farmland in Howrah, sparking protest. In soaking rain, Banerjee and other Trinamool Congress members stood in front of the Taj Hotel where Santoso had arrived, shut out by the police. Later, she and her supporters followed Santoso's convoy. A planned "black flag" protest was avoided, when the government had Santoso arrive three hours ahead of schedule.^[30][31]

Mamata Banerjee suffered further setbacks in 2005, when her party lost control of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the sitting mayor defected from her party. In 2006, the Trinamool Congress was defeated in West Bengal's Assembly Elections, losing more than half of its sitting members.

On 4 August 2006, Banerjee hurled her resignation papers at the deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal in Lok Sabha. The provocation was the speaker (Somnath Catterjee)'s rejection of her adjournment motion on illegal infiltration by Bangladeshis in West Bengal. The motion was turned down by the speaker on the ground that it was not in the proper format.^[32][33]

In November 2006, Banerjee was forcibly stopped on her way to Singur for a rally against a proposed Tata Motors car project. Mamata reached the West Bengal assembly and protested at the venue. She addressed a press conference at the assembly and announced a 12-hour shutdown by her party on Friday.^[34] The Trinamul Congress MLAs^{[clarification needed]} protested by damaging furniture and microphones in the West Bengal Assembly.^[34][35] A major strike was called on 14 December 2006.

Alliance with UPA[link]

Before the 2009 parliamentary elections she forged an alliance with the UPA^{[clarification needed]}. The alliance won 26 seats. Banerjee joined the central cabinet as the railway minister (second tenure). In the 2010 Municipal Elections in West Bengal, TMC won Kolkata Municipal Corporation in a margin of 62 seats. TMC also won Bidhan Nagar Corporation in 16-9 seats margin. In 2011, Banerjee won a sweeping majority and assumed the position of chief minister of the state of West Bengal. Her party ended the 34-year rule.^{[clarification needed]}

Nandigram protests[link]

The Nandigram violence was an incident in Nandigram, West Bengal where, on the orders of the Left Front government, more than 4,000 heavily-armed police stormed the rural area in the district of Purba Medinipur with the aim of stamping out protests against the West Bengal government’s plans to expropriate 10,000 acres (40 km²) of land for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to be developed by the Indonesian-based Salim Group. The police shot dead at least 14 villagers and wounded 70 more.

The SEZ controversy started when the government of West Bengal decided that the Salim Group of Indonesia^[36][37][38] would set up a chemical hub under the SEZ policy at Nandigram. The villagers took over the administration of the area, and all the roads to the villages were cut off. A front-page story in the Kolkata newspaper, The Telegraph, on 4 January 2007 was headlined, "False alarm sparks clash". According to the newspaper that village council meeting at which the alleged land seizure was to be announced was actually a meeting to declare Nandigram a "clean village", that is, a village in which all the households had access to toilet facilities. The administration was directed to break the Maoist-backed Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee's (BUPC) resistance at Nandigram and a massive operation with at least 3,000 policemen along with armed cadre of the Marxist ruling party was launched on 14 March 2007. However, prior information of the impending action had leaked out to the BUPC who amassed a crowd of roughly 2,000 villagers at the entry points into Nandigram with women and children forming the front ranks. In the resulting mayhem, at least 14 people were killed.^[39] Many people of the lower classes were made homeless due to this political carnage.^[40] A large number of intellectuals protested on the streets and this incident gave birth of a new hope for movement to ouster the left from government headed by the CPI(M)^{[clarification needed]}.^[41][42][43] Mamata Banerjee wrote letters to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to stop the violence promoted by CPI(M) in Nandigram. Agitation in Nandigram subsided, after the state government shelved the proposed chemical hub project.

2009 Indian election[link]

Trinamool Congress performed well in the 2009 parliamentary election, bagging 19 MP seats, among them 5 women (including Banerjee), reiterating its faith in the Women's Reservation Bill^{[clarification needed]}. Its allies in congress and SUCI also got six and one MP seats respectively marking the best performance by any opposition party in West Bengal since the start of the left regime. Until then, the Congress victory of 16 seats in 1984, by the sympathy vote after the death of Indira Gandhi, was considered the best show of opposition.

Railway Minister (second tenure)[link]

In 2009, Mamata Banerjee became the railway minister for the second time. Her focus was again on West Bengal.^[44] She neglected her duties as a railway minister to concentrate on electioneering in West Bengal.^[45]

She led Indian Railways to introduce a number of non-stop Duronto Express trains connecting large cities^[46] besides a number of other passenger trains,^[47] including women-only trains.^{[48] [49][50]} The Anantnag-Qadigund railway line of the Kashmir railway that has been in the making since 1994^[51] was inaugurated during her tenure.^[52] She also declared the 25-km long line-1 of Kolkata Metro as an independent Zone of the Indian Railways^[53] for which she was criticized.^[54]

Reuters reported that "Her two-year record as railway minister has been heavily criticized for running the network into more debt to pay for populist measures such as more passenger trains."^[55] The Indian Railways became loss-making in her two-year tenure.^[56] Even before stepping down as railway minister to become the Chief Minister of West Bengal, she declared that she would be able to handle both the portfolios together.^[57] Her nominee Dinesh Trivedi from her party succeeded her as railway minister.

Allegations of dictatorial tendencies[link]

Forces Trivedi's Resignation as Railway Minister[link]

On 14 March 2012, Dinesh Trivedi announced the annual rail budget 2012 that included an all over hike in passenger fares, ranging from 2 paise to 30 paise per kilometre for reasons of safety, along with network expansion and associated modernisations. The rail fare had not been hiked for nearly a decade ^[58] putting Indian Railways in ICU as far as its financial viability was concerned. The proposed fare hike would have added 4200 crores to railways income, which while paltry compared to its expenses, would still have saved railways from becoming bankrupt. The budget received enthusiastic support from a wide cross section of society including the general public,^[59] industry groups^[60][61][62] and all five Rail Unions.^[63][64] However, the fare hike proposal in the budget was fiercely opposed by Mamata Banerjee. Although Trivedi initially tried to defend the budget by pointing out that it was necessary for making Indian Railways stronger, Mamata Banerjee forced him to resign as Railway Minister on 18 March 2012.^[65][66]

Criticism against Mamata over Trivedi's sacking[link]

On hearing of the incident, noted Indian woman entrepreneur and Chairman & MD of Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw tweeted that "Mamta is a dangerous, populist demagogue: economically illiterate but politically astute - deadly combo!". She added that "Mamta is a sad reflection on just how feudal our society and culture is - talk of human rights!" and "Mamata is behaving like a mad despot. Political leadership is in deficit with such irrational behaviour that can only harm the poor."^[67] Industrialist Rahul Bajaj opined that ""It was a very bold budget and he is a brave man to take such a tough call of increasing fares after ten years. I would have wished to see him around as the Railways Minister. However, it is very unfortunate that his own party is now distancing him."^[67] Veteran journalist, Vivian Fernandes reported that, "It is getting clearer by the day that Mamata Banerjee's poribortan is not a change for the better. Like the communists, she can only tear, not build." ^[68] Trinamool MP Kabir Suman came out in open support for Trivedi and expressed his solidarity with him, saying “My respects for the Chief Minister and other party leaders notwithstanding, I must say that it defies parliamentary decorum to get a Railway Minister removed simply because he has acted in the country’s interest.” ^[69]

Support for Mamata over Trivedi's sacking[link]

Mamata defended herself by saying that the entire Trivedi incident was Congress's "gameplan".^[69] However, Mamata received support for her actions from the Left, her main opposition, who said "Mamata has every right to ask for a rollback".^[70]

Ambikesh Mahapatra Cartoon incident[link]

Ambikesh Mahapatra, a professor of Jadavpur University was assaulted, then arrested and forced to spend a night in police custody for allegedly circulating 'defamatory' cartoons of Mamata Banerjee. While Prof. Mahapatra, as the victim of the assault was forced to spend a night in police station, his attackers - Amit Sardar, Arup Mukherjee, Sheikh Mustafa and Nishikanta Gharai – allegedly Trinamool Congress activists of the New Garia area on the southern fringes of Kolkata, were arrested on the next day and they were released on bail after being produced before the court.^[71] Mamata Banerjee defended the professor's arrest.^[72][73]

Walking off the stage where a discussion hosted by a television channel[link]

Mamata Banerjee stormed out off the stage in a huff during an interactive programme organised by CNN-IBN TV channel on Friday 18 May 2012 at the Kolkata Town Hall, Kolkata without answering questions from audience (which consisted a large number of students). Mamata alleged that the students were Maoist cadres. Moments after walking off the stage,the Chief Minister instructed the police to take photographs of those in the audience who had asked questions.“The students are only asking Maoist questions and the CPI(M) questions,” she complained as the programme moderator sought her answer to the issues raised. “They are the Maoist students."^[74]

Some publications, in their editorials characterized Mamata Banerjee as "Dictatorial"^[75] and her rule as "Mamata's growing dictatorship",^[76][77] citing her forcing Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi's resignation, and the professor Ambikesh Mahapatra cartoon incident, as examples of this tendency.

Chief Minister of West Bengal[link]

The All India Trinamool Congress along with SUCI^{[citation needed]} and the Indian National Congress won the legislative assembly election against the incumbent Left Alliance by securing 227 seats. TMC won 184 seats with the INC winning 42 seats and the SUCI secured one seat. This marked the end of the longest ruling democratically elected Communist party in the world.

Mamata Banerjee at Milan Mela ground after inauguration of the 'Infocom 2011' an IT fair in Kolkata.

Taking the Oath at Raj Bhavan, Kolkata Mamata Banerjee takes the oath of office as Chief Minister administered by Governor M. K. Narayanan on May 20, 2011.

Banerjee was sworn in as Chief Minister of West Bengal on 20 May 2011. As the first woman Chief Minister of West Bengal, one of her first decisions was to return 400 acres of land to Singur farmers. "The cabinet has decided to return 400 acres to unwilling farmers in Singur," the chief minister said. "I have instructed the department to prepare the papers for this. If Tatababu wants, he can set up his factory on the remaining 600 acres, otherwise we will see how to go about it," she added.^[78]

She has also been credited to solving the longstanding "Gorkhaland Problem"^{[clarification needed]} by setting up the Gorkhaland Autonomous Council.^[79]

She has started various reforms in education and health sectors. Some of the reforms in the education sectors include release of the monthly pay of the teachers on the first of every month^[80][81] and quicker pensions for retiring teachers.^[82] In health sector "A three-phase developmental system will be taken up to improve the heath infrastructure and service,” Mamata Banerjee said."^[83]

In fact she was instrumental in the rollback of the petrol price hikes ^[84] and the suspension of FDI in Retail Sector until a consensus is evolved.^[85] In a bid of improve the law and enforcement situation in West Bengal, Police commissionerates were created at Howrah, Barrackpore, Durgapur-Asansol and Bidhannagar. The total area of Kolkata Municipal Corporation has been brought under the control of Kolkata Police.

Even before assuming the role of Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee had shown keen interest in making the public aware of the state's history and culture. She had named several stations of the Kolkata Metro after freedom fighters,^[86] and plans on naming upcoming stations after religious leaders, poets, singers and the like.^[87] One of her unprecedented moves as Chief Minister has been to arrange for the playing of Rabindra Sangeet at traffic signals in Kolkata.^[88]

On 16 February 2012, Bill Gates, of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, sent a letter to the West Bengal government praising Mamata Banerjee and her administration for achieving a full year without any reported cases of polio. The letter said this was not only a milestone for India but also for the whole world.^[89][90]

Mamata Banerjee's Tenure as railway minister is now being questioned as most of the big-ticket announcements made by her last year when she was the railway minister, have seen little or no progress.^[91]

Knights Became kings -Bengal celebrates[link]

The state of West Bengal set up a grand felicitation involving Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee and Governor of West Bengal M K Narayanan after the KKR won the IPL 2012 championship throphy .^[92] The Cricket Association of Bengal gifted the 17 members of the team with gold chain each and mementos.^[92] A victory parade for the team members was also organized on 28th May beginning from Hazra , Writers Building to the Eden Garden stadium where ten thousand spectators came to cheer for the team during a one-hour celebration that was compared to the India's World Cup victory lap at the Wankhede in Mumbai the year before. ^[92] However, the celebration received criticim from media and certain political parties and has been ridiculed by some pols of society as it had only been organised for a club team.^[92] Shahrukh Khan, the team's co-owner and the state's brand ambassador, defended the move and stated: "There is no harm in being happy and sharing happiness. Nobody should criticise it. It's alright to be happy. Let's not be political. It has been done because we all are happy. There is nothing wrong if we bring a bit of happiness to the city of joy."^[92]There were about Lakhs of people waited in the Eden Gardens Stadium to be a part of this joy and happiness accross the city of Kolkata.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mamata Banerjee

Official

• Mamata Banerjee official All India Trinamool Congress Party profile
• Parliamentary profile at India.gov.in

Other

• Profile at BBC News
• Mamata Banerjee collected news and commentary at The Times of India
• "Is Mamata Banerjee Heading for a Fall?", The New York Times India Ink blog on "global home" web page, 15 April 2012.

v t e Current Chief Ministers of Indian states (list)     Andhra Pradesh: Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy Arunachal Pradesh: Nabam Tuki Assam: Tarun Gogoi Bihar: Nitish Kumar Chhattisgarh: Raman Singh Goa: Manohar Parrikar Gujarat: Narendra Modi Haryana: Bhupinder Singh Hooda Himachal Pradesh: Prem Kumar Dhumal Jammu and Kashmir: Omar Abdullah Jharkhand: Arjun Munda Karnataka: D. V. Sadananda Gowda Kerala: Oommen Chandy Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj Singh Chauhan Maharashtra: Prithviraj Chavan Manipur: Okram Ibobi Singh Meghalaya: Mukul Sangma Mizoram: Pu Lalthanhawla Nagaland: Neiphiu Rio Orissa: Naveen Patnaik Punjab: Parkash Singh Badal Rajasthan: Ashok Gehlot Sikkim: Pawan Kumar Chamling Tamil Nadu: Jayalalithaa Tripura: Manik Sarkar Uttar Pradesh: Akhilesh Yadav Uttarakhand: Vijay Bahuguna West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee Delhi: Sheila Dikshit Pondicherry: N. Rangaswamy

v t e Chief Ministers of West Bengal Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (15 August 1947-14 January 1948) · Bidhan Chandra Roy (14 January 1948-1 July 1962) · (President's rule) (1 July 1962-8 July 1962) · Prafulla Chandra Sen (8 July 1962-15 March 1967) · Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee (15 March 1967-2 November 1967) · Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (2 November 1967-20 February 1968) · (President's rule)  (20 February 1968-25 February 1969) · Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee (25 February 1969-19 March 1970) · (President's rule)  (19 March 1970-2 April 1971) · Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (2 April 1971-28 June 1971) · (President's rule) (28 June 1971-19 March 1972) · Siddhartha Shankar Ray (19 March 1972-21 June 1977) · Jyoti Basu (21 June 1977-6 November 2000) · Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (6 November 2000-20 May 2011) · Mamata Banerjee (20 May 2011- present ) ·