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Photos: Between Modi and a majority, Mamata Banerjee’s hold
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who triumphed in West Bengal state polls after leading farmer protests here in the province's fertile Singur district to drive away Tata Motors a decade ago, still dominates this province of nearly 100 million people and is a possible prime minister candidate if a loose alliance of opposition parties can band together and defeat India Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Her All India Trinamool Congress party won 80% of the state’s seats in 2014, making her party the strongest opposition force nationally after the Congress Party.
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Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal, speaks during a rally in Swarupnagar, West Bengal. Leading farmer protests in 2008, Banerjee drove out a Tata Motors factory in Singur, where many like 28-year-old Santu Adhikari hoped to find work. The plant was torn down before it was finished, and Adhikari now spends his days among its ruins hunting for scrap. Adhikari blames his grim predicament on Banerjee. (Prashanth Vishwanathan / Bloomberg)
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Supporters listen to Mamata Banerjee during a campaign rally. Banerjee, triumphed in state polls after leading those protests in Singur district to drive away the company. Narendra Modi swooped in and brought the factory across to his home state of Gujarat, part of an investment push that propelled his Bharatiya Janata Party to victory in 2014 general election. (Prashanth Vishwanathan / Bloomberg)
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People react as a helicopter carrying Banerjee takes off. “She won elections and became chief minister because of Singur, and she will lose because of the condition it’s in today,” Adhikari said. “We support the BJP. When the BJP hold a meeting, all the young people go.” Modi needs frustrated voters like Adhikari to make gains in Bengal, where BJP only won two of 42 seats five years ago. (Prashanth Vishwanathan / Bloomberg)
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Polls show Modi faces a tough fight to win re-election, making it necessary to win in where the party has previously struggled. Standing in his way is Banerjee, 64, who dominates this state of nearly 100 million people and is a possible PM candidate. Her All India Trinamool Congress party won 80% of the state’s seats in 2014, making her party the strongest opposition force after the Congress. (Prashanth Vishwanathan / Bloomberg)
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People stand near TMC party (R), and BJP (L) hoardings. Banerjee has cultivated an image as a populist street fighter, and a survivor: She lived through an attack by stick-wielding thugs early in her career. To now defend her turf from the BJP, she’s turned her campaign into a full-blown assault on Modi’s record, pointing to policy failures like a 2016 cash ban that hit economic growth. (Prashanth Vishwanathan / Bloomberg)
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If Banerjee comes back with a similar number of seats and the national election is close, she could be the most important person in forming an opposition coalition government in New Delhi. Dislodging her seems almost impossible. Even just defending her state might be enough to prevent the BJP from cobbling a majority as they need to win new territory amid expected losses elsewhere. (Prashanth Vishwanathan / Bloomberg)
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A lamp post with a lightbox featuring Mamata Banerjee stands at Mallick Ghat flower market in Kolkata. Banerjee’s most passionate supporters say she’s a potential PM candidate. While that’s unlikely — partly because the BJP is expected to retain its grip— she’s already using her influence to rally national opposition to Modi. In January, she hosted opposition leaders from across India at a high profile meeting. (Prashanth Vishwanathan / Bloomberg)
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Banerjee vaulted to greater prominence in 2008, when she united opposition to the West Bengal government’s attempts to acquire land for the Tata factory. “She’s very quick at picking up issues,” said Pradeep Gooptu, secretary of the Kolkata-based think-tank Bengal Initiative. “She realized the discontent lay in the villages, not in the cities, so she moved over to a rural agenda to accelerate her rise to power.” (Prashanth Vishwanathan / Bloomberg)
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A man casts a fishing net at a pond at the site of the once-proposed Tata Motors Ltd. factory in Singur. Still, for frustrated Hindus in a state where the BJP is untested, Modi’s economic promises and nationalist agenda are enticing. After Banerjee chased Tata away, Modi, who then led Gujarat, burnished his credentials by luring the company’s factory there. (Prashanth Vishwanathan / Bloomberg)
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People walk across a field at the site of the once-proposed Tata Motors Ltd. factory. In this election, the BJP is drawing criticism elsewhere for failing to create sufficient jobs. Meanwhile, the BJP has attempted to argue that Trinamool courts the state’s roughly 25 million Muslims at the expense of Hindus. “That hit the Bengali psyche hard,” said Jay Prakash Majumdar, BJP vice-president for West Bengal. (Prashanth Vishwanathan / Bloomberg)
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