New Delhi, May 20: It’s going to be a historic moment in West Bengal for more reasons than one – Mamata Banerjee will sworn-in as the state’s first woman chief minister on Friday. Not just that she’ll be the first non Marxist leader to take over in 34 years.
Exactly a week after she decimated the Left, Mamata Banerjee will be sworn in as the new Bengal Chief Minister on Friday – a historic moment that will be attended by more than 3000 people at the Raj Bhavan and watched on several giant screens across the city.
“We are very excited, we are wondering what to wear, the women are wondering what sari to wear. It feels like Pujo,” said Kartik Banerjee, Mamata’s brother.
For thousands of her supporters who have poured in from across the state for the big event, the excitement has reached fever pitch.
“We are very very excited. This is a big moment for us, so what if I can’t go to Raj Bhawan I will watch it on the giant screen,” said one supporter.
“I have come all the way from Asansol for this event,” said another.
“She is a woman like me I am so proud a woman will become our state’s chief minister,” said a woman supporter.
The Congress troika of P Chidambaram, Pranab Mukherjee and AK Antony will be there. And Mamata has made overtures to her political foes too – outgoing Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and other Left leaders have been invited. Even captains of industry will attend including the Tatas. In a neat twist, they will sit side by side with relatives of those killed in political clashes from Nandigram to Singur to Netai.
At one minute past 1 PM on Friday, Mamata Banerjee will mark the end of a Left epoch and sound the beginning of change in Bengal which people hope will be for the better. More than two thousand policemen will be deployed along a short 7 km route to the Writers’ Building that Mamata banerjee took 20 years to take.
–Agencies