Mamata Banerjee on Sunday divulged a “personal secret”, hidden for years at her Harish Chatterjee Street home in Calcutta, and told the world how her nephew Abhishek joined politics.
“Abhishek was around two-years-old in 1990, when I was badly injured in an attack by the CPM. Seeing bandages on my hands, legs and head, he used to get scared. Pained by my sufferings, he went around the house shouting slogans against then chief minister Jyoti Basu, seeking answers why I was attacked. He had been intent on joining politics ever since that incident,” the Bengal chief minister told a rally at Belpahari in Jhargram.
Abhishek, the outgoing Diamond Harbour MP seeking re-election, is often touted as Mamata’s political heir. He formally joined politics as national president of Trinamul Yuva in 2011 before being made Trinamul youth president. When he was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014, Abhishek was 26.
Abhishek Banerjee Telegraph picture
After years of curiosity over Abhishek’s rise through the Trinamul ranks, this is the first time Mamata spoke on her nephew and the trigger behind his entry into politics. Her explanation assumes significance as it comes in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that Mamata’s “ambitions in Delhi” are linked to her intention to place Abhishek in Bengal’s seat of power.
“Should I tell you what is in Didi’s heart? See, actually, Delhi is just an excuse for establishing the nephew here. This game of the aunt and the nephew, Bengal has thoroughly understood,” Modi had told a rally in Serampore on April 29. He has dwelt on the “bua-bhatija (aunt-nephew)” theme at several other meetings to embarrass Mamata.
In Jhargram on Sunday, Mamata tried to weave a counter-narrative as she referred to her aspirations for “a future generation” of politicians, saying the youth should join politics to give it a cleaner environment.
“I have to prepare one more generation of politicians… I have also asked Parthada (Chatterjee) to introduce his daughter into politics. Don’t paint everyone with the same brush… I brought a family member into politics knowingly. Remember, a day will come when the current generation will have to hand over the baton. That is why the youth are brought in,” the Trinamul chief said.
