Among all the Assembly elections held in 2026, it was the results from Bengal that generated the greatest national curiosity. From media to menfolk, the focus had gravitated to the Bengal results. In the eyes of the media, it was an impregnable fortress – one that seemed impossible to breach. In the eyes of people it was a battle of now or never. Yet, as the saying goes, those who sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. Indian politics has seen many such examplesbe it Lalu Prasad Yadav and his RJD government, or Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party government. Mamata Banerjee, too, rose in Bengal’s politics in a similar fashion, and now she faces the biggest debacle of her political career.

Her invincibility and larger-than-life image have been cut to size by the same voters who once created it. It will also have a deep impact on coalition politics and the political bonhomie of the fragile INDI alliance. When she became the Chief Minister of Bengal, people believed she would find a resonance in the matriarchal society of Bengal and expected compassion, empathy, and generosity from its woman leader. However, what followed, was quite the opposite. She cultivated the image of a combative, irritable, and confrontational leader – one unwilling to listen or respond to concerns over deteriorating law and order, economic distress, illegal immigration from Bangladesh, extortion rackets, syndicate culture, and minority appeasement etc.

Surely, there is a vast difference between being an effective “street fighter” and a capable administrator which she was reluctant to accept. Perhaps she grew........

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