‘Didi’ Mamta Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, celebrates her 67th birthday today (January 5). At 15 years old, Mamta Banerjee began her political career, becoming West Bengal’s youngest female MP and a beacon of hope for the Left Parties. It’s been a fascinating experience. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal have tweeted their birthday wishes to her.

Mamta was born on January 5th, 1955, in Kolkata to a family from the lower middle class. Her father was a freedom fighter. Mamta was only a 17-year-old when her mother died of sickness. After that, she had to take care of the rest of her family. Mamta was able to support her siblings and finish her education by selling milk. Mamta Banerjee graduated from Calcutta University with a Law and Master of Arts degree.

Political Career

She began her political career at the age of only 15. It was at Jogmaya Devi College that, at the age of 15, she created the student council union that the Congress (I) student wing beat the Left party’s student wing. In the 1970s, while still in college, Mamta Banerjee got involved in politics via the Congress party, and her influence inside the party soon escalated. She was promoted to the position of Mahila Congress General Secretary.

Defeated veteran politician Somnath Chatterjee to become the country’s youngest MP

1984 saw an event that no one could have foreseen. The CPM’s Somnath Chatterjee was such a political mainstay at the time that no fresh candidate was deemed capable of defeating him. Mamta, on the other hand, beat Somnath Chatterjee in Jadavpur’s Lok Sabha seat in the 1984 general election. Mamta became India’s youngest MP in the 1984 general election after winning the election. The Rao administration appointed Banerjee as Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Youth Affairs, Sports, and Women and Child Development in 1991. She held this position for the rest of the decade. It is worth noting that Mamata Banerjee was elected to the Lok Sabha four times from the Kolkata seat, that was, in 1996, 1999, 2004, and 2009.

In 2011, West Bengal’s politics saw a major shift

Banerjee resigned from Sports Ministry in 1993. As a result, she broke away from the Congress Party in 1997 and founded the All India Trinamool Congress Party. When she joined the NDA in 1999, she was promoted to the position of railway minister. Mamta, on the other hand, left the NDA in 2011. In 2011, when she was elected President of the TMC, she ushered in a new era in West Bengal by overthrowing the Left’s decades-old power, forming her own administration, and taking office as Chief Minister. When Mamata Banerjee won her first election, she never looked back.

Mamta Banerjee’s 67th birthday was also celebrated by Delhi’s CM Arvind Kejriwal and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. Kejriwal tweeted his congratulations to Didi, wishing him well and wishing him a long and prosperous life. At the same time, Gadkari also wrote, God’s wish is that you remain healthy and may God give you a long life.