Whenever West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visits New Delhi, she sits down with Trinamool Congress (TMC) parliamentarians — not always for serious political sessions but for jam sessions and adda . This open house gives reporters a rare opportunity to observe inner-party dynamics and have some fun.
Once reporters stop scribbling details of Ms. Banerjee’s meetings with other political parties, the waiters start streaming in, carrying trays of buttered toast, cutlets, plates stacked with sandesh or other sweets flown from West Bengal, and hot tea. They move around carefully, ensuring that they don’t collide with journalists and MPs vying for space in the tiny office allotted to the TMC in Parliament.
In a smaller gathering of her close confidantes, which includes a few journalists, the Chief Minister herself sings some of her favourite songs, mostly Rabindra Sangeet. But at the TMC office in Parliament, in front of a far bigger audience, Ms. Banerjee prefers to be a mute spectator. There she plays the role of conductor, cajoling and teasing the MPs to sing. Sometimes, when they literally sing a different tune, she interjects, correcting their pitch and adding some lines.
It also helps if this party is packed with film stars, television personalities, theatre artists and painters. Rajya Sabha MP and quiz master Derek O’ Brien, painter Jogen Chowdhury, film stars Satabdi Roy, Moon Moon Sen, Tapas Paul, Deepak (Dev) Adhikari, theatre artist Arpita Ghosh and others have attended these sessions. The regulars are Lok Sabha MPs Arpita Ghosh and Kalyan Banerjee. Dola Sen, from the Rajya Sabha, is known for singing loudly the revolutionary songs she learnt as a leftist trade union leader. While the eager beavers sit in the front row, there are some who don’t want to be beckoned — Moon Moon Sen, for instance, sits at the back of the room, away from Ms. Banerjee’s line of vision.
Keeping distance from Ms. Banerjee physically also often means keeping distance from her politically. Many film stars whom she roped in for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections are not part of these sessions. The popularity of the MPs can also be judged by the number of times she calls them.
Ms. Banerjee loves her keyboard and always carries a copy of the Geetabitan . You can take her out of West Bengal, but you can never take West Bengal out of her.
