The press conference was entitled, “Shomoy er Daakey” (The Call of Time) and it was a gathering of Kolkata’s civil society which had lent its support squarely behind Mamata Banerjee before she became chief minister of West Bengal in the year 2011. Held at the Kolkata Press Club on the drizzly afternoon of Wednesday, July 26, it was a meeting, filled with nostalgic remembrance, which commemorated Mamata’s “revolutionary” fight against the then Left Front government and it was attended by the celebrated writers, poets, musicians and artists, who, all those years ago, had predicted that Didi would one day lead the state into “poriborton” or change.
“This was a way of reigniting the fire that was kindled a decade ago,” says Dola Sen, Trinamool Rajya Sabha member, explaining the need for such a meeting at this time, when the state is headed for Parliamentary elections in 2024.
Purnendu Basu, key speaker at the conference, who had joined Didi’s movement before she became chief minister and was a minister in her first and second cabinets, said, “Anyone who denies that Mamata Banerjee has ushered in ‘poriborton’ or change in the past decade would be disillusional.” He pointed out that from infrastructure like better roads, to utilities such as cleaner drinking water and electrification of the villages, Didi has kept her promise.
Among those to have attended the meeting was musician Kabir Suman and poet Joy Goswami who had, at that time, called Mamata’s movement a “revolution”. Kabir Suman had joined the party on the invitation of Didi, contesting and winning the Parliamentary seat from the Jadavpur constituency, once the stronghold of the Left. The musician has not only praised Didi’s role as a harbinger of change in the state, but as a musician he has hailed her contribution to the uplift of culture, especially her patronage of the lost tradition of the Bengali “Khayal” a genre which he is endeavouring to revive.
The conference was like a stroll down memory lane, as the “bidyajon” or civil society members, who are often credited with giving Didi the much-needed support at a time when she was trying to dethrone the three-decade long Left rule, taking stock of what changes have taken place during the past decade.
The rain, falling intermittently, added to the nostalgia but it was also a time to look ahead. “ ‘The Call of Time’ is not just about the past, but also the present and the future as we head to the Parliamentary elections of 2024,” Dola Sen said.