When the Sri Lankan President bumped into West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the Dubai Airport and asked if she will be the one to lead the newly-formed I.N.D.I.A alliance, it became quite clear that the question is now being raised not just throughout India but also around the globe. The chance meeting, which took place during the stopover, as Didi left for a two-week tour of Spain to scout for industrial investment before the Bengal Global Summit later this year and the question asked by the neighboring country’s President has put the spotlight back on Didi as the possible Prime Ministerial candidate in the scenario that the INDIA alliance does come to power.

In an interview to The Statesman, Trinamool Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Dola Sen told this correspondent, “While Mamata Banerjee herself has never expressed any such agenda, she is extremely qualified to lead the nation if not more so than others – with all due respect to them – if you consider her experience and expertise. How many other political leaders have the kind of trajectory that Mamata Banerjee has? She has been a Member of Parliament seven times, serving as a minister six times with five different portfolios (twice as Railways Minister, once as Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, once as Coal and Mines Minister, once as Women and Child Development Minister and once as Youth Affairs and Sports Minister). She has been elected Chief Minister three consecutive times and her party’s strength in the Assembly has risen significantly each time, going from 186 seats in 2011 to 211 seats in 2016 to 217 seats in 2021.”

Banerjee herself responded to the Sri Lankan President’s question with friendly laughter and a remark, exclaiming, “Oh my goodness!….That is up to the people, you know.”
Last month on a rainy Sunday afternoon, supporters of the idea that Mamata Banerjee should lead the alliance gathered near the Jatin Das Park Metro Station near the Kalighat residence of Didi andheld a roadside conclave the chief agenda of which was to declare that “Bengal wants to see Mamata as PM”. The group, called FAM (Fearless AITC Members) was joined by Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim and other Trinamool leaders. The thought of Didi as PM is however not the result of the INDIA alliance alone. Even as early as before the Parliamentary elections of 2014, the noted writer and Magsaysay award winner (late) Mahasweta Devi endorsed the idea in a public meeting. The formation of the INDIA alliance has further reinforced the idea. And clearly the idea is no longer limited only within the borders of India but transcended beyond.