New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s look within the Supreme Courtroom on Wednesday to argue a petition in opposition to the Particular Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll triggered a stir, primarily due to the sheer novelty of the transfer and its unmistakable political message.
Nonetheless, this was not an entire shock to Mamata’s long-time political associates who had seen her in black robes earlier than. Mamata steadily rose via the ranks through the years, from bizarre get together member to Bengal’s opposition chief and finally to the state chief minister, usually mixing politics and the courtroom.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, a senior advocate specializing in writ jurisdiction, advised ThePrint that Mamata had appeared a number of instances in numerous district courts in Bengal as a lawyer and had come to the protection of individuals going through “political persecution through the Left Entrance regime”.
Jayanta Ghosal, a senior journalist and political commentator, mentioned that in a single case, bail was obtained for 41 individuals who have been arrested.
Roy, who has labored with Mamata because the Seventies when she was an MP, mentioned the district courts by which she argued as an advocate included Alipur, Balurghat and Bankshal.
Entrance web page of a number one Bengali every day newspaper Sambad Pratidin {A magazine} dated July 10, 1996 revealed {a photograph} of Mamata in a lawyer’s costume on the Bankshall courtroom in Kolkata. Mamata resigned from the Congress in December 1997 and fashioned the Trinamool Congress on January 1, 1998.
The final time she donned a black gown was in June 2003, when she appeared in Bankshall courtroom after the arrest of seven Kolkata Municipal Company councilors. Nonetheless, she didn’t advocate for the accused.
“She got here to the protection of get together employees many instances once they have been being persecuted attributable to political rivalry below the Left Entrance’s rule. Even somebody like me, who did not even slap anybody, initiated 25 circumstances. So, you may think about the extent of intimidation that was prevalent at the moment. It was in such an environment that she claimed these circumstances,” Roy recalled.
In accordance with the chief minister’s election affidavit, Mamata earned a legislation diploma from the Jogesh Chandra Chowdhury Regulation College in Kolkata. Certainly, on Wednesday, Mamata appeared within the Supreme Courtroom not within the capability of a lawyer however as a person appellant.
Roy described it as “historic and distinctive.”
“It was her first look earlier than the Supreme Courtroom and the way in which she superior her case with the courtroom’s consent was additionally noteworthy. Her presentation was that of a senior lawyer, pinpointing the problems she wished to handle. To her credit score, she additionally made a political level by placing on document that the Election Fee was appearing on the behest of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Celebration,” Roy mentioned.
Ghosal, who’s Mamata’s biographer and in addition served as her advisor for a short while, mentioned he usually narrates situations previously when he appeared as a lawyer to safe the discharge of get together employees.
He careworn that the political significance of her look earlier than the Supreme Courtroom on Wednesday can’t be overstated.
“Firstly, she has captured the political highlight not simply within the state however throughout the nation. Even the central management of the BJP has acknowledged that she is shaping the political narrative forward of the meeting elections,” mentioned the TMC Rajya Sabha MP.
“Somewhat than being anti-incumbent in opposition to the federal government, the Bharatiya Janata Celebration is on the defensive. She can be tapping into the anti-Delhi sentiment that has traditionally characterised Bengal.”
