Mamata Banerjee starts second term with team of 42

Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was on Friday sworn in as the state chief minister for the second consecutive term, heading a 42-member council of ministers at a grand and colourful ceremony at the historic Red Road. Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi administered oath of office and secrecy. Significantly, in a departure from tradition, Ms Banerjee took her oath in the name of both “Ishwar and Allah” reaffirming her staunch secular credentials.

Besides VVIPs like chief ministers of other states, Union ministers and foreign dignitaries, thousands of common people also witnessed their Didi’s coronation, braving scorching heat and oppressive humidity. Ms Banerjee, the eighth chief minister of West Bengal and first woman chief minister of the state, took oath in Bengali. “I, Mamata Banerjee, do pledge by the name of Ishwar and Allah that I shall...” She was followed by her council of ministers who took the oath in batches.

Political leaders such as Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Bangladesh industry minister Amir Hossain Amu, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal attended the event. Besides them, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav,DMK leader Kanimozhi and senior National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah were also present. Arun Jaitley, Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Babul Supriyo represented the Centre. However, the Opposition parties in the state, including Left Front, Congress and the BJP, boycotted the swearing-in ceremony, claiming that it was a waste of public money.

Ms Banerjee’s council of ministers has 18 fresh faces, including former Indian cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla, city mayor Sovan Chatterjee, Bengali singer Indranil Sen, veteran leader Sovandeb Chattopad-hyay and former Left minister turned Trinamul Congress legislator Abdur Rezzak Mollah. Twenty-eight of the ministers were given Cabinet rank, five were made ministers of state (independent charge) and eight just ministers of state. Four are women (including Ms Banerjee), seven belong to the Muslim community, while Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe also received adequate representation.

TMC leaders Amit Mitra, Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay and Joardar were the first group of ministers to take the oath after the chief minister. A number of them touched Ms Banerjee’s feet after taking oath. All the ministers took their oath in Bengali, except Golam Rabbani, who took his oath in Urdu.

Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, prominent faces from Bengali film industry such as Rituparna Sengupta, June Malia, frontline industrialists of the state such as Sajeev Goenka and Karan Paul and members of the diplomatic corps also attended the function. However, Bollywood suparstars Amitabh Bacchan and Shah Rukh Khan did not attend the ceremony.

Braving the scorching heat and oppressive humidity, thousands of people gathered under the open sky to witness Mr Banerjee beginning her second innings as the chief minister of the state. Massive cut-outs of Ms Banerjee lined Red Road. The entire stretch was cordoned off for the swearing-in ceremony.

On May 20 in 2011, Ms Banerjee had taken over as chief minister for the first time when she led an alliance of Trinamul Congress, Congress and Socialist Unity Centre of India- Communist SUCI (C) to a historic win in West Bengal Assembly election which ended the 34 years of Left Front rule. In this year’s Assembly election, Ms Banerjee led the Trinamul Congress to a landslide victory with the party winning 211 out of 294 seats in West Bengal Legislative Assembly.