Mamata Banerjee is the present Chief Minister of West Bengal and the founder of All India Trinamool Congress. She established her own party in the year 1997, after moving away from the Indian National Congress. Banerjee has the charge of 9 major departments under the West Bengal government, which includes Land and Land Reforms, Minority Affairs and Madrassah Education, Home, Information and Cultural Affairs, Health and Family Welfare, Power and Agriculture. Banerjee is renowned as a protester and is affectionately referred to as Didi. Mamata Banerjee previously occupied the positions of Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Minister of Coal and Minister of Railways twice.

Early Life of Mamata Banerjee
Mamata Banerjee was born on 5th January 1955, in Kolkata, West Bengal, to the parents Promileswar and Gayetri Banerjee, in a lower middle-class Bengali family. She did her Bachelor of Arts in History (with Honours) from Jogamaya Devi College in Kolkata. She continued her higher studies and did her master`s in Islamic History from University of Calcutta and a degree in education from Shri Shikshayatan College. Mamata Banerjee also completed her degree in Law from Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College in Kolkata. She joined politics while she was in school. She enrolled herself in Congress (I) Party in West Bengal and served in different positions within the party and in other local political organizations. She became the general secretary of the state Mohila Congress during the years 1976-80.

Political Career of Mamata Banerjee
Although presently she is the chief executive of the Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee began with her political career in 1970s with the Congress party. Her hard work earned her post of the General Secretary with the Mahila Congress in West Bengal from 1976 to 1980. In the General Elections of 1984, Banerjee beat her rival, Somnath Chatterjee, from Jadavpur constituency to win a seat in the Parliament and, thus, eventually becoming one of the youngest parliamentarian of that era. She also held the post of General Secretary of All India Youth Congress. However, she lost her seat in the year 1989 elections but managed to secure her position once again at 1991 General election from South Kolkata constituency. She retained the Kolkata South seat in the 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009 general elections.

Under the P.V. Narasimha Rao Government, she was declared the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Youth Affairs and Sports, and Women and Child Development. Her differences with the Congress grew with passing time and finally on 22nd December, 1997 her association with All India Congress Party ended when she was expelled.

It was during this time that the All Indian Trinamool Congress (TMC) was founded with Mamata Banerjee at the helm. Soon Mamata Banerjee led TMC became an apparent opposition in a state that was largely communist. During the 1999 elections, Mamata Banerjee joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was part of the National Democratic Alliance government. She was made the Minister of Railways. However, with BJP, too, she could not keep her allegiance for long.

In 2000, Mamata Banerjee presented her first Railway Budget. She also introduced a new biweekly New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express train and four other express trains, Howrah-Purulia Rupasi Bangla Express, Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri Express, Shalimar-Bankura Arannyak Express and the Sealdah-Amritsar Superfast Express (weekly). She also increased the frequency of the Pune-Howrah Azad Hind Express. She also focused on developing tourism. She is also credited with introducing 19 new trains for the 2000-2001 fiscal years.

In 2001, she walked out of the alliance and allied with Indian National Congress once again to fight the state elections in West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee was back in the Cabinet as the Minister of Coal and Mines after the 2004 elections.

Mamata Banerjee emerged as a strong force in the arena of West Bengal when she opposed the industrialisation in West Bengal under the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government.

The year 2009 saw another phase of General Elections in India. This time, owing to several reasons, Mamata Banerjee and her party won the majority of the seats in the state. Her party won 19 seats and entered into an alliance with the Congress party and SUCI. With an outstanding performance in the elections behind them the TMC supreme was handed the Ministry of Railways in 2009. In the 2010 Municipal Elections in West Bengal, TMC won Kolkata Municipal Corporation in a margin of 62 seats. TMC also won Bidhan Nagar Corporation in 16-9 seats margin.

However, post the 2011 West Bengal Assembly elections, won the legislative assembly election against the incumbent Left Alliance by securing 227 seats. Banerjee resigned from Railway Ministry and was sworn in as the 11th Chief Minister of West Bengal as TMC won by large margins. Mamata Banerjee is the first female CM of the state. Some of her major decisions were to return 400 acres of land to unwilling farmers of Singur and to resolve the Gorkhaland problem. She has also started various modifications in education and health departments. She has quickened the pensions of the retired teachers too.