With the Trinamool Congress set to form the West Bengal government for a third consecutive term, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is the hero of the hour for many. Visuals from the eastern state on Sunday night showed large groups gathering in - blatant violation of an ongoing COVID-19 induced lockdown - waving flags, dancing and exulting over posters featuring the CM.
An overwhelming number of Indians have also resorted to virtual celebrations, tweeting up a storm, sharing poll counting updates and putting out congratulatory messages. And as the furore continued well into Monday morning, a photo of the Chief Minister from the 1980s went viral on Twitter. The black and white photo features an young Mamata Banerjee smiling faintly before what seems to be a typewriter.
The image was posted by a Twitter handle called "Indian History Pics" and the caption simply states that it is from the 1980s. While there are no further details available, this image is likely to be from around the time Banerjee's political career took off. Going by the same timeline, she is likely to be in her late twenties in the photo.
In the 1980s Mamata Banerjee was a Congress leader in West Bengal, rising quickly through the ranks of the party. Having begun the decade as the general secretary of Mahila Congress (Indira), West Bengal, she would go on to contest the 1984 general elections. At the age of 29, Banerjee became one of the youngest parliamentarians of the country, defeating veteran Communist politician and multi-term lawmaker Somnath Chatterjee. The same year, she had also become the General Secretary of the Youth Congress. While she lost the next Lok Sabha poll in 1989, she was re-elected in the 1991 general election.
While we were unable to track down the history behind this particular image, there are several photos of the Chief Minister over the years that has been posted on her Instagram handle. Take a look:
