Written by: Avantika Basu
3 min readKolkataMay 13, 2026 04:25 AM IST
First published on: May 13, 2026 at 04:25 AM IST
A week after her party’s defeat and a day after the newly formed government’s first cabinet meeting, former chief minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee sent a message to her followers through a poem on Tuesday titled “Brave”.
Coming after the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) electoral defeat in the Assembly election, the poem appeared aimed at party workers who may be frustrated or disillusioned. “Be brave and strong” is the sense that comes through from the very beginning.
“Always face brutes with a smile” was among the lines that drew the most attention online, with supporters and critics alike trying to interpret who the “brutes” might refer to in Bengal’s current ruling political party.
The poem repeatedly returns to themes of loneliness and resilience, themes that now feel especially significant after Banerjee’s political setback. “When you were born, you came alone, and when you will die you have to be alone,” she wrote, before ending on a hopeful note: “Ultimately, you will be the gainer, have that faith.”
The poem reads: “Be brave and strong, if you are always confident/ then nobody can touch you. Your strength is within yourself/ maintain it with dignity. Cowards are always cowards. Strong people always sustain/ always face brutes with a smile. Your smile is your mental strength. When you were born/ you came alone/ and when you will die you have to be alone. Your good work will work forever. Be confident of your good work/ evil will be nowhere/ for the time being, don’t lose heart/ love your heart always/ ultimately, you will be the gainer/ have that faith.”
A senior TMC leader said, “After reading the poem it feels almost like Banerjee speaking to herself after losing power for the first time in over a decade. After dominating Bengal politics since 2011, the recent election result marked one of the toughest moments of her political career.”
A close aide of Banerjee said, “At a moment when Bengal is witnessing a major political change, the poem “Brave” feels less like a politician trying to write literature and more like a leader trying to process loss in public. Whether readers see it as poetry, political messaging or emotional outbreak, “Brave” has once again shown that Mamata Banerjee remains one of the few Indian politicians who responds to political crises not just with speeches, but with handwritten verses.”
Poetry has long been one of Banerjee’s preferred ways of responding to political turbulence. Over the years, she has written 162 books, 27 poems and songs, and has also displayed her paintings publicly. Her writings have covered subjects ranging from her struggles as an Opposition leader to movements such as Singur and Nandigram, which eventually helped bring down the Left Front government.
During the Singur and Nandigram movement, and even during the recent Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, Banerjee repeatedly expressed her thoughts through poetry on social media.
Banerjee had said she wrote 26 poems protesting the SIR, an exercise the TMC repeatedly criticised for allegedly targeting voters. According to her, those poems were written over two days while travelling by helicopter between political programmes.
TMC chief Mamata Banerjee 
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