IN 1995, she wrote her first book. Today, she has 13 titles to her credit. And while she may be more well known for her firebrand politics, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is slowly, but surely, gaining ground as an author.At the book release function of her two latest books last week, Mamata declared that ‘‘nobody will be able to stop my pen’’. However, even Mamata’s most ardent admirer would be forced to admit that her writings are too pedestrian to make a definite mark.The last two books, Ashuva Sanket (Ominous Signals) and Anubhuti (Feelings) differ from the earlier ones in their tone and tenour. There is an evident tinge of sadness and a pronounced frustration at her failure to oust the Marxists in the last state elections. In Ashuva Sanket, she talks of the ‘‘planned moves’’ to prevent her party from being re-inducted into the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The ‘‘vicious’’ plan was hatched just 15 days before she was supposed to join the ministry, she writes.Anubhuti, as the title suggests, dwells on Mamata’s feelings after last year’s poll debacle. ‘‘It was terrible. Night after night, I kept awake and wept alone. I didn’t feel like talking to anyone. For a month, I almost stopped eating. I lost my will to be in politics any more. The mental turbulence almost brought me down with bronco-pneumonia.’’ she writes.In the book, Mamata confesses, for the first time, that she knew she would not win the 2001 Assembly polls. ‘‘I didn’t tell this to my party leaders and workers because their morale would be broken,’’ she adds.But the Trinamool chief has not quietened down — not yet. Ashuva Sanket has chapters on religious blindness and political, electoral, judicial and administrative reforms. In one, titled ‘‘Do the Best’’, she unleashes her wrath on the police for yielding to their political bosses. Yet another chapter on ‘‘Black Money — Parallel Economy’’ is almost an abridged version of her earlier book, Crocodile Island.‘‘The views on each topic lack both depth and new thinking. The writings have a flavour of Kolkata’s famous rock debates,’’ said a Trinamool MLA, who wanted to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.Nirendra Nath Chakravarty, the acclaimed Bengali poet who attended a couple of Mamata’s book release functions — including the most recent ones, pointed out that ‘‘it is not the quality of the writings that attract me. I am drawn to her by three virtues — honesty, courage and compassion’’.According to Mamata’s close associates, it was insomnia which drove the former railway minister to take up the pen. Most of her writing is reportedly done at night. She is also known to pen down her thoughts during long dharnas. ‘‘She has no ghost writer,’’ said a leader close to her.While a particular shop in her constituency of South Kolkata is known to supply the exercise books for her writings, Mamata is reported to be particularly fussy about the pens she uses. Her nephew, Abhishek, is said to be her steady supplier of the latest ‘‘add gell’’ pens that hit the market.Her publisher, Sudhanshu Dey of Dey’s Publishing, a fairly well-known house behind many Bengali books, recalls how Mamata first agreed to write a book during a prolonged stay at a South Kolkata nursing home. Her first book, Upalabddhi (Realisation) had a print order for 30,000 copies. The entire royalty was given for charity, said Dey. ‘‘Subsequently, there was a slump in interest in her books. But the prospect for a revival seems bright with the last two releases,’’ he added.
