Mamata is here

She smiled,waved and touched many hands. From up on the Writers balcony,not far from the office of the chief minister whose then incumbent,Jyoti Basu,had refused to meet her as she pleaded the case of a rape victim,she waved again.

She then plunged into her first day at work. At midnight,she had still not left the building.

Banerjee addressed her first press conference as chief minister at around 7 pm,an hour after she called the first meeting of her Cabinet. She made a series of announcements,beginning with her governments decision to return 400 acres of land to unwilling farmers in Singur as soon as possible. The land is currently with Tata Motors.

The modalities of returning the land were ready,she told reporters. To officials of the concerned department,she said,This is the decision of the Cabinet. You must find a way to implement it. I want results.

The Tatas,Banerjee said,were welcome to set up their factory on the remaining 600 acres. She has asked for details of the deal the Left Front government struck with them,she said. Everything will be transparent under this government. Making details of the deal public had been a major demand of her Singur agitation.

Some hours earlier,at her chosen time of 1.01 pm,Governor M K Narayanan had sworn Banerjee in as West Bengals first woman chief minister. Its an auspicious day. Friday. Jummabar Muslim prayer day. And for Hindus Friday is Santoshi Ma Day. I am fasting, she told the Governor.

Thirty-six others took the oath of office and secrecy along with Banerjee 34 from the Trinamool,31 of whom are ministers of Cabinet rank. Kashi Nath Misra,who was on the Trinamool list announced last night,was dropped.

Only two of the seven Congress ministers took oath state party chief Manas Bhuniya and legislature party leader Abu Hena. The Congress apparently could not decide on the other five names; sources said it was also bargaining with Banerjee for an eighth berth.

Two ministerial portfolios were announced relatively early in the evening Finance and Planning to Amit Mitra,and Industry and Commerce to Partha Chatterjee.

At her press conference,the chief minister announced special packages for Junglemahal and the minorities,for which the government will seek the Centres assistance. A special committee will monitor and implement the 100 days work scheme for the Junglemahal and ensure that BPL cards are distributed fairly,she said.

Asked if the operations of the joint forces against Naxals might be stopped,Banerjee said,My answers to the Junglemahal problem are development and negotiations. The forces that you see now in Junglemahal are those who had come for the elections.

The problems of the Darjeeling hills would be addressed within three months,she said the Centre,state and Gorkha Janamukti Morchs were already in talks. After the swearing-in,she had told GJM general secretary Roshan Giri that she would visit the hills soon. A separate committee will work for the development of North Bengal.

The Cabinet decided to implement the recommendations of the Justice Sachar Committee on the development of minorities. Our government will talk to Justice Sachar and would like to invite him to help the state government implement schemes for minorities, Banerjee said.

A special committee will srutinise the case of every political prisoner for political vendetta,the chief minister announced. Cases against the innocent would be withdrawn,she said.

The swearing-in was attended by Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram,and AICC appointee for West Bengal Shakeel Ahmed.

The Left Front delegation was led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose of the CPM. Bhattacharjee watched the proceedings silently from the front row; Bose told reporters that the Left would be a responsible opposition.

Industry was represented by Harsh Neotia,Sanjeev Goenka and Sanjay Budhia. A large number of foreign consulate officials,including American Consul General,Beth Payne,were present.

There was Manoranjan Malik,father of Tapasi Malik,who was raped and killed in Singur,Meena Bhul,mother of Rajkumar Bhul,who died in police action in Singur,Santanu Gharai,son of Shyamananada Gharai,who was killed in Netai,and several other victims of the political violence of the past few years.

Didi has invited my wife and me for this ceremony. We have pain in our heart for our daughter Tapasi,who was raped and murdered by CPM goons. But we have hope that Didi will get us justice, said Malik.