West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee officially turns 71 today, 5 January 2026. While there have been other female CMs in India, she stands out as unique for one specific reason. Read on to know what.
Mamata Banerjee is the only woman to form a political party and become a chief minister while representing the same party. Her rise is seen as self-made and independent.
She formed the All India Trinamool Congress in 1997 after leaving the Indian National Congress (INC). Since May 2011, she has served as West Bengal’s chief minister for three consecutive terms.
Other women leaders, such as Mayawati, Mehbooba Mufti and J Jayalalithaa, led powerful parties. However, they inherited leadership roles rather than creating those parties themselves. They took over those parties founded by influential male figures.
Mayawati succeeded Kanshi Ram in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Jayalalithaa took charge of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) after MG Ramachandran. Mehbooba Mufti followed the footsteps of her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Sheila Dikshit, the longest-serving female chief minister in India, followed a different route. She rose within an already established national party, the INC. Dikshit’s predecessor, Sushma Swaraj, was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The same goes for her successors, Atishi and Rekha Gupta. While Atishi represented the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Gupta belongs to the BJP.
The INC has had 5 female chief ministers so far. Sucheta Kripalani (Uttar Pradesh) was the first female CM of the country. Then, there were Nandini Satpathy (Odisha), Anwara Taimur (Assam), Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (Punjab) and Sheila Dikshit (Delhi).
The BJP has also had 5 state leaders so far: Sushma Swaraj (Delhi), Uma Bharti (Madhya Pradesh), Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), Anandiben Patel (Gujarat) and Rekha Gupta (Delhi).
Except for Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK also had VN Janaki Ramachandran (Tamil Nadu). She served for just 23 days, becoming the female CM with the shortest tenure.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), helmed by Lalu Prasad Yadav, had Rabri Devi (Bihar). Shashikala Kakodkar was Goa’s chief minister between 1973 and 1979. She belonged to the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), founded by Dayanand Bandodkar in 1963.
Mamata Banerjee eyes milestone
Mamata Banerjee is all set to become longest-serving female CM, surpassing Sheila Dikshit. If she remains in office until May 2026, which she is expected to, she will push down Dixit to achieve the milestone.
West Bengal has, however, seen another CM serving much longer than Banerjee. Jyoti Basu served for 23 years and 137 days as the chief minister of the state until he stepped down to make way for his successor, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Both were members of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (CPI(M)).
