Mamata Banerjee won unlikely admirers on Wednesday when she became the first serving chief minister to argue in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, alleging that Bengal was being "targeted" and its people were being "bulldozed" by the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
A Bengal Congress veteran predicted Mamata was likely to win "250" of the 294 seats in the Assembly when contacted for his assessment of Mamata's matinee performance at the Supreme Court that had perhaps by then become the foremost topic of national discourse. As much as he'd hate that, he said wryly.
"Generational talent... to the devil their due," the Congress leader said of Mamata. "What Mamata thinks today, it's disappointing, but true, INDIA (the anti-BJP bloc) thinks tomorrow," the leader, known for his proximity to the Congress high command, said.
In a virtual echo, a young CPM-aligned civil society member, known for her relentlessly acerbic anti-Mamata line, said grudgingly: "Half a Mamata on our side would have been enough to fell a government with a half-dozen Mamatas."
"It was all mostly an operation of gimmicks, optics, diversion, hoodwinking... besides tugging at the heartstrings, appealing to the raw emotions of the masses and the media. But she has indubitably seized the momentum and run with it," she added. "Mamata has broken the BJP's back (in Bengal). Just about the only good outcome of this."
Given the nature of such responses from unexpected corners of the non-Trinamool, non-BJP space in Bengal, it was no surprise that Trinamool's rank and file was bursting in triumph by the end of Wednesday afternoon, sure that Mamata had put her party far ahead in the upcoming electoral contest with the beleaguered Bengal unit of the BJP having painted itself into a corner.
Several Trinamool veterans said Mamata's Supreme Court show injected the entire organisation with a booster dose of confidence before the crucial Assembly election.
They said nearly every major political force in the non-NDA space had an opportunity to launch a high-decibel protest against the special intensive revision (SIR) by the allegedly compromised Election Commission under the saffron regime, but ultimately it was Mamata who showed up and delivered.
"People will remember this for a long time... that no one other than her went with this to the Supreme Court," said a Trinamool MP. "She wasn't fighting to protect Trinamool electors, or CPM electors, or Congress electors. She was out there, alone, for Bengal. She could well have been arguing against the wrongful exclusion of BJP electors."
"February 4, 2026, will go down in modern Indian history as a pivotal, game-changing moment, thanks to our supreme leader, Mamata Banerjee, who showed everyone yet again that she will stop at absolutely nothing in any fight for the people," said Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee, also a senior advocate who was with her every step of the way at the apex court.
"There is nobody on the Bengal horizon to even show up for a contest as of now, electorally or otherwise.... She is a national leader," he said.
Mamata's performance at the apex court, Trinamool leaders said, would enable her to draw not only more anti-BJP votes but even votes of vast sections of pro-BJP masses terribly inconvenienced by the SIR process.
"Additionally, the whole SIR saga has helped with relegating to the backbenches various issues of lasting discontent, such as disillusionment among sections of minorities, lack of employment opportunities, RG Kar and women's safety or anti-incumbency," said a senior in the Assembly Treasury benches.
"About 18-19 months ago, during our extreme lows of the RG Kar movement, we were all practically twiddling thumbs sitting in our rooms, fretting over what was going to become of us. She too was worried, but never lost her composure. Look at us now. We are the only ones who will remain on the field by the time elections arrive, the BJP is already busy packing," the Trinamool leader said.
On record, predictably, the BJP — and also the CPM and the Congress — remained critical of Mamata, finding fault with nearly everything she did on Wednesday.
However, on the condition of anonymity, a saffron insider said that Bengal did seem a lost cause for the BJP.
"But let's at least hold our horses till the day of the results or actual elections before that. It would be imprudent to assume all is over already," he said.