Trinamul brings back “Fighter Didi” in Bengal poll season
The Statesman | 1 April 2026
With the campaign gathering pace for the West Bengal Assembly polls, the Trinamul Congress has fallen back on its tried-and-tested animated series “Fighter Didi” in a bid to woo the youth, particularly Gen Z.
The first episode of the 2026 edition of “Fighter Didi”, released on the TMC’s official YouTube channel, shows party chairperson and state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fighting the Opposition to protect the innocent and downtrodden people of Bengal.
The clip is set in a colourful, animated Bengali town and reintroduces the female cartoon character, described as “Fighter Didi”, dressed in a white sari with a coloured border and white flip-flops, identical to Banerjee’s appearance. It may be mentioned that the Trinamul chief is lovingly called ‘Didi’ (elder sister) by her loyalists, as also by the people of the state.
The animated series was earlier released in 2021 before the Assembly elections, which too had Didi as the protagonist battling the BJP heavyweights while enduring the pain of a fractured foot.
The newly released second episode opens with dark clouds gathering over Bengal as celebrations unfold among residents. An animated beetle, modelled on a heavyweight BJP leader, is shown peering irritably through a window, appearing envious of the festivities.
The beetle calls another leader depicted as a mouse, who says he would send “his own agencies”, referring to the ECI and CBI. Acting on the instructions, a senior ECI officer resembling a cockroach is shown unleashing a swarm of bedbugs that begin troubling ordinary citizens.
Banerjee then appears holding the Constitution, standing at the apex institution of the country, the Supreme Court, dressed in her signature blue-and-white sari and flip-flops. A gruff voiceover questions the eligibility of Rabindranath Tagore and Subhas Chandra Bose’s citizenship, pointing to mismatches in identity.
The episode culminates with Banerjee’s flip-flops defeating the bedbugs, ending with a bright and colourful frame filled with butterflies.