At a meeting with her party MPs just hours after Sudip Bandyopadhyay was arrested, the second TMC MP to be arrested after Tapas Paul in connection with the Rose Valley Chit Fund Scam, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee made it clear that it would be war against the Narendra Modi government.
Party spokesperson Derek O' brien captured her mood with these words.
"Don't forget this is the same Mamata who with a handful of colleagues fought the Singur war," the TMC MP said.
But is Mamata making a mistake in equating Singur with these arrests? For one, Singur was a pro farmers , Ma-Maati-Maanush movement.
She took the stage for the rights of the voiceless. This protest is being seen as a fight for her own party.
Says singer turned BJP MP Babul Supriyo, "Many political parties like AAP and Congress have spoken against demonetisation. But have they been arrested? She should behave like a chief minister."
But behind the chief minister there is a leader who has always positioned her politics on rebellion, street protests and high pitched confrontations.
With about two and half years to go, Mamata wants to position herself as an alternative to the charismatic PM Modi.
Many say it's her second Hazra movement. Beaten up brutally by CPM cadres at the Hazra crossing in the 1970s, Mamata seized the left action against her to emerge as a Tigress.
She has never let go of an opportunity to recount that horror.
Today she once again plays the victim card. Accusing the BJP and PM Modi of being 'dangabaaz' because she took on his demonetisation initiative, Mamata will brush aside any corruption allegations against her party as political witch hunting by BJP.
Sources say Mamata has a long term plan. She will hit the streets and go across the state against the arrests.
Politically too Mamata is looking at a realignment. One of the first reactions against the arrests came from Congress.
The Gandhis gave the order that Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala should speak strongly against the arrests. He termed it as an attack on the opponents of PM Modi.
Significantly during the Yadav turf war, Mamata called Akhilesh and not party Supremo Mulayam Singh, asking him to stay strong.
The new axis is slowly developing and is getting ready to offer an alternative in 2019.
The battle has just begun.
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