On May 2, 2021, Mamata had lost her own contest in Nandigram but led her party from the front to a resounding victory against heavy odds. On Monday, 1,828 days later, she had failed to prevent a BJP sweep of the state while herself losing her backyard of Bhabanipur by a margin of 15,105 votes.

On both occasions, Mamata’s challenger was her protege-turned-bete noire Suvendu Adhikari, now the frontrunner to take her place at the helm of the saffron camp’s trophy state.

Monday marks 5,470 days from May 13, 2011, when Mamata ascended to power, riding her Singur-Nandigram anti-land-acquisition movement to unseat the 34-year-old Left behemoth in a David-and-Goliath battle.

Fifteen years on, Monday was her Goliath moment, when nearly 46 per cent of the post-SIR voters opted for poriborton (change) — something she had once promised but is largely deemed to have failed to deliver — while just 41 per cent stood by her...

Story: Meghdeep Bhattacharyya
Video Producer: Shohini Bose
Video Editor: Joy Das