TMC's teachable moments

The Trinamool Congress (TMC), which was founded by current West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 1997, has been a great political success story. It swept to power in West Bengal after 34 years of uninterrupted Left rule within 14 years of its birth. TMC’s rise to power is undoubtedly a case study for political scientists. The first to realise its importance, however, has been the University of Calcutta in Banerjee’s Bengal. In an examination recently, the university’s political science department asked its students to write on the “Rise of TMC”.