Minakshi Mukherjee is an Indian politician from

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

. She is the state secretary of the

Democratic Youth Federation of India Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) is a youth organisation in India. It was founded in its inaugural conference held from 1–3 November 1980 at Shaheed Kartar Singh Saraba village in Ludhiana, Punjab. DYFI identifies itself to be an i ...

(DYFI). She previously was the state president of DYFI, the youth wing of

CPIM The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nati ...

. She was fielded as the Left Front candidate from

Sanjukta Morcha Sanjukta Morcha alternatively Sanyukta Morcha (), was a political alliance formed ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election as an alternative to the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. It was led by Communist Party ...

against

Chief Minister of West Bengal The Chief Minister of West Bengal is the representative of the Government of India in the state of West Bengal and the head of the executive branch of the Government of West Bengal. The chief minister is head of the Council of Ministers and ap ...

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 20 ...

and

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

Leader

Suvendu Adhikari Suvendu Adhikari (born 15 December 1970) is an Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party who is the current Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 10 May 2021. He is a member of the West Bengal Legislative ...

in the

2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly Election The 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election for 292 of the 294 constituencies in West Bengal was held between 27 March to 29 April 2021 in eight phases. Voting for the two remaining constituencies was delayed to 30 September 2021. The ...

from

Nandigram Nandigram is a census town in the Nandigram I Community Development Block of the Haldia subdivision in the Purba Medinipur district of the Indian state of West Bengal. In 2007, the West Bengal government allowed the Salim Group to set up a che ...

, but lost to Suvendu Adhikari.

Early life

Minakshi was born in

Kulti Kulti is a neighbourhood in Asansol. Asansol is located in Paschim Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is governed by Asansol Municipal Corporation. Geography Kulti is located at latitude 23°43'60N and longitude 86°50'6 ...

. She completed schooling at Jaladhi Kumari Devi Uchcha Balika Vidyalaya in Kulti. Her graduation was from

Banwarilal Bhalotia College Banwarilal Bhalotia College, known by the abbreviation B. B. College, established in 1944, is a college in Asansol, Paschim Bardhaman district, West Bengal, India. It offers undergraduate courses in arts, commerce and sciences. It is affiliated w ...

Asansol and she later completed a master's degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

from

Burdwan University The University of Burdwan (also known as Burdwan University or B. U.) is a public university in Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, India. It was established by the West Bengal Government as a teaching and affiliating university on 15 June 1960 wit ...

Political career

Minakshi Mukherjee started her activism through

Students' Federation of India The Students' Federation of India (abbreviated as SFI) is an Indian left-wing student organisation politically aligned to the ideologies of Independence, Democracy and Socialism. Currently, V. P. Sanu and Mayukh Biswas are elected as the All ...

in her college days. She was later inducted into the

(DYFI) local committee in 2008. Her leadership and public speaking skills helped her rise within DYFI, and by 2018, she became the state president of DYFI in West Bengal. In the same year, she also joined the state committee of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...

in West Bengal. In the

, she contested as the

CPI(M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nati ...

candidate in the high-profile constituency

, against the Trinamool Congress supremo

(the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

) and the

candidate

. Minakshi represented the Left-Congress-ISF alliance (

) in Vidhan Sabha election. On 11 February 2021, she participated in the 2021 Nabanna Abhijan from College Street to protest for jobs that was intended to present a list of demands to chief minister

at Nabanna, which ended with conflicting claims of how many protesters were hospitalized after the police responded, and prompted a 12-hour strike by the Left Front against police brutality. The injuries of the Nabanna protestors became a political issue in the upcoming election, and Mukherjee continued to emphasize the need for jobs in her campaign. However, she did not win the election. On 5 October 2021, she became the first woman to serve as the state secretary of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukherjee, Minakshi 1984 births Living people University of Burdwan alumni Women in West Bengal politics Indian women activists 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from West Bengal