Kolkata: On this very day in 2011, four years ago, Mamata Banerjee created history by being sworn-in as not only the first women chief minister of West Bengal, but also single handedly unseating the 34-year-old Left Front government that had ruled the state since 1977.

Reflecting on the moment, Banerjee thanked the people of the state for giving her the mandate to serve, claiming that she had fulfilled all her electoral promises despite being debt-ridden due to the faulty economic programmes of the Left Front regime.

“In spite of the legacy of the huge debt burden left by the previous government, so many hurdles, financial constraints... we have delivered our best and fulfilled our commitments to the people of Bengal,” Banerjee wrote on her social media platform.

“During the last four years, several of schemes/projects of Bengal and our performance have won acclaim of International Organisations like World Bank, United Nations, Unicef, DFID and so on. Many of the schemes have got national recognition and have been recommended as models for other states to follow,” she said.

The past four years had been a roller coaster ride for her and people as the government rode from one success to another controversy. While schemes like ‘Kanyashree’ and fair price medical stores were popular among the masses, Banerjee was often severely criticised the diminishing law and order, rape and muscle flexing of her party cadres where even the police officials had to occasionally bear the brunt of the same.

In many situations, Banerjee herself faced the wrath of public as she often termed incidents like rape as “fabricated events” or even claiming in her initial months in power that she has no responsibility over death of cribs as they were conceived during Left Front regime.

“At times it was hilarious, often gut-wrenching, but one thing is for sure Didi [Banerjee] has brought in vibrancy in the state politics. Without her, covering politics would have been a dull affair,” said a veteran journalist.

Her supporters though are convinced that Banerjee has transformed Kolkata to London and Darjeeling to Switzerland. “Look at the face-lift the city has undergone during the last four years. Well paved and lit roads, well maintained gardens and parks and transformation of the entire river front,” said Sushil Kumar, a TMC member.

Her popularity though is certainly intact among the rural population and Didi is still a messiah among the minorities in the state. “She takes care of us. Thinks of our problems and tries to solve them. At least she is not BJP who wants us to convert to Hinduism,” said Rupsi Islam, a graduate student.

Banerjee also has honed her networking skills to perfection, where she personally administers every district and has visited all the blocks in the state, a feat no other chief minister has ever achieved.

“Her biggest achievement has been to bring the administration closer to the people. She herself supervises the progress of several development projects during her meetings with district officials. In all her district meetings, the state’s chief and home secretaries remain present throughout, which helps her to solve many a crisis on the spot,” said Partha Chatterjee, state education minister.

It is true that Banerjee has shown immense energy all throughout without even pausing for a day. She was present at the scene of every disaster, be it the fire at AMRI hospital or hooch tragedy, to the relief operation in the recent earthquakes.

Though incidents like Saradha chit fund scam has put creases on her starched cotton saree as many questioned her honesty.

However, for Banerjee, seizing power was a 20-year-long fight, but she will hardly have to worry over retaining it as her 17-year-old party is all set to get another mandate from the people in 2016. With a marginalised BJP, nonexistent Congress and a rapidly decimating CPM, Didi knows she is comfortably in the saddle for at least another five years.