From Mamata Bannerjee to Che Guevara, a lesson on leadership

She has not yet enunciated the lines forever associated with Che Guevara – Hasta la Victoria Siempre! (Until Victory, Forever) – in her inimitable style, but Mamata Bannerjee’s sentiments to that end are manifest despite expectations of ideological divergence. So much so that many of Che’s most famous lines could just well have been uttered by the Bengal chief minister, albeit with just a dash of local flavour. Indeed, her battles with the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi evoke images of a latter-day Ernesto, minus the guns and motorcycles, berets and bristles, of course. As she has already made common cause with Marxists much closer home than Che’s stomping grounds, such a confluence is not unlikely either.

So it is also not surprising at all that one of her more devoted members of Parliament turned up in the august house last week in a kurta emblazoned with not just one but three images of his beloved leader and opined that her photo should be in every house in the country. As similarly faithful people exist in all parties, will this kurta spark off a trend, like those T-shirts with Che? Bannerjee’s visage on the kurta does not have quite the messianic resonance of the late Marxist guerrilla-stamped T-shirts but the message is clear: if hearts can metaphorically be worn on sleeves, leaders can be too.