Abhishek Banerjee (politician)
Indian politician (born 1987)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abhishek Banerjee (born 7 November 1987) is an Indian politician who had been a Member of Parliament for Diamond Harbour, West Bengal, since 2014 and President of Trinamool Youth Congress since 2011.[3]
Abhishek Banerjee | |
|---|---|
Abhishek Banerjee, 2026 | |
| Leader of All India Trinamool Congress in Lok Sabha | |
| Assumed office 4 August 2025 | |
| Deputy | Satabdi Roy |
| Preceded by | Sudip Bandyopadhyay |
| National General Secretary of All India Trinamool Congress | |
| Assumed office 5 June 2021 | |
| Chairperson | Mamata Banerjee |
| Preceded by | Subrata Bakshi |
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| Assumed office 16 May 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Somendra Nath Mitra |
| Constituency | Diamond Harbour, West Bengal |
| President of Trinamool Youth Congress | |
| In office 21 July 2011 – 5 June 2021 | |
| Succeeded by | Saayoni Ghosh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 November 1987 Calcutta, West Bengal, India |
| Party | All India Trinamool Congress |
| Spouse |
Rujira Narula (m. 2012) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Mamata Banerjee (paternal aunt) |
| Indian Institute of Planning and Management (B.BA, M.BA) | |
| Profession | Politician |
Banerjee was a member of the Standing Committee of Commerce in 2014, as well as a member of the Consultative Committee under the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Affairs in 2014. He also served on the Railway Convention Committee from April 2015 to May 2019.[4] of External Affairs since September 2019. On 5 June 2021 he was appointed the general secretary of Trinamool Congress.[5][6]
Personal life
Abhishek Banerjee is the nephew of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He was born into a Bengali Hindu Brahmin family.[7] He was born and raised in Kolkata, India. Banerjee went to Nava Nalanda High School and M.P. Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School, both in Kolkata. After relocating to Delhi, Banerjee studied for his MBA and BBA degrees in Human Resource and Marketing at the now-defunct and contentious Indian Institute of Planning and Management[4] in 2009, New Delhi. On February 24, 2012, Banerjee married Rujira Narula,[8][9] a Thai national. They have a son and a daughter together.[4]
Political career
Abhishek Banerjee entered politics as a member of the Trinamool Congress in 2011, after the party ousted the 34-year-old Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front regime by winning the Assembly Election that year. In 2011, Banerjee was elected National President of the All India Trinamool Youth Congress, establishing him as the Trinamool Congress's youth icon.[10]
Banerjee represented the TMC in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as a candidate from the Diamond Harbour constituency.[11] He defeated his closest opponent, Abul Hasnat of the CPI(M), by a wide margin.[12] At that time, Banerjee was the youngest parliamentarian in the lower house.[13] He also organised the M.P. Cup Football Tournament.[14] to encourage young people in his district to participate in sports and physical exercise. Following the successful conclusion of his first term, Banerjee defeated the closest opponent from the BJP by a margin of 320,594 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha Election from Diamond Harbour.[12] Abhishek broke the previous record by winning the Diamond Harbour constituency of the 2024 Lok Sabha for the third time in a row with 7,10,930 votes.[15][16]
Partner of the Indian National Developmental Alliance's coordination committee
At the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance convention in Mumbai on September 1, 2023, Banerjee was named a member of the Coordination Committee.[17][18] The coordination committee will decide the national agenda, common campaign issues and common program of the country's main opposition alliance (I.N.D.I.A.).[citation needed]
Criticism
During the campaign for the 2026 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, he drew widespread criticism for a series of controversial speeches directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, opposition leader and eventual Chief Minister-elect Suvendu Adhikari, as well as several workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Following the defeat of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), groups of people reportedly gathered outside his residence, where they mocked and ridiculed him in scenes that many described as “democracy’s version of post-match banter.