We will borrow the concept of Bonarpatism from Marxist literature in order to understand how the indispensability of an individual is constructed by various socio-political narratives and how they acquire stability by capturing the public and media's imaginaries. .
Sumanta Banerjee, writing in 2006, analyses the problems facing the Communist Party of India and how they could stay in power for more than three decades. Interestingly, he says Mamata does not constitute an effective opposition to overthrow the Left government. Five years later, she pulled off a landslide victory. The Singur movement does not represent the beginning of a new era in West Bengal politics. Rather, it was the culmination of structural contradictions that had been in place for ages which finally gave in. We will analyse these contradictions and Mamata's coming to the fore as 'didi'. .
Finally, we will conclude by looking at one related phenomenon: none of the four women have been at the forefront with respect to legislations on women's issues. What is the role of power in this context? Why does or does not having a woman Chief/Prime Minister get translated into greater importance of women's issues? How does the structure-agency problem play out here? .
Weber and Charismatic Leadership.
According to Max Weber, there are three types of leadership – traditional, legal/rational and charismatic. Weber (1947: 358–359) defined charisma as being 'set apart from ordinary people and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them, the individual concerned is treated as a leader.' Weber defines charismatic leadership as "resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him".
