If Narendra Modi has largely usurped the centre-stage of India's parliamentary election this summer, his bitter battle with West Bengal's chief minister Mamata Banerjee has hogged the limelight, with every passing round in this long seven-phase election. After it emerged that a seemingly formidable Priyanka Gandhi wasn’t going to contest from Varanasi, BJP cried ‘cowardly retreat’.

The real ‘Jhansi ki Rani’ now seems to be Mamata Banerjee, who is leading a do-or-die charge against a far more formidable adversary, matching its money power with raw muscle and mobilisation.

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