KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee's mother Gayatri Banerjee, who was a pillar of strength for West Bengal's first woman chief minister, passed away here Saturday morning. She was 81.
Gayatri Banerjee was suffering from age related illness for the last few years. Better known as Gayatri Devi, she was admitted to a hospital Nov 25 with kidney-related ailments and was on ventilator support for the last few days.
She passed away at 8.35 a.m., Trinamool leaders said.
"It is true that Mamata Banerjee's mother has passed away today in the morning," party leader and union Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condoled her death.
"I was deeply sorry to hear of the passing away of your mother this morning," Singh said in a message to Mamata Banerjee sent from Moscow, where he is on a three-day official visit.
President Pratibha Patil remebered Gayatri Devi as a woman with a "will of steel".
In her condolence message to the chief minister, she said: "Gayatri Devi was a woman who had a will of steel. After the loss of your father when you were young, she gave you guidance and provided the environment at home necessary for your development."
Many party leaders and state ministers assembled at the SSKM Hospital where Gayatri Devi passed away.
Mamata Banerjee Friday rushed back from New Delhi after the condition of her mother worsened. According to party sources, the chief minister was very close to her mother who had provided her all possible support during her days of struggle in the opposition.
Party leaders and alliance partners time and again tried to woo Gayatri Banerjee in order to please Mamata. A few years back, when Gayatri Banerjee was hospitalised and was in need of blood, various Trinamool leaders had donated blood.
During the days of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime, the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had visited Mamata's Kalighat residence in 2000 and had touched her mother's feet in full public view.
Mamata's closeness to her mother can be gauged from an incident in 2007, when both of them had walked out of the Kalighat house over a family dispute with Mamata' brother.
Mamata had then stayed in a room in Trinamool Bhavan along with her mother. Later on, both of them moved back to the Kalighat residence after the family differences were sorted out.
A few days back, the chief minister said she was missing her mother's smiling face.
"I am missing my mother's smiling face at home as she is in hospital. I always make it a point to look at her face before leaving home because it helps me get my work done," Banerjee told a Bengali TV channel.
She also lamented that she was unable to visit her mother at SSKM Hospital for several days.
Time and again in various television interviews, Banerjee has spoken about her closeness to her mother.
A few months after taking over as chief minister, Banerjee said she touches her mother's feet everyday before going out. She added that her mother gives her Rs.10 everyday when she is in Kolkata and Rs.100 when she goes to New Delhi.
A delegation of West Bengal Left Front, led by its chairman Biman Bose and Forward Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh, visited the chief minister's residence Saturday afternoon to pay last respects to Gayatri Banerjee.