Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 6: As the crackdown on Trinamool Congress leaders continued in West Bengal on charges of irregularities and corruption during its rule in the state, the former chief minister Mamata Banerjee in an attempt to overhaul the party organisation has clipped the wings of her nephew Abhishek Banerjee who was at the centre of the rebellion by a majority of the party legislators and formed a separate group.
Battling unprecedented rebellion and challenges to her authority, the TMC chief has ensured that her nephew’s decisions no longer remained the last word in the party and will have to act in consultation with two other general secretaries, Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen, both MPs, who will “assist” Abhishek Banerjee.
So far, Abhishek Banerjee was the de facto boss of the party whose word reigned supreme and was the main reason for resentment among the rank and file. By appointing two more national general secretaries, Ms Banerjee has attempted to send a clear message that Abhishek Banerjee was now not beyond questioning.
Apparently the realisation that all was not well with unbridled powers to her nephew has come too late to Ms Banerjee. The current rebellion in Trinamool is seen as more of a revolt against Abhishek Banerjee than Mamata Banerjee per se. At a meeting on May 6, two days after the massive Assembly election loss, Mamata Banerjee reportedly asked leaders to applaud her nephew’s role in elections.
The move, sources said, angered many as they saw Abhishek Banerjee’s style of functioning as the main reason for party’s unpopularity. That was the first trigger. From that point on, cracks began to appear in the Trinamool legislative party. At another meeting held at Kalighat on May 19, “rebel” leaders Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha openly voiced their dissent for the first time.
Ritabrata Banerjee said at the May 6 meeting at Ms Banerjee’s Kalighat residence, he realised that they could fight back. He said the only resolution passed on May 6 was a standing ovation for Abhishek Banerjee. “If you tell me whether I stood or not, yes, I stood, but it was a half effort. I did not stand up fully,” Ritabrata Banerjee said, adding he saw Bagnan MLA Raja Sen refusing to get up. “That was the day Sandipan Saha and myself got the idea that we can also fight.”
In the May 19 meeting, Ritabrata Banerjee alleged MLAs were repeatedly told to write the date as “6” on attendance sheets even as several of those listed had not been present on May 6. “It’s a revolt against the boss culture. It’s a revolt against the despotic mindset, the manner in which human beings were treated like animals,” Ritabrata Banerjee said, and recalled an incident of four-term MLAs waiting five hours outside Abhishek Banerjee’s office, only to be told by a secretary that “boss is not available today.”
Ritabrata Banerjee was brought into the Trinamool by Abhishek Banerjee himself. He was sent to the Rajya Sabha and was also given a ticket to contest in the state. “Is this a precondition that you cannot tell spade a spade?” he said, not denying all those factors.
The dissent has transformed into a full-blown mutiny and that has prompted Mamata Banerjee to go for a course correction by rejigging the party organisation. In other major appointments, senior leader Chandrima Bhattacharya has been elevated as the new state president, signalling a generational and organisational reset. Subrata Bakshi continues as vice-president in National Working Committee.
New faces have been brought in all the party wings. Sajda Ahmed, Mamata Thakur, Nayana Bandyopadhyay and Swati Khandekar have been appointed vice presidents of West Bengal Pradesh Trinamool Congress. MP Saayoni Ghosh will continue to head the Trinamool’s youth wing. Mamata Banerjee has allocated responsibilities to her loyalists and old timers, who are still sticking with ‘didi’ amid fierce revolt in the party.
On Friday, TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh snapped at the “rebels” saying that they are breaking away under “administrative pressure.” “It has barely been a month. Even the election ink on their (rebels) fingers has not faded, and BJP has not even allocated portfolios to its ministers, and they are doing this,” he said. “They won because of Mamata Banerjee’s name. Their actions speak volumes about their character. But the party workers are still with us.”
Many of the TMC leaders, however, are finding themselves on the wrong side of the law over allegations of hoarding and diverting government relief materials meant for disaster-hit residents. While some of them have been arrested, others face protests by locals.
Among the latest incidents, a large quantity of blankets, tarpaulins, clothes, rice, and wheat was allegedly recovered from locked Eastern Coalfields Limited quarters linked to TMC leader Udeep Singh in the Jamuria coal mine area of Pashchim Bardhaman district on Thursday.
On the same day, recoveries of relief materials were reportedly made from the residence of former Trinamool Minister Giasuddin Molla in Usti, South 24 Parganas district. Soon after the recoveries, locals started protesting outside the house and shouted “thief, thief.”
Former party MLA Narendranath Chakraborty from the Pandabeswar Assembly constituency in Paschim Bardhaman also came under fire after tarpaulins, clothes, and food items were allegedly found in a godown right beside his residence during a search operation by police. The recoveries, also on Thursday, led to protests by locals. “We never got any relief materials even though there is so much in stock,” an agitated resident told media persons.
In a similar incident on May 31, locals alleged that they recovered a huge quantity of relief supplies from the office of TMC MP Bapi Halder in Mathurapur, South 24 Parganas. Protesters vandalised his office after the recovery. Similar recoveries of relief materials have also been reported from Katwa, Dum Dum, Bhatpara, Bidhannagar, Khejuri, Diamond Harbour, and several other places across the State.
Among those arrested in connection with the alleged hoarding and diversion of relief materials are Baduria Municipality chairman Dipankar Bhattacharya, Patharpratima Trinamool Congress regional president Gautam Aari, former Purbasthali North MLA Tapan Chatterjee, Asansol Municipal Corporation councillor Tarun Chakraborty and Nabadwip municipality chairman Biman Krishna Saha.
Many leaders also faced public outrage during police action, with crowds shouting “chor, chor” (thief, thief) slogans. In many places, BJP supporters also staged protests. In the past month, several Trinamool leaders and workers have come under investigation following the BJP’s rise to power in West Bengal after 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule. Allegations against them range from corruption and intimidation to violence and more.
Meanwhile, the former Team India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly on Saturday rejected as untrue a report that claimed he had acted as an emissary for the Trinamool Congress to ask Baharampur MP Yusuf Pathan, also a former cricketer, to vacate his Lok Sabha seat to enable Ms Banerjee contest a bypoll and enter Parliament.
In a signed statement addressed to “all the media houses,” Ganguly said the allegations, “in so far as they concern me, are in reckless disregard of the truth.” He was referring to a front-page report in a Kolkata paper on June 4 about ‘Mamata heading to Delhi for direct fight.’ The report had said Ganguly, who has rejected several offers in the past to enter politics, was approached to convey Mamata Banerjee’s message to Pathan, and that Pathan had declined to resign for her.
“I was never requested/asked by Ms Mamata Banerjee to convey any message from her to Mr Yusuf Pathan, whether to step down from his parliamentary seat, as alleged or otherwise or at all,” Ganguly said. “I never approached or contacted Mr Yusuf Pathan with any such or other request/message. As such, the question of Mr Yusuf Pathan responding in the manner as alleged in the article does not and cannot arise,” he added.